Episode 13: Show Pig Care

How to take care, feed, and do with your show pig. What and how much to feed your pig, along with training, daily care, biosecurity and record keeping.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
[inaudible]

Jessica (00:04):
Welcome to the extension connection podcast.
Grant County cooperativeextension service is here to
help connect you with researchbased information about economic
development, energy and waterfarming, ranch, yard, and
garden, natural resources,health, and wellbeing, and our
very popular youth developmentprogram 4-H.

(00:30):
I'm your host, Jessica Swapp,the 4-H and agriculture agent
here in grant County, NewMexico.
We are part of New Mexico stateuniversity, college of
agricultural consumer andenvironmental science, and we
are here to serve you.
So let's get started.
[inaudible] Welcome back.

(00:51):
um I'm actually doing, um, acouple of different things
today.
I'm recording this to put it onmy podcast, so that way you can
listen to it as you go down theroad or on your computer while
you're at work.
Um, however you choose to listento the podcast, but you can also
watch a YouTube video as well.
Uh, today I'm going to becovering, um, something I think

(01:14):
is important.
Um, and today I'm focusing onone species and then I'll be
moving onto the others.
Um, and it, what we're coveringis going to be about show pigs.
So you bought them now what, um,there's a lot of first time
families out there, and honestlyyou could be doing this for
several years and still learn.

(01:38):
Um, I still learn somethingevery year that I didn't know
the year before.
So I'm continually learningabout these projects is, um, is
part of the part of the projectitself.
So I'm staying up to date withthe trends and, and keeping up
with the, you know, how thingsare changing and everything like
that.

(01:58):
So, um, this is just somethingto kind of help you out as you
go along through your projects.
The outline of this program is,um, sort of talk about shell
pegs.
We're going to talk aboutfeeding them, training them, um,
some daily care stuff,biosecurity and record keeping.

(02:19):
So feeding.
Um, the biggest thing that I seestart the year off, pretty
relatively um still in thebeginning, um, is that you have
to have a plan.
Um, you need to have a plan forbrand that you're going to use,
um, understanding, um, whatprotein levels, fat levels,

(02:39):
lysine levels that you're goingto be needing.
Um, on the slide show, you cansee the, the few different
brands that are available outthere, um, where we're at.
Um, it's pretty limited in termsof which brands you can choose
from.
I failed to mention on here thatyou can also, um, I believe high
pro has a show pig feed as well.

(03:00):
So, uh, on here, I just have afew of those, uh, different
brands that are out there thatyou can get.
Um, some of them are moredifficult than others to get in
our area.
One of the biggest things isconsistency with a brand.
So you don't want to beswitching back and forth
between, you know, a high proand a Mormons, uh, type of feed.

(03:22):
Um, if you're going to go withone particular feed, um, stick
with it, um, unless you have tochange, I wouldn't.
So go ahead and just stay withthe same feed that you start
with.
And, um, I think consistency isa big thing.
Also consistency and timefeeding.

(03:42):
These hogs is very important,um, and allowing them to eat for
a certain amount of time.
Um, I'm going to go into this alittle bit further down the
line, so I'll, I'll just kind ofhold off until then also you
need to have a feeding area.
Um, we're going to talk a littlebit about that as well as hand
feeding and then how much theyshould be eating depending on

(04:06):
how much they weigh, uh, feedingequipment and care, um, as well
as a worming or a dewormingschedule and water.
So these are some of the thingswe're going to be talking about
when we, when we talk aboutfeeding and selection.
So the number one thing to thinkof when you're doing your brand
selection for your feed is yourbudget.

(04:27):
You have to feed what you canafford to feed.
Um, we're feeding hogs forseveral months over the summer.
So making sure that we canactually afford that feed to
make it through the project isan important part.
Access is also another part ofthat, having the feed available
to you when you need it.

(04:48):
Um, whether that be, um, at alocal feed store, a supplier
possibly ordering it, uh, youcan get it by the pallet load,
you know, however you choose todo that.
Um, you need to have access andit needs to be fairly reasonable
in terms of getting it.
Then when you're understandingbrand understanding the

(05:12):
nutritional requirements of showpigs is, um, is something very
important to understand?
The biggest thing is thatdifferent pigs need different
feed plans.
No two pigs are ever built thesame and they all kind of need
something that feed can canoffer.

(05:32):
But just as kind of a generalrule, uh, when you're starting
off, we're talking about kind ofthat 50 pound 50 to 120 pound
range, I guess you're usuallygoing to use a 16 to an 18%
protein feed, um, that has about4 to 7% fat and about one to one

(05:53):
and a quarter percent of losinglicense, a very important acid
for pigs, and they need it intheir diet.
Um, without it, they usuallydie.
Um, so you want to keep that inmind when you're buying your
feed, um, to make sure that ithas these three components in
it.
Um, I'm a big fan of guaranteedanalysis feeds that have these

(06:14):
numbers on the tag.
I don't like to see, um,exhibitors using feeds that the
tags are very vague.
So perhaps, you know, a tag willsay not more than 20% protein or
not more than 18% protein, butit's not actually telling you
how much protein is in thatfeed.
Um, that's something that wehave to know when we're feeding

(06:37):
show pigs.
So once you move out of thatkind of starting off point,
you're kind of going to hit themid range, which is 120 to 210
pounds.
That's kind of the top end.
But once again, depending on thetype of pig you have, you might
be on a 16 to an 18% protein.
Um, the fat content may varyvery much as well, so about a 3

(06:58):
to an 8%.
Um, and then of course you needto keep that lysine.
So about 1% is usually ideal.
Then when we're kind of movinginto the last phase, um, this is
where you can now customize yourfeeding program.
Where are you here?
We're talking about the, youknow, 200, 210 to the end, the

(07:20):
end point that you're wantingyour hogs to be at.
Um, every hog has a differentend point.
That is ideal for themunderstanding what that ideal
end point is for them isimportant, um, and feeding as a
strategy to get to that point.
So at this particular point now,as a timing, kind of customized

(07:41):
with supplements, if you needmore muscle, you can go with
higher protein.
If you need more fat, um, youcan add fat.
Um, all those kinds of differentchanges can be made once again,
once a brand is selected, stickto it, unless you have to, or
you need to switch, um, maybeit's unavailable.

(08:04):
Um, something like that.
If you're having a badexperience, your pigs won't eat
that kind of feed, whatever,whatever the situation is, just
make sure that if you're goingto switch feeds that you blend
in the new feed with the oldfeeds slowly so that you can
transition them over, just sothat you can kind of get them
back onto a good eating pattern,feeding time, consistency.

