I know this is going to make me sound really strange, but I have never had to pick a pig before. I would like to know what you look for in a pig when trying to pick it. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

There are a lot of things you should be looking for .

Soundness: The pig should resemble a cat walking as much as possible
Muscle : Not to extreme , because it can work against it .
Body : Length of body is important . Let them be lengthy but the trend now-a-days seems to against this .
Bone size: Thick bone is preferred
Structural width : a wide based, wide walking hog is better

* this was as simple as I could put it. If you have any more questions , just reply . There are tons of good people on this forum that will help you.

GOOD LUCK

More questions! (These don't really flow, but they are the questions) I show horses right now, and I know that horses have to have some sort of roughage or they will colic. Do pigs need some sort of roughage? In the show ring, and for training, you have to have a 'cane.' I have found 'sticks', but they don't have a curve at the end. Do they have to have a curve, or will just a normal 'stick' work? I know there is a certain amount of protein that they need, but is there a certain percent that is the best? Are you supposed to feed pigs treats? If so what kind? These are all of them that I can remember, but I know there are more. Thank you for the help!

Check the rule book, some shows want you to use a cane, pig pipe, pig panel or a pig whip. Whatever the book says, start off with that piece and don't change.

Depending on the weight of your pig that you get there is a pig starter, pig grower and a pig finisher. Talk with your local co-op and see what they have and their suggestions. Compair hog feed to chicken feed, as they grow in age/weight you change (more like weight for pigs).

Our son's pigs had to be on the FFA Blue Tag until 2 wks before the fair and then he'd changed them over to a different feed with a lower protein.

As long as you feed is a balance ration then you don't have to add anything. But for our son's 2 gilts when we put in fresh hay for beeding they like to much on it for a while.

To get son's show gilt out of her pen, I shoved a youth arrow up the pig pipe and stuck the blunt end out so we could pierce a marshmellow at the end so we would not jam it up the pipe. It not easy to clean the inside of that pvc pig pipe, especialy when the temperature is up. Then we moved away from using the marshmellows and gave treats like apples slices after they did something good. For example, if she high tailed it around the pen and came back to him, she got something.

Keep their water fresh and they feed clean (not moldy) and you will grow them. Spend time with them and you will now how they are feeling.

Got to make you laugh, Ruby will go into her pen and shut the main gate on son when she has had enough of a walk with him.

Don't get discourage after your first show. Learn and the press on.