DAILY SKIN CARE ROUTINE FOR SHOW PIGS

Great skin and hair is as necessary as a great feeding program.  Skin and hair is one of the things that contributes most to a fresh appearance.  But there are no shortcuts, to get great skin and you need to put in the work. Here is a step by step guide of what you need to do.

The most important tool you have is the fork or scoop you use to clean pens.  No matter what else you do your show pig’s skin and hair will ultimately look like the pen they sleep in. Keep them clean and well bedded.

The second most important tools you have are your brushes. Brushing brings out the natural oils in the skin, mechanically removes dust and dander, and helps you bond with the pig.  I’ve been doing this a very long time and I’ve never seen a pig that was brushed too much.

 You should use a rice root brush on light colored pigs. The stiffer bristles do two important things for those white pigs. First it toughens their skin so whip marks aren’t as prevalent and second it loosens more of the dead skin and dirt that makes those white ones look dingy.

Even with darker pigs we like to see you use the rice root brush a couple times a week to get rid of dead skin and dirt.

When it comes to washing the most common mistake we see is people using shampoos too often and drying out their skin.  You can rinse more often but don’t use shampoo more than once a week or so.  When you do use shampoo don’t use dish soap or other harsh detergents.  Hogfathers Secret Whitening Shampoo is great for both light and dark pigs. When you rinse make sure you rinse off all the soap then get the pig dry and brush in conditioner.

Use a skin conditioner at least 3-4 times a week.  Use a non-mineral oil conditioner that for light colored pigs.  Hogfathers Secret Conditioner is one of our favorites which is why we keep it on hand for our customers. Oil based conditioners are for dark hogs but use care since oil does make them hot.

Getting those dark pigs dark with tanning is necessary.  You can use natural sun or tanning lights.  We like to get them used to the sun or lights without any oil to start, but once they’ve been either under the lights or in the sun a few times using an oil based conditioner like Hogfathers Secret Oil is helpful in getting that nice dark tan. Just be careful and use sunscreen on the white skin to keep it from burning.  Start with 10 minutes at a time and even once they’ve started to tan you shouldn’t leave them in the sun or under the lights for more than 20 minutes. Oil based conditioners also have the risk of getting pigs hot if you use natural sun.  So pay attention.

Fly control is a huge part of skin and hair care.  All your work can be negated with fly or mosquito bites overnight.  Spraying Agita on the walls of your barn will virtually eliminate flies for weeks.  Also make sure and turn of all the lights at night so you’re not attracting mosquitos. In addition, a water based fly spray like Natures defense helps keep flies and other biting insects off your pigs.

Even with all the hard work you do on skin bad stuff can happen.  When it does use Provilli to treat almost any skin problem from cracked backs to a contact dermatitis rash. Remember you can also add one ounce of Provilli per quart of conditioner to help prevent it from happening in the first place.