(08:27):
This is a big thing.
That's kind of overlooked pigs.
And honestly, people we like toeat around the same times of
day.
So people we like to eatbreakfast, lunch, and dinner,
and those are all set around thesame time of day.
So, you know, breakfast is inthe morning and lunch is
sometime around 11 to one and adinner can be sometime in the

(08:49):
evening.
So pigs are the same way theyget used to being fed at the
same time every day.
So it's important to pick timesof the day that are going to be
conducive to those hogs, eatingthe most.
Um, they usually eat best duringthe coolest parts of the day.
So yes, it's not fun to have toget up early in the summer, but,

(09:13):
um, if we're going to have theseprojects, that's, that's a
sacrifice that we have to makegetting up in the morning and
feeding from when it's cooloutside.
Um, and then also feeding themwhen it's cool in the evenings
is also a very good, um, a goodthing, so, uh, we'll talk about

(09:34):
a little bit of the feedingarea.
So a feeding area needs to beclean.
It also needs to be close towater.
I don't know about anybody else,but when I'm eating, I kind of
like something drink to go withmy food.
Uh, pigs are no different andreally animals in general are
not any different.
I don't like to, to eat off ofthe, the floor in my house, but

(09:56):
if I had to, I guess I wouldhope that my floor was clean and
we don't feeding pigs on our, onthe floor, on the ground or
anything like that.
But the area that they'refeeding in needs to be clean, it
doesn't need to be full of themanure or just, you know,
crowded with, with straw orshavings or anything like that.
It needs to be kept clean.

(10:18):
Um, and then again, just makingsure that it's close to water,
hand feeding.
I'm, I'm a big fan of handfeeding.
I'm not a big fan necessarily ofon the self feeders, which some
people use in the use themsuccessfully.
And, um, they can be a very goodtool that you can use a hand

(10:40):
feeding is more controlled.
Um, there's also a few benefitsin terms of hand feeding.
You can, um, observe your pigson a daily basis twice a day.
So that way you're able to kindof see them and what's going on.
Um, there's also a teamingaspect goes on with that.

(11:01):
Um, and you can also see howmuch they're eating every day.
So you'll be able to tell themoment that, uh, a hog goes off
of feed because theirconsumption level will go down.
Um, when you're observing yourpigs, some of the things to look
at are their eyes, are they red?
Are they goopy those types ofthings?

(11:22):
Do they have any discharge fromtheir eyes?
Um, this is a good time to kindof look and watch for pink eye,
watching their ears, making surethat they are, um, if they're
erect ears and when they'resupposed to be, um, that they
are in fact direct.
And if you have like a drop or aspot that you don't have, um,
anything going on wrong withtheir ears, um, you can also

(11:45):
check the manure.
Manure is something that isimportant to actually, um, look
at every day.
Um, this, this is going to tellyou a lot about the health of
your hog.
It's going to tell you howthey're processing that feed.
Um, I'm gonna ruin a food groupfor you right now, but it is
important for you to understandthis, that hogs, um, the

(12:07):
consistency of their manureshould be, um, about the
consistency of a soft serve icecream cone.
Um, anything harder than that isa signal for constipation,
anything, uh, looser than that,it would be a concern for
diarrhea.
Okay.
Also something to look at istheir nose.

(12:30):
Um, do they have a runny nose?
Are they having discharge out oftheir nose that can signal some
problems?
Um, just looking at their head,um, are they tilting their head?
Are they walking in circles?
Um, are they shaking theirheads?
Um, uh, a million things couldlead to a pig, holding their
head to their side, um, and alsoshaking their head.

(12:52):
You're also going to want to bepaying attention to their skin
on, do they have any rashes?
Are they sunburned any kind ofbug bites?
Just anything possibly goingwrong with that skin, um, when
you're feeding them as a goodtime to see that, um, the other
thing, when you feed them, arethey active?
Do they get up and come to thefeeder?

(13:13):
Um, or do they lay there and actlethargic?
Um, when they get up, are theylooking okay?
Are their joints swollen?
Is there any limping, anythinglike that that could signal to
you that we have a problem?
Often times, um, identifying theproblem in the beginning is
pretty much a good part of thebattle.

(13:34):
And so when we can see thesethings, when they first start,
we can get control of them a lotearlier, rather than waiting,
and then noticing it days later,um, can be a little detrimental.
Okay.
So I get this question a lot.
How much should my pigs beeating?
Um, and this is really just aguide once again, um, every pig

(13:56):
is different.
Um, and so they're builtdifferent, they've got different
genetics, they've got differenteating habits, what they like,
what they don't like.
So every pig really probablyshould be getting fed
differently for their body type.
Um, however, this is kind ofjust a guide to go off of when

(14:17):
they're 40 to a hundred pounds,you're looking at feeding them
about 4% of their body weight,which is about a pound and a
half to four pounds a day.
Okay.
So when they're 101 to 150,you're looking at about 3.8% of
their body body weight, which isfour to six pounds a day.
So you can see where thiscontinues to go up.

(14:37):
Um, and hence why you shouldthink about your budget when
you're going to be feeding thesetypes of feeds, just because the
older they get, the more they'regoing to consume 150 to 200
pounds.
You go down again to about 3.7,5% of their body weight, but
that is about six to seven and ahalf pounds a day.

(14:58):
Um, two to 300 at our Countyfair.
We top off at 280.
So our weight breaks, um, theminimum weight for a show pig is
200 and the top end is 280.
Um, but I just use 300.
I'm just kind of as around,around number to, uh, put this
together.
And also if you move on to someof the other fairs, they do not

(15:21):
have a maximum weight limit.
So you might want to check thatbefore you go to these specific
fairs on whether they haveminimums and maximums and where
your pig falls into those.
Um, so that 200 to 300 pounds,you're looking at about 3.5% of
their body weight at that pointin time, which is about seven to
11 pounds a day on.

(15:42):
And that's quite a bit, somethings that you're gonna, you're
going to need to do when you'refeeding your hogs.
And these are so important isseparate them when they eat.
It's okay.
If they're in a pen together allday long, hanging out, but
whenever they're eating, theyneed to be separated.
Somehow whether you separatethem in two separate pens, um,

(16:05):
you put one in the pen and oneoutside the pen, you get a pig
board and put it between them.
You can be creative and how youwant to do this.
Um, but just make sure toseparate them.
Um, if you're watching a YouTubevideo, you'll see, I have a, a
picture of about three pigseating out of the feeder that
sat on the ground.

(16:26):
And what happens in these typesof situations is you'll have a
pig that fights off for a couplepigs or so that fights off kind
of the lighter weaker pig.
And so the bigger pigs getbigger and the lighter pigs
never do.
They just kinda continue onalways kind of looking a little

(16:46):
scrawny, um, because they getbeat off of the feed.
So it's just like if you've everhad siblings and somebody just
put out a birthday cake andsaid, have at it?
Um, if you're probably one ofthe younger ones, but one of the
weaker ones, you're probably notgoing to get as much cake as the
others.
They're gonna, your oldersiblings are gonna fight you
off.
It's the same thing with thesepigs.

