Any FFA Parents or former FFAers?

LOL - no thanks.  5 kids, 1 dog, 1 turtle and 1 pig are enough!  Not to mention I don't think a piglet would make it from Jersey to Houston.  From what I understand they are easily stressed and stress = heart attacks in pigs.

Here she is - Olivia Grace.

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Nice little hampshire!  x2 on the "it's not a pet" thing. 

My father-in-law is a show-pig breeder and one of his pigs won Houston last year, so they know quite a bit.  I, on the other hand, have never been too "into" the whole livestock show thing, so they all call me city slicker.

If you have questions, pm me and I'll try to get you some answers. 

It is a good thing for the kids if they stick to it.

i have seen both sides.

1   The Young man or young woman does all the work, and gets a great learning experience

2   The young man or young woman gets into the habit of " mom I am going to be over at a friends house, would you take care of the animals for me." and the parent ends up doing everything but showing the animal. 

I never raised pigs, but I did raise a few 4-h steers. If you have a good county agent through a university or state extension service, he or she may be very helpful (or not, it greatly depends on the individual). Some breed associations may have some tips for you. Back when I was showing, the Simmental Association was heavily promoting the breed and provided some small support.

It is really important that the kid not get too attached to the animal. It's livestock, not a pet.

When we fed steers to show, we tried to get them to pack on as much weight as they could, walking them on-lead enough to whet their appetites, and feeding them high-calorie diets of barley, cracked corn, dried molasses, vitamins, and a little salt. They free-fed on hay.

Here's me with a prize-winning carcass. Went for $11/100 wght on the hoof. His name was Meatball.

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Yup, I raised a few prize winning show pigs back in the day. (20 yrs or so ago)

The pen doesnt need to just have a roof but walls as well.  In the winter, make sure they have a large amount of hay to bury themselves in to stay warm.  More work to keep it clean but it actually doesnt get dirty that quickly and the pig deserves to be comfy.

As for actual feeding tips, we kept ours on "pig starter" a higher protien content feed for several months and then a month or 6 weeks before the show switched to a more maintenance oriented feed.  This led to them having the proper lean/fat ratio that judges at the time were looking for.  Work with your sons Ag teacher and find out what judges in your area are looking for.

If you son is lucky enough to place he might make enough money to cover what it cost to raise, but the responsibilty of raising an animal the right way is worth whatever it costs.

edit to add:  x2 on the safety thing.  Pigs are lb for lb one of the strongest animals out there.  If the fence is pipe or steel bar that has no give, make sure not to get an ankle or knee pinned against it.  Also pigs will bite, dont give them a chance to nibble on your fingers or toes. They may not be mean, but they are curious and will eat anything.  I was standing on a low fence rail and one of our pigs decided the toe of my boot looked tasty.  That is the reason when i work with animals these days, i only wear steel toed boots.

Thankfully we live in Houston where the winters are very mild.  The pen 'fencing' (stell bars) go up about 4 feet tall and there is some space between there and the roof.  Two of the walls face outside and those are covered with a tarp.  Pig also has a 'house' in the pen like a big doghouse made of wood with 3 sides, the open side faces the open part of the pen rather than outside so once she is in her house she is very protected and has lots of wood shavings for a comfy bed.

He puts baby oil on her every night and we sprinkled tide powder detergent around her pen to keep the fire ants out which are a huge problem in this area.

Last night she weighed in at 60 pounds even.

She obviously already has a name as do all the other hundred or so animals at the barn.

Good info on the feed.  My husband was with him when we bought it so I'll ask what kind they got and get the advice of the Ag teacher on if/when we should change that.  The good news is we were told with the stress of moving and liley change of diet the pigs would have diarrhea for at least a week and we haven't had that issue.  My son is very thankful