Proper nutrition, hair and skin care and exercise are important to getting your show pig prospect ready for the next show. But don’t forget about clipping your pig. Clipping your pig can change the pig’s appearance and accentuate its muscularity, leanness and balance.
Once you clip the body of your show pig next you need to clip the head, ears and underline. This will highly improve your pig’s look and appearance. It is going to be easiest to clip these areas if your pig is lying comfortably. Have someone help you scratch your pig’s belly until it is comfortably lying on its side. Then start by brushing its face before you begin clipping. This will be much less stressful for your pig than snaring. Teaching your pig to lay down when you scratch its belly will make jobs like clipping much easier.
Clipping your pig’s head and ears adds polish to your clipping job, and will give the pig a much more youthful appearance. When clipping the head you’ll go against the hair using a shorter guard such as a 00 Oster red Speed-O-Guide. Even the most youthful pig will often have long hair in and around its ears. When clipping the ears you don’t need a guard. Your main focus should be along the edges of the ear, trimming the long hair to make it even. You’ll also want to clip any long hairs on the inside and outside of the ear.
Clipping the underline is the final part of getting the show ring ready look. The underline is considered any part of the chin, throat, chest and belly, as well as the seam of the ham. One way to clip the underline hair short is using a technique called backdragging. With no guard attached, turn your clippers over and drag your blades with the hair. Any wild hairs need to also be taken off. Remember, no matter how tempting it may be, do not clip any hair off the legs or tail.
Following these simple steps to finish the detail work will get your pig looking its best on show day. For additional videos on how to Prep to Win with your show pig click here.