(17:08):
Another thing is that feedersneed to be clean.
I know I like to eat my food offof a clean plate every day.
Um, pigs are no different.
They don't prefer the moldycrusty, nasty stuff.
That's hanging out in the cornerand stuck to the sides of their

(17:30):
feed pans.
They're not going to eat that.
Um, and it's going to smell thatit's going to taste bad and
there's another possibility forthem to go off of feed and they
can also get sick that way.
So once again, if you'rewatching the YouTube video, but
I'll talk about it.
I have a picture of a feederthat actually hangs on the

(17:51):
fence.
This is good for, um, you know,being able to feed pigs
individually, kinda anywherethat feeds kept off the ground,
which is important.
Um, it's kept clean and, uh, youcan take these off of the fence
when you're done feeding andclean them.
I would also stay away fromkeeping old feed in those pans

(18:13):
for much longer than a day.
So I kind of think of it asleftovers.
Sure.
Some leftovers are good forseveral days.
Um, but for these pigs, what I,what I personally think is that,
um, if they don't finishsomething up at breakfast, um,
depending on how much is left,um, if it's just a little bit,

(18:34):
I'll leave it in there and feedit to him again, as part of
their nightly feed.
But if they, once again at thatnightly feeding, leave some feed
in that feed pan, I actuallytake it out and dump it out.
And every night the feedersactually go into a big, um,
cattle feed, tub, full of water,and it soaks overnight.

(18:58):
And then in the morning we getup and we grab those feeders out
of that, um, soaking water.
We wash them off, clean themout, and then we put brand new,
fresh feed in those feedersevery morning, no matter what.
And that's a really importantpoint and keeping these hogs on
feed, they don't want to eat outof really gross feed pans, just

(19:21):
like we don't want to eat off ofa dirty plate over and over and
over again.
Um, so I might probably be alittle extreme in terms of how
we clean our feeders, but, um, Iwould encourage you to please
keep those feeders clean.
And you're just doing yourself afavor as well as them keeping
them on feed and keeping themfrom being sick.

(19:42):
It's a simple solution, um, thatcould save you money down the
road in terms of trying to fightoff some sort of, um, a
sickness, a virus, somethinglike that, something else to
keep in mind, the type offeeders that you're going to be
using.
I'm kind kinda skipping aroundhere, but I talk about the
feeder that hangs on the fence.
This keeps them from laying init.

(20:05):
Um, I have a picture on theslide show, a pig.
Who's laying in his feed, hisfeed trough, it's on the ground,
you know, and, and we know pigsand we know animals and stuff,
and they will use the bathroom,you know, for the most part in
the same place.
But, um, usually when you leavea feeder in the pen somewhere,
um, even some of these that hangon the fence, um, they will use,

(20:27):
use the bathroom and it goesinto those feed pans.
And I don't know about you, butI don't want to, I don't want to
eat off of anything thatsomebody used the bathroom on.
Another important thing to haveis a feed scale.
So when I'm talking about allthese weights in terms of pounds
per day, all these types ofthings well, how do we know what

(20:50):
we're feeding per day?
And this is, I know there's,there's going to be a lot of
extension agents and, andteachers and even parents out
there and project leaders.
They're going to laugh when I,when I say this, um, you go to a
kiddos house and you ask them,well, how much are they eating?
How much are you feeding?
And they tell you, well, it's a,a cup of this and a cup of that,

(21:10):
you know, or a coffee can ofthis and a coffee can have that
or, or whatever.
And, but they don't really knowactually how many pounds those
coffee cans or cups are, um,nothing wrong with the coffee
can with the cup, but knowinghow, how much, uh, weight in
terms of feed are in those isimportant to know.

(21:31):
Um, I went to Walmart and found,a very cheap little, uh, scale
that you can use to a littlescale that you can use to weigh
your food.
And whenever, whenever I boughtit, I think it was about like$14

(21:52):
or so.
And it measures all the waydown.
It measures pounds down, toounces.
And for me, that's important.
And for anybody who's feedingpigs, that's typically important
and feed scales can be used.
You can find them anywhere.
You can find out what tractorsupply, all kinds of different
stores carry an actual feedscale.

(22:12):
Or you can go to Walmart and geta, a food scale like you would
use, or a person I'm going toskip this next one, just because
I have already kind of talkedabout it.
Um, you know, having theatersthat hang on a fence, the last
point in this particular part istraining your pigs to eat.
Everybody thinks of pigs asbeing these, you know, food

(22:33):
devouring animals that you neverhave to worry about them going
off of feed, um, or having anykind of problem with them,
eating anybody who's everraised.
Show hogs knows that that's nottrue.
They are actually veryparticular about what they eat
when they eat it.
Um, so when we talk abouttraining your pigs to eat, what

(22:54):
does that mean?
That means food in front ofthem, and then giving them a set
amount of time, time to eat it,not allowing them to free feed.
So this obviously goes back tothat hand feeding aspect, kind
of a more controlled type offeeding.
And like I said, you kind ofhave, you have to train them.
This is a train to learnbehavior.

(23:15):
So it's also kind of the samething for when you were a kid
and your mom put your food downin front of you.
You had, you know, a set amountof time to eat that food.
And if you didn't need it, well,you are going to go hungry after
that.
So same thing for these pigs,you may want to try out, try out
, um, you know, every pig eatsdifferent.

(23:37):
Some of them are a little bitslower.
Some of them will gobble itright up.
Um, so, you know, maybe startout with a 45 minute feeding
period, um, and see how thatgoes.
And while you're out thereobserving them, hence why you
sit out there, you know, you canbe cleaning or doing something
like that, but watch who getsdone first and how much feed

(23:57):
they've been fed.
So if you have one that he eatsreally fast, you know, depending
on how fast he's eating, you canprobably start to cut him back.
You have one that's, you know,taking the full 45 minutes and
needed more.
Um, that one needs to be, keep,probably keep it that 45
minutes, but you still have topull that feed at the end of the

(24:20):
45.
So the slow pig that's eating,um, we're going to try to get
him to go down to, um, you know,this is kind of, it's a process.
So every day or every few days,another five minutes off, so
starting at 45, you take it awayand then you give him 40 minutes
and then you take it away.

