Pig breeding

[farmgineer]

Evening all, I’ve got 3 gilts (I know, I’m questioning my own judgement too) that I want to breed from. Liquorice all sorts variety.

I also have a young boar, who will be going in the freezer when I’ve got what I want...

I keep missing them cycling and haven’t had any luck so far with the whole breeding program. If I turn the boar in with the gilts in a reasonable size pen on a longer term basis, will they get along or end up hurting the poor chap?

All replies gratefully received

 

[SteveHants]

Can't you run the boar next to them to check heat?

 

[farmgineer]

In the pen next door? I could do, just got a pen of stores in there that I would have to find a home for

 

[Old Boar]

Having the boar in a pen next door will probably bring the gilts on heat, and then you can time it from then on. Do not use the boar if you want to put him in the freezer as he will taste horrible (and give your butcher blunt knives!).
I know it sounds odd, but if you really scratch the gilts, one at a time, and then smell your fingers, they smell much stronger when on heat, and a bit like a tikka masala. You can then follow this up with checking the back end over the next day or two.

 

[SteveHants]

Having the boar in a pen next door will probably bring the gilts on heat, and then you can time it from then on. Do not use the boar if you want to put him in the freezer as he will taste horrible (and give your butcher blunt knives!).
I know it sounds odd, but if you really scratch the gilts, one at a time, and then smell your fingers, they smell much stronger when on heat, and a bit like a tikka masala. You can then follow this up with checking the back end over the next day or two.

Surely if the sow is on heat and you rub her back like that, she'll stand for you anyway?

 

[Old Boar]

It can be difficult to see if she is standing or just enjoying the attention. If you stand behind her and she backs on to you, it can be a sign, or it can be the gilt saying she is liking the attention and do some more. Some gilts you can spot in heat from a distance and some gilts like to keep it secret!

 

[farmgineer]

Mine are definitely the secretive type!

 

[bitwrx]

We turn a group of 3 boars into a group of 15-18 gilts, and on average end up with 5-6 pregnant every week for three weeks (on average...). Everyone seems to get along OK, but they're outdoors, so plenty of room to run off if required. So on that basis, turning your boar in for an extended period should be OK. The reason we use three boars in a bigger group of gilts (rather than one boar each in three smaller groups) is to obviate any male infertility problems. We also work on the assumption that the boars have a hierarchy, and the presence of the non-dominant boars prompts the dominant boar to be more active. No idea if this is true or not, but our system works for us.

We deduce due dates from riding marks on the rump of the gilts; daily inspection at feeding time. But really, that's just to check that they all get jumped. We move them to farrowing accom when they start to bag up.

Would echo what @Old Boar said about eating quality. If he's mature enough to be serving things, boar taint is a real possibility. And not tasty.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

We turn a group of 3 boars into a group of 15-18 gilts, and on average end up with 5-6 pregnant every week for three weeks (on average...). Everyone seems to get along OK, but they're outdoors, so plenty of room to run off if required. So on that basis, turning your boar in for an extended period should be OK. The reason we use three boars in a bigger group of gilts (rather than one boar each in three smaller groups) is to obviate any male infertility problems. We also work on the assumption that the boars have a hierarchy, and the presence of the non-dominant boars prompts the dominant boar to be more active. No idea if this is true or not, but our system works for us.

We deduce due dates from riding marks on the rump of the gilts; daily inspection at feeding time. But really, that's just to check that they all get jumped. We move them to farrowing accom when they start to bag up.

Would echo what @Old Boar said about eating quality. If he's mature enough to be serving things, boar taint is a real possibility. And not tasty.

We do pretty much the same- 5 boars with 10 gilts added every three weeks and 10 taken out every three weeks after they've been in at least 9 weeks, so in groups of 35+, 4 of, outdoors.
Pleased that I'm not the only luddite not doing heat synchronisation and AI to gilts.
As above re mature boar meat- a high chance of it being inedible.

 

[bitwrx]

We do pretty much the same- 5 boars with 10 gilts added every three weeks and 10 taken out every three weeks after they've been in at least 9 weeks, so in groups of 35+, 4 of, outdoors.
Pleased that I'm not the only luddite not doing heat synchronisation and AI to gilts.
As above re mature boar meat- a high chance of it being inedible.

Yeh, fudge synchronising for a bunch of soldiers. Way too much like hard work, especially outdoors. Maybe tolerable (and no-doubt necessary) on a 3-wk batching system, but we serve pigs every week, so it would soon get tedious. You're never quite sure when gilts are going to drop into the system, but we just operate a slightly more flexible weaning policy for the gilts if we ever get a glut come through all in one week.