Show Pig Questions

I am looking to get into breeding some show pigs. We don't have very many breeders of show pigs around me and having a very hard time locating show pigs around me for certain upcoming shows that my daughter would like to show in. I breed show cattle, so the show pigs are new to me. I have plenty of room and can buy feed and would have plenty of buyers around me, so just makes sense. First question is what is the breed make up of the show pigs that are winning most of the shows in your area? I was told that the last show winner here at our county fair was half hamshire and half yorkshire. Is that a good mix? Don't know if you run into problem like you can with clubby bred cows being bred to club calf bulls, so can you breed show pigs to show pigs with out problems of birth difficulty or milk production? Do most people that breed show pigs doing AI like cattle or they have a good show boar? I know they do pig AI, just don't know how they do it cause I know it's not like AI in cattle, so I would imagine that the vets do it? So when looking for sows to buy and breed, should I go buy one breed and breed to another breed type or types or just buy couple nice show pigs and AI them when they get to breeding age (even though I don't know when that is)? So I have some research to do, thought I would ask for some help on here first as this is my first time on the swine forum but I'm always on the cattle forum. Thanks.

At our fair most winners are hamp crosses. For breeding we normally take a cross and then breed it to a purebred york or hamp. Also with breeding the semen only stays good for 14 days.

You will want to AI. A lot of the show pig type boars wouldn't be capable of natural service. If someone can show you how to AI once you could then do it yourself - quite easy. Gilts can be bred at 7 months, gestation is just under 4 months (114 days). Breed or crossbred doesn't really matter, but soundness does. As you get more extreme with your boar and gilt selections you could see issues with soundness, fertility, litter size, too large of piglets. I guess I'd choose to start with a York or F1 blue butt and breed that to a belted crossbred boar. Going purebred is an option also but will cost you more up front and you lose some of the power and performance of the crossbreds. It's a fun enterprise, but there are still pitfalls. Best thing to do before you start is find a good mentor to give you advice as you go.