(24:41):
And then you give in 35 minutesand you take it away.
Um, pigs ideally should eattheir food.
And about 20 to 30 minutes.
So, uh, whatever works for you,um, I'm pretty comfortable with
leaving feed in the feed panfor, in the feeders for about 30
minutes, 20, 30 minutes.
And, uh, just taking that timeto really observe these hogs

(25:04):
while they eat, um, to make surethat, uh, everything's okay with
them.
And, and then this way theylearn that whenever you put feed
in front of them, it's time toeat.
There's no messing around.
It's just like kids.
And so they learn that I'm goingto eat this, or I'm going to go
hungry and they pick it uppretty fast.

(25:27):
Okay.
Um, another aspect that I'mgoing to talk about is worming,
or when should be done every 30days and, um, you should rotate
your wormers.
Um, several people, um, agreewith this, that, um, these
parasites can become resistantto a specific time or a specific

(25:52):
type of a warmer.
So, um, you know, rotating thosewarmers in and out, you know,
safeguard one month decomax, thenext invermectin for that, you
know, however you want to dothat.
Um, just make sure you'rerotating those monthly and
making sure to use a wormerevery 30 and some people say 45

(26:15):
days, but I just, I always kindof go by, um, I do it at the
same time of the month.
So I work in the middle of themonth, but, um, some people were
at the beginning of the month.
And so they know it's thebeginning of the month or it's
coming up.
It's time to make, make somedecisions about the type of
wormer that we're going to use.
I will tell you this, that ifyou use, um, ivermectin and

(26:39):
you're going to give a shot, itdoes burn, it burns, it burns
them.
Um, it stings, I should say.
So it's not any different thanprobably any kind of shot that
we've ever had that possiblystung.
Um, but just kinda know thatyou're going to get a reaction
out of these Hogs when you givethem a shot of ivermectin.

(26:59):
Okay.
Failed to talk about on thatpast slide was that you, you
obviously are going to need toknow the weight of your hog.
You're going to need to have astarting weight of what they
weigh.
So you can kind of gauge a plan,um, just feeding without knowing
, um, is really just kind of astrategy for a disaster.

(27:21):
You're either going to have apig that's too light and they've
been too light for too long, um,with no change in their, uh, the
amount of food they've beengetting to eat.
And so then we run into havingto push pigs, um, pushing them
to try to make weight.

(27:42):
Um, also we might have a pigthat we've just been throwing,
uh, feed out there and they eatit and we walk away and they're
getting really close to lookinglike they're going to weigh out.
So meaning they're going to beabove that 280 pounds for the
County fair.
So you've got to have a startingweight to begin with at some

(28:05):
point, now's a good time for ourparticular fair, which by the
way, is in September endSeptember.
And really by this point, pigsreally need to be weighed on a
weekly schedule or a biweeklyschedule.
This will give you an idea ofhow much, um, how much feed
they're getting fed per day andhow much you're that feed.

(28:27):
They're now converting intopounds, weight gained.
Um, so we can calculate, um, howmany, how many paint pounds per
day, they're actually gainingoff the feed that they're
getting fed.
Um, and that's going to help usto kind of start to project
where if they kept going at thatlevel, um, you know, where they

(28:48):
would, they would end up backthere at the end of September.
So that way you can kind of knowthis pig's kind of behind.
We need to start to try to gethim to eat a little bit more,
gain some more, those types ofthings early on.
So that way you can, you cancatch up early rather than
later.
Um, same thing on the holdingyou can start to see, Oh my

(29:08):
gosh, this pig's going to bereally heavy.
We need to start.
Um, we need to possibly changeour, our feeding strategy soon
to kind of cut him back, um, tomake sure that he doesn't go
over that 280 pound Mark.
Um, so some things that areimportant there, I, I kinda, I
hear people sometimes say, well,it's too early to be, to be

(29:29):
weighing.
And, and that's a personalpreference, but, uh, those of us
who have been doing this for awhile, um, and, uh, and been
around it for a long enough, weknow that, uh, weighing is, is a
very vital part of this projectto keep on track.
Um, it's also good for them too,that they learn how to walk
through a scale on a regularbasis, and then they're not

(29:53):
afraid of it.
Um, so you don't get to theCounty fair and they're afraid
of walking over a scale.
Okay.
Um, so on this next slide, themost important feeding strategy
is actually water, water, water,water.
And I always think thatsometimes this is a stupid slide
or something that is unnecessaryto ness to talk about.

(30:17):
However, um, it's very, veryimportant and really overlooked
pigs need clean, cool and freshwater on the slides here.
I have a picture of a waterbucket that's just full of muddy
water.
And I don't know about anybodyelse, but I don't want to drink

(30:37):
that.
I don't want to drink thatunless I absolutely have to, to
live.
That's what ends up happeningwith these hogs that have water
that looks like this.
Um, most of the time their,they're generally dehydrated all
of the time because they don'twant to drink that dirty water.
I would be the same way.
I would probably lay there untilI felt like I was going to die.

(31:03):
And then I would possibly drinksome of that water.
Um, this water could have mold,dirt, blood, um, uh, maybe my
own manure in it or algae otherpigs manure in it.
I mean, I just don't think Ireally want to drink that unless
I absolutely had to.

(31:24):
So we want to make sure thatyour water has no mold, no dirt,
no mud, no manure, no algaegrowing in it.
Um, all of these things areimportant.
So different types of there'sseveral different types of
watering systems.
I'm a big, you know, I'm a bigfan of the pipe waters, the PVC

(31:47):
pipe with the nipple.
Um, those are good.
They work really good.
They're easy to clean cause youcan periodically once a week or
so, take the pipe out a good pen.
You can dump all that water out,that's in it and you can spray
it out and put nice fresh waterin it.
That's an easy one.

(32:08):
Um, the thing I'm going to tellyou is to make sure to check
that those nipples are actuallyworking from time to time, you
can get sand or dirt or build upin those nipples and then they
won't let out enough water.
And so you you're offering thewater, but they can't get enough
of it.
And yes, it is clean, but theycan't get enough of it.
Um, so watching that on those,um, the nipple waters, some

(32:32):
people prefer, um, you know,like a 55 gallon plastic drum or
, um, something to that effectwith the water in it or a 35
gallon.
Uh, the only thing I'm going tocaution you on that is that you
want to be able to keep thewater as fresh as you can and as
cool as you can.
So it takes a while for a pig todrink down some of these bigger,

(32:58):
uh, waters.
So, um, from time to time,you're going to want to make
sure that you, you know, you'rekind of opening up that water
and making sure that the wateris still fresh, just because
it's a 35 gallon water does notmean you have to fill it up to
35 gallons.
Um, you can go, you know, somany gallons a day just to make

(33:20):
sure that that water is in factfresh.
Another thing that I, I like todo sometimes in the summer when
we had pipe waters was, uh, puta little bit of ice in the water
in the morning.
It kind of keeps that water inthose pipes of the cooler
throughout the day.
And then they're more likely towant to drink some nice, cool

(33:40):
water when it gets really hot.
So that's something you can dowith the pipe water.
That's something you can do with, um, you know, the, the barrel
waters, those types of things.
Um, just making sure there's noold water, those types of
things.
An important thing to think ofis that muscle is actually made
up of 75 to 80% water.

