[Helen Wiltshire Horn]

Hi, this is my first post here as I usually post on the sheep and cattle boards.  I have a mixed herd of pigs of approx the same age, 2 Gloucester OS boars, 2 Saddleback gilts and 2 Oxford Sandy and Black gilts.  The GOS boars were born on the 29th May 2014 and I had been told that I could keep them as a mixed herd until they reached appox 6 months in age.  Anyway, having watched a particuarly vigorous humping session this morning I am now worried about the gilts falling pregnant and feel I need to either seperate them or slaughter a bit earlier than planned.  I can't find any info on when rare breed pigs reach sexual maturity on the web.  Thanks.
Helen

[Clansman]

All the advice I got said separate 4 months at the very latest, boars can definitely be fertile by 5 months.

we had a neighbour with older sows that fell pregnant to a 5 month old Tamworth boy 

[Sasha]

Separate them the sooner the better I think - I had a gilt get in pig to 5 and a half month old Saddleback.

[shygirl]

ours were always keen and trying at 5 mths old. whether they can succeed is the question, but if they are chasing the gilts it can bring out the smell of the boar which in theory might taint the meat.

[Marches Farmer]

I split them off at weaning.  I would expect a GOS boar to be working satisfactorily at six months and, indeed, ours just has!