AI a pig / First time, anything I should know?

[Coximus]

As it says!
Or should I just buy a pietrain boar and leave him to do his piggy magic?
Is it worth it?

 

[curlietailz]

I'd get the boar.
I had 100 sows once upon a time and never had much success with AI
It almost a dead cert if you serve with a boar
My opinion

 

[Newby]

How many sows do you have to serve?

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I'd get the boar.
I had 100 sows once upon a time and never had much success with AI
It almost a dead cert if you serve with a boar
My opinion

The trouble with natural service on a small scale is that boars need to work regularly to remain fertile. On the flip side, AI is a lot easier if the sow is in the presence of a good smelly boar, that the on heat sow hasn't been near for a day or two.
Sorry, none of that is much help. If you want a dead cert pregnancy, get a boar and AI her.

 

[Old Boar]

The actual mechanics of AI is not difficult. Getting the sow at the right moment is more difficult, especially for some sows who like to be shy about that sort of thing!
I would ring round for a boar - someone will have one - and may be grateful not to have to feed him for a week or two. Smallholders are much more likely to lend than a big place, as the bigger places worry about infection as they have more sows at risk. Have a look on a smallholder site on Facebook.

 

[Greenbeast]

We tried a few early heats with AI but never had much luck, so we borrowed a boar and then bought our own, we've had between 8 and 13 sows at any one time