(34:03):
So water is a really, reallyimportant part of the feeding
strategy.
That's probably the mostoverlooked.
Uh, so I'm going to say, if youpossibly can help it on stay
away from this type of bucketwatering system, you know,
anything they can land, anythingthat they can, um, poop in

(34:29):
anything they can tip over allthose types of things, like try
to avoid those at all costs, ifyou can, but no matter what you
do, please, uh, clean them,clean them daily, if you can.
Um, if you're going to have touse a bucket, just make sure
that it's clean makes it, thatit doesn't get tipped over, make

(34:49):
sure that it's cool, make surethat it's fresh, you know, no
dead flies in it.
Those types of things is do thebest that you can with what you
have with the nipple waters andthe, and the buckets and the,
the barrels.
Um, once again, I would justtake those once a week and dump
them out, put fresh water in,make sure the nipples are

(35:10):
working.
Um, probably a task thatwouldn't take you more than 15
minutes.
So something very important whenpigs aren't getting enough
water, they are going to go offof feed.
That's just a, that's just theway that kind of works.
Okay.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about some of the daily care
type of things.

(35:31):
I'm going to talk about, tamingthem down, walking them and
training them, washing them,cleaning their pens, as well as
talk about sunscreen andtanning.
These might be things that youwere not aware of in terms of
them being important.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about each one of these
taming is part of training,probably the most important

(35:53):
part, because if you don't havea team hog, you it's really
difficult to train them.
Um, so I like to say ourrelationship needs to exist
between the exhibitor and thehog.
That doesn't mean that parentscan't be out there to, or
grandparents or whoever, but therelationship ideally needs to
belong between the exhibitor andthe animal that they will be

(36:16):
exhibiting.
Okay.
Um, so here's how you do that.
And this is the easiest, funpart of having a show pig is in
the beginning, this'll be easyto get your kids to do, to spend
about 15 to 20 minutes a day,just brushing them, rubbing them
heading, um, um, just gettingthem used to the exhibitor,

(36:41):
being around kind of gainingsome sort of trust.
Um, you can always feed treats.
You can get vanilla wafers,cookies, marshmallows, um,
anything kind of sweet that theymight like and feed those treats
to them, rub all over onthey'll.
They'll quickly learn that, Hey,this person is my friend.
Then you're going to want tomove into like getting your whip

(37:03):
and you can use your whip toactually rub them and scratch
them.
And what you're doing at thispoint is you're making it a
positive experience between you,your pig and the tool that
you're going to be using toguide them, which would be your
pig with a whip.
whip is nothing more than atool.
Um, it's not, it's not a, youknow, it's not a weapon or

(37:25):
anything like that.
It's a tool to be used so thatwe can guide these pigs where
they need to go and, and getthem moving in the direction and
the look that we need.
So using that whip to rub themand scratch them with it will
make a positive experience.
That that way they don't fearthe whip.
Walking and training.
You're gonna want to start slow.

(37:47):
And you're going to want tostart at about five minutes and
try to move up into a 10 minute.
And then a 15 minute type ofrange.
You're going to want to find asmall area first to work them.
That could be an alley or asmall pin, something like that,
just so that they don't runaway.
You're going to need to take twobats with you.

(38:08):
You're going to use them undertheir chin.
I'm teaching them to keep theirhead up.
Um, when you tap them on theside of their job, that is to
turn.
And, um, when you tap on theside of the body, that is to
make them move, to make themwalk.
So that's kind of their gobutton, tapping them on the head
and thinking that they're goingto walk, usually doesn't work

(38:28):
real well.
Um, so you can see exhibitors,um, you know, alternating
between, um, just underneaththeir chin to keep their head up
and, and going back and forth tothe side where they're trying to
get them to, to keep moving.
Okay.
Once you gain more control, youcan move to a larger area and
you can use only one whip.

(38:49):
Don't rush it.
Um, I would wait until youactually have the control that
you need with the two whipsbefore you move to just using
one.
Another thing to do when you'regoing to work, your pigs is make
sure to keep them cool.
Um, you can spray them down withwater to have like a little pump
sprayer that you can, you know,kind of spray them down.

(39:11):
Pigs can not sweat.
So therefore when you spray themwith water, that water helps
keep their body temperature downso you can get a hose or
something like that.
And while they're out there justperiodically spray them off just
to help keep them cool andthat'll help keep them from
stressing and making it anegative experience.

(39:33):
Again, you want to reinforcepositive experiences.
Otherwise these pigs will notwant to work for you when they
leave their pen.
They're going to remember, Ohno, we have to go for a walk.
And it's horrible and it's hot.
And you know, they're just notgoing to want to work for you.
Another thing is don't overworkand don't overstress these hogs,

(39:56):
some signs and symptoms of thatis heavy panting.
They start foaming at the mouth,some really high pitched,
squealing, laying down andrefusing to move.
Um, this is when some of thesehogs can start to be
experiencing a stress episode, aheat stress there.
They're getting stressed out andthey just, they can't deal with

(40:16):
it.
Um, they're getting too hot, uh,those types of things.
So if you, if you notice that apig is starting to open their
mouth and breathe some heavypanting foaming at the mouth, it
might be time to take a littlebit of a break after that pig,
some water, spray them down andget them kind of back into, um,

(40:37):
into motion in a healthy way, uh, once again and endon a good
note reward, good behavior.
And it, depending on the pig,depends on what that good note
is.
In the beginning.
If you have a pig, that's arunner and we're still trying to
get him to kinda slow down alittle bit.

(40:58):
You're probably not able to do awhole lot of head work on that
when you're just trying to gethim to slow down and just walk.
That can be a win.
If he, if he does it, you know,consistently for a few minutes,
go ahead and reward him bygiving him treats, belly rubs,
all those types of things.
Pigs are very smart.
They learn very quickly.

