Doc's Blog

A good pig is purchased. A champion pig is made. Once you understand that, you’re ready to begin properly raising your pig. It begins with swine nutrition.

When it comes to raising a show pig for a 4-H project or competition, selection is very important. Here is some general guidance for selecting and purchasing a pig as described in the book Doc Sanders Goes Whole Hog.

Raising a pig for show is about more than winning trophies. The real reward is the experience of developing and displaying quality swine. It’s all about progress and growth, and those are two things that have to be measured.

Whoever came up with the phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover” wasn’t referring to swine. The outer shape and structure of a pig are very important when it comes to the selection process.

For those raising show pigs, your pig’s structure will play a large part in its placing at the show.

And for those who are breeding pigs, your pig’s physical traits are often passed down to its piglets.

If you’re raising swine, it’s important to understand that there are diseases at every turn waiting to infect your livestock. Once one pig becomes sick, things can quickly escalate from bad to worse.

With proper biosecurity, as well as pre-purchase health checks on any swine you purchase, you can maintain a healthy living environment for your pigs, whether you have 2 or 200.

But you still need to be ready for what’s out there, should it arise. Arguably a prominent skin disease among pigs is greasy pig disease.

If you’ve raised a pig for show or the market, you might think you know a thing or two about how to choose a pig for breeding. After all, a healthy pig is a healthy pig, right?

Well, not exactly.

There are some distinct features you’ll want to focus on when it comes to choosing a superior breeding pig.