[strawberryzoe]

Hello,

We have just picked up a new 4 year old Kune Kune boar to breed with our three sows (2 years old). He has settled in to his own pen nicely but today we introduced our first sow to him and they didn't hit it off all that well! There was lots of pushing and a little biting and in short the sow has asserted herself over him! He now seems a little sheepish and makes himself scarce when she goes over to him. They have plenty of space but we are concerned that they may not settle down. She is not in season at the moment so we thought that they could "get to know each other" before getting down to business!   

We are keeping a close eye on them but does anyone have any advice as to whether they will settle down? We had planned to rotate our three sows in with him and leave them to their own devices for a couple of months each.

Any advice gratefully received!
thanks,
Zoe

[nelson]

Hi  I would pull the sow out and put one of them back when on heat. We had to do this with our OSBs - he is a blooming great boar but the gilts just dominated him so we separated and re -introduced them one at a time on the second day (I think) of their heat. Bingo.


hope this helps

[robert waddell]

hello strawberryzoe   first post and straight in with a pig question    wonder if this will end up the same as the last query that i answered
 
well here goes has the boar been used successfully before    at 4 years old he should be more assertive than you describe     is he bigger than the sows or smaller than them          if the boar gets bullied by the sows and does not mix with them   he probably wont come near her when she is in season
it would have been beneficial for both if she had been introduced when she was in season
 
different if they had all run together before they will have a bit of squabling but soon settle down 

[strawberryzoe]

Hi there,

Thanks for the responses. The boar is proven elsewhere and has had no problems before. He is slightly larger than the sows. Perhaps next time we will introduce the sows when they are in season and see how it goes. As we said the boar is new to us so hasn't had the opportunity to mix with the sows. We have previously used AI with our other breeds so haven't had this problem before.

thanks,
Zoe

[Beewyched]

Hiya & welcome Zoe    from a    West Scotland
If your boar has been used successfully before, then my advice would be to keep him seperate from your girls until they are in season.  Then take them to him.  Things should be ok after that.
Sows are definately more dominant & assertive.  My girls won't have a bar of the boys, unless they are in season - my Herd Matriach, Portia, will go through electric fences & break gates to get to the boar when she is in season (little hussy    ), any other time at best she'll ignore, though usually beats them up 
 

[strawberryzoe]

Thanks all for the advice.

By way of an update, we took the sow out of the boar pen after about a day as neither of them seemed particularly happy with each other.

She then came into season and we took her to him, keeping her outside of the pen at first. The first time she still seemed quite aggressive towards him so we put her back with her sisters but on the second visit a couple of days later she seemed more interested and less aggressive. We put her in with the boar then and there was a bit of scuffling over food but nowhere near like the last time.

She has been in for a day now and they seem to be getting on much better, even going into the ark together whereas before the boar was hiding from her. Fingers crossed he'll woo her now! 

We are just wondering now whether we should take her out when she is no longer in season? Is she likely to become aggressive again or are we past that?

We had planned to leave her in for a couple of months with him, then rotate in one of the other sows when they are ready.

Many thanks for your help,
Zoe

[Beewyched]

Hi Zoe 
Glad to hear things have gone a little better this time 
Did you actually see them "at it"?  It could be possible that he didn't "catch" her this time.
If you haven't got a specific "breeding schedule" in mind, my advice would be to leave them in together for at least another 4 weeks;
1   Mark the date of the successful "wooing" on the calender
2   Mark the date of 3 weeks on from this date & try & watch to see if anythings happening - if you don't see them "at it" look for the tell-tale marks of muddy trotters on her back & sides
3   Mark the "due date" on your calender, once you know when there's been a successful mating (this may sound a bit common-sensicle, but it's so easy to forget - I know from experience    )
Usually stud boars "stand" with sows/gilts for 6 weeks - this is to ensure she's had at least 2 tries if she's not caught the first time.
Keep us updated 

[robert waddell]

as they appear to be getting on now and you had intended leaving them together for a few months     i would go with that          some pigs take longer to get on with others    than you would think        note when she was in season and as Lynne has said 3 weeks after look for the obvious signs of activity        some only work at night   and rest during the day
 
6 weeks is the normal bed and breakfast time     but with a bit of observation this can be reduced to just 3 weeks if you know the exact day she will cycle

[strawberryzoe]

Thanks again for the advice.

We haven't actually witnessed any action as yet so leaving her in for another season sounds like the way forward and we'll take on board your advice regarding timings so thanks for that.

One thing I forgot to mention was that when we took the sow out of the boar pen the first time, when she had only been in with the boar for a day or so, and when she went back in with her two sisters, they became aggressive with her and chased her around quite a bit. They settled down after about a day but we were quite suprised with their reaction to her. This isn't really ideal especially if she is "in pig" and I imagine their reaction will only get worse with the longer time spent away.

Is this normal behaviour or are ours sows particularly highly strung?! 

thanks,
Zoe

[robert waddell]

quite normal   some pigs accept strangers others don't even like there sister after a brief period away         pigs don't read books so they are oblivious as to how they should react
some times you wont see activity or even any signs    it is down to just marking the date of introduction   and observing just short of 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days  later 

[Fowgill Farm]

i was just about to say the same as Robert, its just about pecking order, i sometimes mix mothers & daughters and you expect the older girls to accept their children but oh no its all handbags and teeth until the younger accepts mother knows best!
mandy

[Beewyched]

Maybe it's because I put my gilt "keepers" back in with the herd after a couple of months post-weaning (apart from the "Show Team"), but I've never had an inter-family scuffles - everyone seems to know who's who & the gilts fall-in behind their mums.  The lowest ranking sow never gets to move up the ranks - bless her    the only time she gets any peace is when wee Harry the castrate gets put in with the herd, when all the boars are busy working, then he cops it all