(41:19):
So you're going to want to endon a good note and reward that
good behavior you're going towant to work your pigs at least
five to seven days a week.
Um, I think we were working ourssix days a week.
We take Sundays off, work themin a place or during a cool part
of the day.
We've talked about that.
So either in the cool part ofthe morning or in the evening,

(41:39):
um, whichever you prefer pigsand, the exhibitors need
endurance.
Pigs need to be able to drivewith their heads up for at least
20 minutes by the end of thesummer.
So we don't expect those hogs tonecessarily have that endurance
at this particular point intime.
But by the end of the summer,with the amount of weight that
they're carrying, they should beable to drive with their heads

(42:02):
up for at least 20 minutes.
And that's gonna, that's goingto be roughly about as long as
they will spend in a class inthe showroom, you're going to
want to practice the way youcompete.
You're just out there just kindof going through the motions.
Cause just kind of going throughthe motions, sauntering along,

(42:22):
that's not practicing the wayyou compete.
So then when you go into theshow ring and all of a sudden
you really, you know, you reallyget with it or the kids really
get with it.
The pigs are like, Hey, wedidn't do this at home.
So why are, why are we doingthis now?
What are you wanting me to do?
Something you can do to help ishave someone be the judge, have
a parent, a sibling friend,gosh, you can even use a fence

(42:45):
post.
If you're all by yourself, picka fence post.
And that could be your judge.
And you show that pig to thatfence post the best that you
can.
And you're going to walk thempast them several times, let
them have a rear view frontview, understanding how to keep
your distance from the judge,keeping them off the fence, all
those types of things.

(43:05):
Those need to be practiced athome.
If they don't get practiced athome, you're more than likely
going to see a pig fight you inthe ring.
And sometimes you have pig fightyou anyway, but doing, you know,
practicing things, the wayyou're going to compete is going
to be ideal in training thesehogs, um, you should be able to

(43:26):
pin and unpinned your pig withno assistance from anyone else.
By the end of the summer, youcan practice this.
You can make a little, littlemakeshift pin in your little
practice area and practicedriving that hog to the pin,
opening the gate, putting thepig in the pin and shutting the

(43:46):
gate behind you.
You should be able to do that bythe end of the summer, if not
sooner, with no help fromanybody else.
Um, meaning no help from pigboards, nothing you should be
able to.
The exhibitors should be able touse a whip and get that pig into
that pen.
Also, they should be able todrive them out of that pin back
out by opening the gate, drivingthe pig out and then shutting

(44:09):
the gate behind him.
That's just some goodshowmanship tips to use while
you're practicing that you'regoing to want to work your hogs
independently or sometimes inpairs.
Uh, obviously when we take ourpigs to the show ring, they're
out there with several otherpigs.
It's not just them bythemselves.
So sometimes you have to kind ofwork pigs or train pigs in pairs

(44:29):
because they do better.
But if you can try to work themindependently and get them to
practice paying attention tojust the exhibitor and not
worrying about their buddies,and you're not going to want to
wait two weeks before the Countyfair to train, the judge knows
who has done the work at homeand who hasn't the instant you

(44:51):
walk through the gate.
They can tell instantly who hasbeen doing the work at home.
Um, so don't wait for the Countyfair to be coming up in two
weeks.
And then all of a sudden worryabout, you know, getting that
head up and being able to drivethem and driving them further 20
minutes.
This is an all summer projectthat needs to take all summer.

(45:11):
Something I like to mention isyou wouldn't go all summer
without bathing.
Would you?
I know I wouldn't.
I would be really crusty byabout the end of the week.
Nevermind the entire summernobody would want to be around
me.
I'd be really, really stinky.
Pigs are the same way.
They don't feel good necessarilywhen they're dirty.

(45:31):
um just like we don't.
So going all summer withoutbeating these hogs is kind of
about idea.
They need to be washed with amild soap, um, weekly, or, or
sometimes biweekly, especiallythe white or the mostly light
colored hogs.
They need to be washed possiblyeven more than that to keep
their skin from staining, by mudmanure, all those types of

(45:53):
things.
So it's just like everythingelse.
Um, create a routine.
Um, you have a feeding routine,you have a training exercise
routine.
You need to have a washingroutine, a weighing routine.
All these types of things offerthese hogs, um, experience and
it's for their own good.
And for, and for the exhibitoras well.

(46:15):
We, wash these hugs, uh, atleast weekly or biweekly just to
keep them clean, keep them fromstaining and you don't have to
go all out on, on the types ofproducts you're going to use.
You know, just some cheap suavesoap is fine just to get them
cleaned off at least once aweek.
So you could pick a day that we,you know, we clean or we wash

(46:39):
our pigs or, or, you know, thosetypes of things.
So like for us, we, we deepclean our pins on Sundays,
meaning we pull everything outand clean everything.
And then we also wash those pigsbefore we put them back into
there.
They're completely clean pins.
We cleaned their pens every day,but, um, it's just mostly kind

(47:01):
of a pooper scooper type of athing.
We just kind of scoop up thepoop that's around and kind of
move on.
It's a quick little thing once aweek, we actually get in there
and uh, really clean everythingdown.
Um, and at that point that'swhen we also wash our hogs.
So that way we're not putting adirty hog into a clean
environment.

(47:21):
The other thing, um, I kind oftalked about this a little bit
is keeping your pens clean tohelp keep your pigs clean.
If you've got dirt in your pins,nothing wrong with that.
I'm just making sure that youkind of limit the amount of mud
that they're making.
Um, especially if you've gotwhite and hogs, white hugs and
need to be white.
So trying to keep them fromstaining is important.

(47:44):
Keeping them from laying intheir own manure, where they're
going to end up with a stain ontheir skin.
This kind of gives them, uh, anot fresh look whenever the
judge is looking at them,they're just calling out.
They're looking a little, littlestale, just not, not really
quite having that show pig.
Look, this is a beauty pageantshowing pigs as a beauty
pageant, just like showing goatsand lambs and steers.

(48:06):
It is a beauty pageant.
So it's important to keep thatskin clean thing to remember is
to get condition.
The skin use lotion.
You can use baby oil, mane andtail swine conditioners,
whatever your budget allows.
Just make sure to condition thatskin much like people, pigs,
their skin dries out.

(48:27):
It gets scaly and dry and itjust doesn't have a good, fresh
look to it.
So remembering to condition thatskin is very important.
Um, it's also going to help kindof repel, um, dirt.
They make, they makeconditioners that also repel
insects as well.
So flies and mosquitoes.
Um, so you choose whatever'sbest for you.

(48:49):
And also when you wash, it feelsgood for them.
Um, you can do it in theevenings when it's kind of
cooler at the end of the day,it's refreshing, it's got a
calming element to it.
Um, and it's also an experience.
Um, you're going to be washingthese pigs at the County fairs.
The jackpots that you go to, youdon't want their first
experience with a water hose ina wash rack to be at the County

(49:13):
fair.
That's when you start to hearpigs squealing, they're having a
hard time with it is becausethis is the first time they've
ever had to do that.
And it's very difficult for themto understand why, why do I have
to do this now?
Why are you spraying me downwith water?
Why are you washing me formonths?
I've just kind of lived the wayI was, um, in my pin.

