Business Management Practices
When it comes to raising show pigs, and getting them ready to sell, there is no substitute for time. Jennifer Slagle believes that time is the best resource they have in preparing their pigs for sale.
Slagle is co-owner, photographer, feed mixer and marketer for WinMor Farms, a family-owned show pig operation in Grinnell, Iowa. WinMor Farms is comprised of Jennifer, her husband Don Slagle, and her father Ron Smith, who has been raising pigs for more than 40 years. Even though Don and Jennifer have off-farm jobs, on nights and weekends they are full-time show pig producers. And they are all involved in laying the groundwork for baby pigs to make a smooth transition to their new homes.
Jennifer says she and her father, Ron, have worked together so long that on picture day, for example, they don’t even have to speak to each other. The time they spend working with and taming their pigs makes all the difference. When she and Ron step into the chip pen to take photos they are like a well-oiled machine.
“People often ask us how we get our pigs to cooperate for pictures and videos like we do,” she says. “But there is no substitute for time. It takes consistency and discipline to be out there every day and it can be challenging. If you take shortcuts and are not spending time with pigs, working with them, you’ll not be as successful as you could be on picture day and on sale day.” 
WinMor Farms primarily sells pigs online but also offers some for sale private-treaty. Jennifer says they do put a few in live auctions throughout the year.
Since they are constantly managing new litters for sale, they have a routine they follow. Their farrowing barn and chip pens are in climate-controlled facilities so when pigs are weaned at 21 to 23-days-old they are placed directly into the show barn. Baby pigs are sorted by gender and size and are not co-mingled again until they are sold and ready to be delivered.
Slagle says the best way to keep pigs clean is to prevent them from getting dirty. They bed their pens with pine shavings and clean them up to twice a day.
“After pigs are moved to the show barn for a week or so, we let them get used to their feed and surroundings,” she says. “We begin to work on getting them used to people and have college and high-school age kids literally sit in the pen with them at eye-level for the first few days for 20 minutes at a time. Slowly we introduce treats like miniature marshmallows and get them used to the taste.”
After their pigs are used to humans and eating, they are oiled and brushed in their pens daily. Again, Slagle says there is no substitute for the time the family and employees spend at eye-level getting the pigs used to them.
When sale day approaches and photo-taking is necessary, Slagle prepares pigs for the photo pen, a well-lit, clean area that is used only for taking pictures. One week before photos are scheduled she lets pigs into this pen for ten minutes at time so they can get used to it. Next, she introduces a stick to get pigs used to following one. On photo and video day, she and Ron are ready with gadgets like sticks, kitchen utensils and new treats to grab the pig’s attention. They will also turn off the automatic water in the pig’s home pen so the animal will notice water from a spray bottle.
“We find that by the time we are taking photos and videos, the pigs can become too used to the marshmallows, and they become almost too aggressive to get a good picture,” Slagle adds. “So on actual picture days we offer them brand new things to get their attention.”
When necessary and time allows, they do clip pigs five to seven days before taking photos. When they have an online sale with 30 pigs or less they do take time to clip each pig’s entire body, including heads. When they are prepping a larger group for a sale and do not have as much time to spend they stick to cleaning up heads and the pig’s neck area.
“It depends on the time of year and how much help we have on the farm” she says.
Once pigs are sold, the family prefers to deliver as many as possible on their own trailer to reduce stress and avoid overcrowding and co-mingling. Each pig is given a shot of Draxxin as they are loaded onto a temperature-controlled trailer to reduce the risk of pigs becoming sick during transport. The family spends more time than they can possibly measure with their pigs to make them look and act the very best for customers once they change hands. And Slagle says she thinks this extra time is what sets them apart.
“Many of our customers remark when they purchase pigs from our farm how different their temperament is,” she says. “We want to have that baby pig accustomed to humans and ready to be trained for show. Our pigs generally always take well to a showman and it’s generally easier to learn how to walk them with a whip because they had so much human interaction while raised on our farm. And it makes a difference.”