The swine industry has experienced what is known as pendulum changes over the last 25 years. The shifts of type and kind of show hog it takes to win have been significant and have occurred three times in my 28 year career. The most recent change started occurring in 2001 and is a credit to the swine producers and experts across the United States.
In the early 1980's we had wining hogs that where deep bodied, wide yet had a very small stature. These hogs were about 5 1/2 months of age and had to weight 200 to 250 pounds according to show rules. Criticism of the show industry was very prevalent as a whole and the hogs were considered way to fat for the industry. We saw the breeders of the country start making significant changes through the 1980's in to the 1990's of their genetics thus making hogs leaner, taller, and heavier muscled.
On June 27, 1989, the then-foreign ministers of Hungary and Austria cut through barbed wire on the border between their two countries, putting a symbolic end to a physical and psychological boundary that marked the beginning of the end to the cold war. President Reagan was the key leader with Russian leaders to push for the removal of the Iron Curtain. This marked a very special time in the swine industry due to the fact that this correlated with the importing of the Pietrain Breed from countries behind the iron curtain such as East Germany, Belgium and Romania.
I vividly remember traveling with Stanley Young to Lawrence and Bill Range's farm in Marissa Illinois to see the very first group of these new and unique hogs. They were an interesting creature to say the least yet most of the crossbred exotic boars of today's show industry have some relation to one or more of these original eight imported boars. For example: Blackjack sired 105, 105 sired many of the special boars at boar studs across the country.
The type of breed that the Pietrain represents is quite distinctive. They have a shorter skeleton than most breeds, stockier in build, and quite thick topped and very wide at the ground. The hams are extremely bulging, muscular and round muscled. They carry an extremely high proportion of lean to fat thus its reputation for very high quality lean, makes the breed a desired one for fresh meat processing. Remember most pork is sold as fresh meat in European Countries. Yet in our country we rarely buy pork in this fashion.
Initially the breed developed a reputation for improving the quality of market show hogs when the boars were used on sows of our domestic breeds. The sows of the Pietrain breed are know for their lack of mothering characteristics and in milk production, and many of the boars first imported were stress positive or carriers of the stress gene. This set into motion significant changes in a short period of time that moved us to a very extreme set of show hogs.
The Pietrain has recently lost popularity in its native country as well as ours, but it did help change the lean to fat composition of show hogs quickly by improvement in carcass quality in the mid 1990's. Like all good things this created a show hog that had the big top and big round ham, and everybody jumped on the extreme nature of these hogs that brought a new look to the show ring. I, like a lot of folks, liked the look and design of these hogs. But the extended tall fronts we selected for made the hogs to straight and to extreme in muscle. What we ended up with was hogs with mobility issues, hard muscle, too lean, very little body and internal width. The true hog men and woman of the country began to question this type of hog as we began in the late 1990's and early 2000 to see stress problems at the show and a majority of these hogs on the farms have no durability and very small litter sizes.
The need for the change was apparent and the experts demanded a shift in the pendulum! So much so that the officials of the Oklahoma State Fair hosted a round table discussion to get the most prominent judges of the time from across the country at the table with breeders and Extension specialists to move for a collaborative effort in selection of winning hogs in the ring. Change was coming at a very needed time.
That was when discussion on emphasis for a balanced hog with body deep, rib shape, bone and an appropriate amount of fat was agreed upon. We have seen such a shift from 2003 to 2009 in show hogs that have won the major shows. The change has been a very positive one when we look at the winners of today relative to the winners of the late 1990's but the problem with the lower 70% of the hogs or what I call the none winners still exists. Some breeders and selectors just select and breed for extremes and then sell this hog to the novice individual based on what is the easiest to see " Top and Butt". Body, balance, soundness and an efficient hog who looks the part to win in 5 1/2 to 6 months of age is the hog needed to be put in the hands of all 4-H and FFA members feeding hogs today.
The trends today are a real challenge as we support the show hog program for the kids of Texas. Teachers, Agents and volunteers need to work together to make sure the novice is mentored and supported in their need to understand what is an appropriate way to feed the hogs and how can those families be successful and do the work themselves. The unfortunate trend I see is the outsourcing by a family to have somebody else feed and care for the hogs the last three weeks. This is very controversial and is a direct violation of the validation contract we all sign when the hogs are tagged. The old line men who mentored me in the 1980's would not stand for this activity. The traders and breeders supporting this trend have only a desire to be seen as the winner rather than the child who shows the hog. This is also their livelihood so the need to have "X" number of winners this year sells next year's group of show pigs. Parents shouldn't tolerate this approach and we shouldn't give up possession of our program.
The positive trend I see is the wonderful improvement in the feed and support of the program from the feed companies across the State and Nation. Companies have wonderful nutritionist and have developed product lines and technical support for everybody who asks for it. Families need not worry the products are available to help make the hogs be at their maximum genetic potential if you do the work necessary at the house. The additional support system of hiring young men and woman who then make local visits to feed dealers and customers is on the rise. You can get technical support from very qualified people.
Keep in mind that the winning hog of today, in the past and in the future will be the practical one that combines soundness, balance, bone, ruggedness, and youthfulness in an exceptional package. The exceptional package only comes for the exceptional care provided by the kid and parent throughout the feeding period. Put maximum effort everyday and be consistent. Don't cut corners!
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