(49:35):
So why, why are we doing thisnow?
It's very difficult for them tounderstand.
So whenever you wash them on aregular basis, you're giving
them experience clean pens.
Okay.
This is a tough one.
Um, we're living here in NewMexico.
Um, monsoon season comes it allof a sudden starts to rain here

(49:56):
where you're very dry up untilthen not having a whole lot of
rain.
So it's not super difficult tokeep these pens clean.
Once it starts to rain, then westart to kind of run into some
problems.
So some things to keep in mindis that the pins really need to
be cleaned every day, twice aday, whether that be while
they're eating or something, yougo in with your pooper, scooper
rake, and you scoop out themanure, you get a shovel and go

(50:21):
around and try to get up all thewet spots, all those types of
things you're going to need toremove.
All of the manure pins reallyshould be dry, no puddles.
That's hard to do part of doingour part of the world if you
have sand.
So just try to do the best thatyou can with what you have.
So try to limit the amount ofwater that is available, you

(50:45):
know, to get into those pens.
Meaning if your pens are at thelow end of your property, once
it starts to rain, all thatwater is going to rush into
those pins.
So either put up some sort of aberm or something around it, to
where the water can't get in.
Also making sure that we haveshade and covering over those
pins to where, um, you know,the, the rainwater can't

(51:08):
directly actually get into thepens and that those pigs have
somewhere dry to be anotherthing.
If you have a nipple water, thewater comes, it spills out of
their mouth.
It gets on the ground.
And then they'll try to start tocreate an actual mud hole.
You have to really watch that.
So from time to time, you mayhave to dig out all of that mud

(51:32):
and then replace it with, withdry sand pretty regularly or
shavings or something like that.
So just trying to keep your pensas clean as possible in these
pictures, you kind of see whatI'm talking about.
I've had, I've seen some, somepretty bad, uh, pretty bad pins
several times where there wasn'ta dry spot in the whole place.

(51:54):
Mud is going to happen in yourinner pig pens, but just trying
to be able to give them at leasta dry spot to be in.
Um, once again, when you keepthose pins clean, um, you can
see these are all white hogs.
Um, some of which are probablynot show hogs, but if they were,
it's going to be reallydifficult to get some of those
stains out, just because theydon't have anywhere to be where

(52:17):
they're not in these muddy,muddy pits, muddy puddles, uh,
making sure that they're notlaying in their own manure.
All those types of things arevery, very important.
Um, clean pins are alsoimportant for, um, if they spill
their feed, you know, even outof a, a hanging feeder, they're

(52:38):
going to spill some on theground.
And when she pulled that, thattheater away from they're going
to try to eat some of it off ofthe ground.
That's just the way that thatgoes.
Hopefully the ground is clean.
Hopefully there's no manure oranything in the area where they
can eat that too.
I don't know about anybody else,but I don't prefer to eat in the
bathroom.
And, and, uh, these pigs don'teither, uh, next, we're going to

(53:01):
talk about sunburn and tanning.
So two separate types of skintopics, dark pigs, and this
includes the rocks.
They need to be dark and light.
Pigs need to be liked if youallow your, your dark hogs to
suntan every day for 15 to 20minutes, um, which is also best

(53:22):
done in the morning, it's gonnamake that dark skin really pop.
So you can actually put atanning oil on the darker parts
of them, or if they're an allblack pig over their whole body,
send them outside for about 15,20 minutes to get a tan.
Again, this is kind of done bestin the morning, or at least if

(53:43):
all else in the cooler parts ofthe day, I don't recommend
laddering them up in oil andsending them out at, you know,
noon to three o'clock because itis hot and they're going to get
overheated that way.
And we wouldn't want to probablydo that.
So it's not best to do that tothem.
You can, you can get the bestrays of light to tan in the

(54:05):
morning.
All the women out there probablyknow that tanning is not a big
hit anymore in terms of the fad,but anybody who's ever laid out
to 10 knows that it's best donein the morning.
Light hogs need to have limitedexposure to sunlight.
So their pins need to haveshade, or they need to be kept
in the back somewhere wherethey're, they're limited to the

(54:27):
amount of sunlight that they canactually get into.
And if you've ever had whitehogs, they will find it.
They will find the smallest bitof sunlight to lay in and burn
themselves.
So making sure that they havelimited exposure, I have seen
pigs that were so badlysunburned.

(54:47):
They were so red and scaly thattouching them, just like when we
get a sunburn, it hurt them sobad.
And it really just killed me tosee that, to see that animal and
that way.
And we wouldn't want to betreated like that.
So we don't need to be treatingour animals that way either.
Um, a tarp, anything can be usedfor shade, um, small, tin,

(55:09):
anything that you can find tomake shade, please make it
available for, um, especiallythose light colored hogs.
Um, just so they, they don'thave to be sunburned.
And if all else fails, pleaseput on sunscreen, put some
sunscreen on your kids, putsunscreen on you and put
sunscreen on those pigs.
When we have Hampson crossesspots, Burks, those need to

(55:33):
suntan as well, but we also needto keep those white areas white.
So you're actually doing twoseparate things there.
We have a hamp pig.
We also have a spot pig that we,we send outside every day to, to
tan.
And with those, with those two,what we do is we put some
tanning oil on darker parts andwe spray on some sunscreen

(55:57):
around that belt, on hamp andtry to cover some of those white
areas on the spot, the 50 SPFsunscreen.
And then we send them outside totan.
So that way, those darker areasof their skin actually get
darker.
If light color hogs are in a pen, like I said, where they can
find sun, they're going to doit.

(56:19):
So make sure that if you'reusing sunscreen on an all white
hog or a mostly white hog bluebutts, that type of stuff, um,
that you get a waterproofsunscreen.
And then another thing toremember is that if they're
exposed to the sun or can be,um, you have to reapply that
sunscreen several times a day.
So it's kind of one or theother, or both, if you will.

(56:43):
Um, if you're going to have themexposed to the sun, you either
have to provide shade and, or asunscreen, and that sunscreen
needs to be reapplied severaltimes a day.
So it's a, it's a very bigcommitment.
It's something that I'm a verybig fan of, um, in terms of
biosecurity and health.
And it's very overlooked as well, uh, limiting exposure to your

(57:05):
pigs from the outside.
I know our kids want to have funand they want to hang out
together during the summer.
And usually, you know, yourkids, their friends also do the
same thing.
Your kids do.
They have shell animals andsuch, but maybe let's not, uh,
allow, you know, if, if you knowa friend down the street,
they've got sick pigs and thekiddo comes over to play with

(57:28):
your kid, you know, maybe let'sjust stay away from the pig pens
in terms of that other kidcoming in, um, and playing
anywhere around the pigs oranything like that, rubbing on
him or anything like that, justbecause that's how diseases and
viruses actually get spread.
It's very much like people.
Um, if you have someone comingto the outside or from the

(57:48):
outside of your facility on,that's been around other pigs,
you can make them wearprotective booties, or you can
have them dip their shoes in afoot bath made of some sort of,
you can use bleach, bleach,water, you know, anything that's
going to kill viruses, germs,bacteria, just to help keep the
health of your animals.

