[Paul and Caroline]

Hi - we are gearing ourselves up to buy some weaners to finish next Spring and doing as much research as we can. We have a couple iof (very different) questions we wouldn't mind some help with please.

1. We want probably 4 weaners and we are unsure which gender we should go for. If we get a mix of boars and gilts, kept in the same pen, are they likely to get up to 'shenanigans' even if we send them off at 6 months? If we get two of each and keep them in separate pens will the boars fight once they realise there are girls next door? If we get 4 boars is that just far too much testosterone for 1 pen? We are not keen to castrate and have no concerns re potential boar taint

2. Fencing - we will be installing stock fencing round the perimeter of the paddock that we will be keeping the pigs in which in turn will be sub-divided into 3 smaller pens using electric fencing supplied by the mains. We know we will need to 'train' the pigs to respect the electric fencing and would appreciate some advice on what power energisers etc  we should go for? We are looking at each of the pens having a total boundary of about 125 metres and would be putting up three strands of wire - the idea being to rotate the pigs through all three pens over time

Hope you don't consider these 'numpty' questions.......!!

[shygirl]

get the same sex. boars can be sent away a bit sooner than gilts.

[nutterly_uts]

I've always seen people advise boars so there is no temptation to keep them and breed on on your first go with pigs. They usually seem to advise boars for at least the first few years, then if you are serious about breeding your own, source some breeding gilts NOT gilts sold for meat as they are of a lesser quality

[Marches Farmer]

Boars will be fine as they'll be away to the abattoir before they get feisty.

[Bionic]

We have always had gilts because OH has a thing about boar taint. He has never tasted it but now that he has it in his head he would always say its there if we had boars so its gilts for us.

[MarthaR]

I too would get all the same sex and preferably boars the first time around.

Apologies if any of this which follows is stuff you already know (granny, egss etc) but they were the things I wanted to know when I started a couple of years ago...also with weaners.

I use battery powered electric fencing and use the Gemini battery energisers - for the size of paddock you have you can use any of the standard ones - you'll see 40/80/120J ones. I buy off countrystoredirect online or electricfencing.co.uk although you'll find offers on other sites every now and then. They're not cheap but they last and they go from flashing green to red when the battery is low and needs charging. I charge using a standard 12v Halfords battery charger and use standard 12v batteries which on larger paddocks than yours last a good few weeks. Beware the batteries can be very heavy so check that when you're buying. The online stores also do electric fencing wire/tape, gate handles, earth rods and connectors and I use the very bog standard electric fencing plastic posts - best price I have found is countrywide (stores/online). I use the 10mm/12mm white fence tape as it's easier for the pigs to see but you would be amazed how quickly they get used to it. Just be aware of getting the height right which will depend on how big they are when they arrive. And clip any vegetation which is touching the tape (the odd blade of grass doesn't make a difference but you'll hear it clicking by the place there is vegetation if it's causing an issue. I tend for all size pigs to use two strands of tape. Oh and remember to clip the two lines together (I do it with the red fence connector) so that the charge carries to both of them - I spent a good few hours trying to figure out why I wasn't seeing them getting shocked on the one line before I worked it out.

Have fun - they're seriously addictive!
Martha R

[pharnorth]

Get all the same sex, but doesn't matter which.
If you are able to use mains electric the size of energiser won't be important for the length you are running a smaller one will do.  The resistance of electric rope or tape is much higher than wire.   We now just use wire for that reason and they very quickly learn. It is important not to put it across the exit if you need the pigs to walk out of the field at the end- because they won't even if you have taken the wire away.

[Porterlauren]

Its refreshing to hear people advising boars! I have some cracking weaners at the moment, but no one ever wants the boars as they believe in the whole taint thing etc!

[harmony]

Sometimes you find that your source of weaners only has gilts, or boars or a mix so don't be too disappointed if you contact someone and find they haven't got what you want. We run mixed pens on and never have an issue and we have never had boar taint. I also know of a working boar, five years old, that was butched and it didn't have boar taint.


If your meat had boar taint it would smell never mind taste and quite likely the butcher wouldn't even want it in case it tainted his meat too.


If we only ever ate gilts we would have an awful lot of surplus boars around. Some people actually prefer boars.

[hughesy]

There's far too much thinking given over to this boar vs. gilt mullarkey. It doesn't matter. Boars and gilts from the same litter will live together happily until they go to slaughter. We keep all of our litters together in the same pen from birth to slaughter. There's never any fighting amongst the boars and they're not sexually mature before they go at five to six months. Out of the hundreds of porkers we've taken to slaughter, and sold the meat direct to the consumer, there's never been any mention of boar taint. Does it even exist? Of all the butchers, abattoir workers, pork lovers and farmers I've ever spoken to face to face no one has ever mentioned it. The internet seems to be where it lives

[harmony]

I totally agree with Hughsey that people worry far too much about boar taint. It does exist though but you would be extremely unlucky to experience it.

[shygirl]

Wev tasted boar taint at our local Chinese restaurant but never with our own. Wev run mixed sex littermates. The boys do think about mating at 5 mths but we sent them off at 6 mths with no issue.

[Paulie]

I can't add much other than we kept 4 boys until 6 months with no problems. I'm pleased I went with boars as I would have had a fight on my hands come slaughter time!

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I agree with everyone else. Only thing I would lik to say is, when I got large blacks I got them to breed. I did have boars out the litter, I kept them to kill. I seperated them at weaning age and fattened them up in a pen of their own, as I was petrified of boar taint. I always kept mine with balls on, as I can't abide castrating pigs. It all worked well got them of at 6 months, nice carcase. What breed were you thinking? Can you keep us updated how you get on? All the best. I will be buying pigs next year

[Paul and Caroline]

Hi everyone - thank you for your comments which we are finding very helpful - in reply to waterbuffalofarmer we are re-assured that the gender of our weaners isn't really a problem (which Is what we more of less thought). We had grand ideas of buying rare breeds however as we do not intend to breed in our first season it did seem a bit OTT so we have decided that breed is not so important this Spring whilst we learn the ropes however once we have gained some experience we will turn our thoughts to breeding - not sure therefore which breed to look at.... We will post periodically to let people know how we are getting on!