Department F – Swine

A huge thank you goes to Johnny Blue for their sponsorship of our Swine Barn.

SWINE

Showmanship August 17, 2023 at 4 pm in Show Barn

Junior Swine Market Show immediately following Showmanship

Junior Swine Breeding Show immediately following Market Show

1. 1. Competition is open to any market hog, barrow, or gilt of any breed or crossbreed born after January 1st of the current year.
   2. All swine must be in possession and ownership of the exhibiting 4-H or FFA member by the June weigh-in, year of the show. 
   3. All swine entered must be free of disease. The swine committee reserves the right to reject any entries they feel unfit or unsound (due to limited mobility or injury) for the health of the show and sale.  
   4. The Junior Swine Show is open to Clarke County 4-H and FFA previous swine project members who are enrolled by January 1 of the year of the show. All new swine project members must be enrolled in the Clarke County 4-H or FFA program and declare a project by March 1 of the year of the show.
   5. Showmanship classes will be divided into Novice, Junior, Intermediate and Senior. Novice Showmen will be those youth who have not shown swine as a 4-H or FFA project previously at the Clarke County Fair and are the age of 12 or under as of September 30, 2023. Junior Showman will be those exhibitors who will be between 9 and 12 years of age as of September 30, 2023. Intermediate showmen will be those exhibitors who will be between 13 and 15 years of age as of September 30, 2023 and Senior Showmen are those exhibitors who will be between 16 and 19 years of age as of September 30, 2023.
   6. All swine entries must be nominated, weighed-in, and tagged at the official project weigh-in held the first Saturday in June, year of the show. Five entries may be weighed in at June weigh in. Up to 3 entries may be shown at the fair – 2 of these may be shown in market class and 1 may be shown in the gilt class.  All exhibitors are only allowed to sell 2 entries in the livestock sale on Friday.  The Swine committee recommends a weight of at least 80 pounds at the initial weigh in for all entries.
   7. All swine entries must be in place no later than 12 pm on Fair Sunday.
   8. At Tuesday morning weigh in, all swine entries are to be clean with ear tags free of debris and CLEARLY visible before being taken out of their pen to weigh.
   9. NEW FOR 2023– All market hogs must be weighed on Tuesday at 8:00 AM and divisions will be determined by weight. 
   10. All hogs must weigh between 220 and 300 pounds to be eligible to sell in the Junior Livestock Sale. All division winning market hogs will be eligible to compete in the Grand Champion market drive, and the second-place market hog in the division from which the champion came from is eligible to compete for the Reserve Champion market hog as well as the remaining division winning market hogs.
   11. All hogs not weighing at least 220 pounds or weighing over 300 pounds will need to be removed from the fairgrounds immediately following weigh-in.  
   12. Hair clipping – for show eligibility, hair length on the pig body (hams, top, sides and shoulders) must be at least one-half inch.  Pigs with body hair length less than one-half inch are not eligible for the show.
   13. All market hogs will be graded.
   14. Hogs may be guided by canes, tubes, whips, crops, or any other device approved by the Swine Committee. Excessive use of the guide devices, leading to bruising or excessive marking, will lead to a warning from the Swine Committee.  If the excessive use continues the exhibitor can be disqualified from the Swine Show and Junior Livestock Sale.  Guide devices must be approved by the Swine Committee immediately following fair weigh in.
   15. The number of hogs sold by one (1) exhibitor is limited to two (2).  All hogs must be cleaned thoroughly before entering the sale ring. Four tenths of 1% of the sale price of hogs will be withheld for the pork referendum.
   16. To recognize hog buyers, $5.00 will be retained from the proceeds of each hog sold to purchase a newspaper advertisement.
   17. PENS MUST BE STRIPPED OF OLD BEDDING AND REBEDDED WITH FRESH BEDDING TWICE DURING FAIR WEEK.
   18. The swine barn will be closed during the swine weigh-in, after 3:45 PM the day of the show, during the show, and 6 PM through the end of the swine sale on sale day.  Only committee members or designated volunteers are permitted in the barn.
   19. All waterers must be left on from the time of initial weigh in until the animal is removed from the fairgrounds.
   20. The intent to have breeding gilt entries at the 2023 Swine Show must be on your fair exhibit registration form which is due May 31, 2023. Your 4-H or FFA Advisor will need to confirm your participation in a gilt project before a gilt entry may be brought to the 2023 Fair on Sunday.
   21. Animals entered in the breeding gilt class are not eligible for the 4-H FFA Livestock sale.
   22. There is no weight restriction for Breeding Swine.
   23. The Swine Committee reserves the right to amend and interpret these rules and regulations as they see fit.

Shows

Swine Awards

Adult Swine Showmanship

• This will be a new event
• Funds will either go directly to the VLA or may go to support a local judging team – this year it will go toward the general VLA fund
• Species: Sheep, Goat, Dairy, Beef
• Insurance for the event is supplied by The Farmer’s Daughter and hosted by the VLA
• How it will work:
  • Sign-up for the adult showmanship contestants will go on the day of each species show. For example, Thursday is the dairy show, all that morning and during the show, a VLA member will be available with a sign-up sheet and collect money and names for the dairy adult showmanship.
  • At the conclusion of each species show, we will hold the adult showmanship contest.
  • Each need announcer will then call on all adults nominated to report to the ring. They will then be given an animal to show.
  • Judges for the adult showmanship will be the paid judge and each division’s overall showmanship winner
  • Adults will pay to enter the showmanship class or others may nominate them and pay. If a person is nominated and does not want to compete, they must then pay to get removed from the class. (Cost to enter $10 and the cost to be removed is $10)
  • Example: John wants to compete in the adult showmanship class, so he signs up and pays for himself. John would like his wife, Sue, to also participate in the adult showmanship class and he signs her up and pays her $10.  Sue does not want to do this and pays the $10 removal fee.
  • This event will need an event insurance policy which The Farmer’s Daughter owned by Scott Donnelly has volunteered to provide.
  • This event is sure to be a crowd pleaser, especially by the 4-H kids.

If you have any questions regarding either of the events, please reach out: Scott Donnelly 540-671-6087 dsdonnelly@live.com OR Laura Jackson 540-272-0140 Ljackson@mdvamilk.com