(58:10):
I will say this, that, um, andI'm, I'm an extension agent I
always wear when I would go topeople's, we started doing this,
we wear the protective bootiesand we changed them in between
visits, or if we have to use onepair of them for several, we'll
actually spray them down with,um, uh, a bleach water spray, um

(58:36):
, in between the, under theunderneath and the sides and
everything, and really get themthem cleaned off.
I think that we were wellintentioned, but as extension
agents and ag teachers andproject leaders, um, when we're
going from multiple houses,we're collecting multiple
different germs bacteriaviruses, and then we're
spreading it around.

(58:57):
Um, so just to help keep youranimals, um, as healthy as they
can be, don't be afraid toprotect them.
Um, making sure that nobody fromthe outside is bringing any,
anything in, um, you're nevergoing to go to a big breeder and
them just let you walk throughtheir facility without anything
on your shoes.

(59:17):
Um, whether that be on theprotective booties or they make
you walk through a dip andsometimes they make you do both.
Another thing is outside.
Visitors need to wash theirhands before they touch your
pigs.
They should probably work glovesif they can't wash their hands
or, um, you know, it gets themsome antibacterial type of
wipes.
If they've been touching othertheir pigs.

(59:39):
And this goes for other animalsas well, you can spread ringworm
very easily within sheep, um,just by touching another one.
And this, this goes for myself,uh, all the extension agents and
act teachers out there.
Um, you're going to want to makesure your scales are sanitized
in between wing, but they'rebeing used by several visitors.
So when we, when we would goaround and, and weigh animals,

(01:00:03):
um, you know, we'd be weighingseveral animals throughout the
day.
And if stop number one has, has,uh, a virus or something going
around in their pigs and thatgets onto your scales.
And then everybody's pigs thatgo through there.
After that aren't exposed topossibly getting sick with
whatever the first pig had.
So you're gonna want to makesure that, um, you know, you

(01:00:25):
talked to your ad teacher, yourextension agent about making
sure that those skills have beensanitized it's, it's not hard to
spray them off, um, spray themout, um, after every visit and
then just get a spray bottle ofbleach bleach water and spring
them down to make sure thatthey're sanitized sanitize your

(01:00:45):
pins regularly, especially ifyou've had some sickness, if
you've got animals that havebeen sick, kind of over it, um,
it's a good, it's a good idea togo ahead and pull everything
out, sanitize, get some of thatspray bleach water and go
through your pins as best youcan and let and let them be
sanitized spring, the fences,those types of things, washing

(01:01:07):
all of the feeders, the waters,um, walls.
If you have to really gettingthat dirt clean, as much as you
can.
One thing too, is that, uh, sickhogs need to be separated from
your healthy ones and as bestthat you can, um, try to keep
them separate.
It's just like whenever we getsick, they tell you to stay

(01:01:27):
home.
So that way you don't bring itto work or school with, with you
and give it to everybody else.
It's the same thing.
I try to get those sick hogs tobe kind of in a separate area,
just so that they're able torecover by themselves without
spreading it to anybody elseafter sickness, you're going to
want to make sure that you wantto, you know, sanitize your

(01:01:48):
facility before a hog returns.
I kinda talked about thatbefore, just so you can kind of
limit the chances of themgetting sick.
Um, on this last note, thisusually goes for jackpots and
County fairs and things likethat limits your hog, rubbing
noses with other hogs when theyrub noses with each other as a

(01:02:12):
good, a good way for them tospread germs between each other.
So if you're going to a jackpot,try to keep your hogs away from
other peoples, keep them fromrubbing noses, keep them from
exchanging any type of fluid,saliva, that kind of stuff
that's going to kind of help.

(01:02:32):
Um, and keeping your pigshealthy.
The last slide I'm going to betalking about, of course, all
the way through your project.
You're not going to want toforget about record keeping.
And I have a completelydifferent video on this.
Um, and that's about the 4-Hlivestock record app.
And on this app, I use it use itevery day.

(01:02:53):
It's really helpful in terms ofyou can, once you get on a
weight schedule, you can keepthe weights of your, all the
separate animals that you mayhave.
So pigs, goats, sheep, all theabove can actually keep their
weights in there.
You can also calculate theirdaily gain because of the
weights that you're able to see.

(01:03:15):
So you can kind of see howthey're gaining or losing.
That could be a big problem, um,unless you're trying to, and
then, uh, feed weights, um, youcan keep track of your notes
for, you know, right now we'refeeding this, this many pounds
of feed to this pig per day.
Um, or when you changed, youwent up, you went back, all
those types of things can be,um, kept changes in feed.

(01:03:38):
So if you find that a pig is notdoing well on a certain brand of
feed, and you decide that you'regoing to change, um, you can
then document that and see ifit's actually working.
And it'll help you keep aschedule of your deworming, any
supplements that you may beusing as well as any of your
expenses, that you may beincurring with this project,
which you will incur expenseswith this project and possibly

(01:04:02):
some income, and it'll help youkeep track of what you've spent
and what you've made.
Um, and this is a good learningtool for these kids to
understand, you know, whatthese, these, uh, these projects
actually cost.
And, and it's a very biglearning tool for them.
So I hope you'll join me on mynext one.
Uh, the next lesson's going tobe about goats, lambs, and

(01:04:24):
steers.
Those will be separate.
So I'll have one for goats, andthen I'll have one about lambs
and then I'll have one aboutsteers.
And this information is providedcourtesy of the grant County
cooperative extension service.
Uh, my name is JessicaSwapp-Massengill.
And, um, I am the grant County4-H ag agent.
Um, if you're needing to getahold of me, my phone number is

(01:04:45):
[phone].
I'm currently not in the officeevery day, uh, just due to
COVID-19.
So sometimes the best way to gethold of me is through my email.
[e-mail].
I hope this was beneficial foryou.
You'll join us on the next one.

(01:05:07):
Thanks everyone for listening.
If you enjoy this podcast, don'tforget to hit the subscribe
button on Apple podcast,Stitcher, Google play, or
whatever app you're using tolisten to this podcast.
Want more information?
You can visit us at our websitegrant.extension.nmsu.edu.

(01:05:28):
Follow us on Facebook at NMSU,Grant County, CES snapchat@
grant county NM 4-H shoot us anemail at [e-mail], or give
us a call(575) 388-1559.
New Mexico state university isan equal opportunity.

(01:05:50):
Affirmative action, employer andeducator and NMSU, and the U.S.
Department of agriculturecooperative.