Hi, I have 3 lovely gilts, a year and a bit old.
I had a young boar in around August/September, and got him to do his duty with all 3 of them successfully. I waited 3 weeks with each, and put them in again, and noted they didn't come on again. (OSB did, but hopefully she took the 2nd time).
The first one was due 18th Dec (GOS) - nothing... Her tummy let down a bit, but I'm new at this so hard to tell!
The second one was due today - nothing. She's overweight so hard to tell... I have her separated now, and going to try and slim her down etc. (BK)
The third is due 18th Jan, and does look more promising. Her teats are shaping up, but she's not massive or anything. (OSB)
I remember reading somewhere (recently) that someone said you must get them vaccinated against something, or else they will abort. Is this true? Might that have been the problem? Or could it just be the boar was too young to be really effective? (I do know he finished the deed with each one successfully, but he was only 5 or 6 months)...
Also a vet I asked did say it's harder to get them in-pig as it gets towards autumn/winter. Is that true? They would have been in with the boar in September.
So I'm wondering what to do next. I know I need to slim them down a little bit and get them in good shape (Especially the BK who was dominant when they were in together), but what's the best way forward? Buy a boar and just stick them all in together for a few months? Or should I try AI? (I found it pretty hard to tell when the BK/OSB were in season... GOS was more obvious due to the light colour).
Is there a better way to tell if they really are in-pig or not without having to wait ages?
Apologies if this is an obvious newbie question which gets asked a lot. I've done lots of reading, and prepared a lot for this. I have a good setup for farrowing etc. I just don't have any piglets
I'm still hopefully our OSB will produce some in a couple of weeks, but also prepared for the worst...
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.