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Author Topic: Managing Boar weaners  (Read 2468 times)

Paul and Caroline

  • Joined Apr 2014
Managing Boar weaners
« on: February 12, 2017, 09:34:48 am »
Hi

We are about to embark on our second season of raising weaners for the freezer and would appreciate the benefit of your experiences raising male weaners.

Last year we had 4 - 2 males and 2 females, intending to keep the 2 gilts for pork and the 2 boars for bacon. We had been advised that we didn't need to worry about them getting up to any 'Shenanigans' until they were at least 6 months old, by which time the girls would have gone. Only trouble is nobody told the boys that and they started to get a twinkle in their eyes at about 18/20 weeks. We did keep them for a further 3 weeks but they were getting far too frisky and had to go. The girls were still well under the target weight so it wasn't an option to send them. The boys came back at 65kg and 70kg so they weren't too bad but we would have preferred them to be another 10kg heavier as pork pigs. We kept the girls until they were 32 weeks old and they both came back at 77kg. (These are all DW by he way).

Ideally we would have liked the boys to have reached 90-100kg DW for bacon which they probably would have been at around 32 weeks.

We want to raise another 4 animals but my local breeder only has 3 gilts and 2 boars available, so it means a mixed herd again.

So this is the nub of my question. As far as I understand it non essential surgical castration is illegal in the U.K. Am I right in this? If not does anyone have their boars castrated? If you do does this cause them to run to fat too easily? Does it slow down their growth rate?

If it is illegal (and We must admit even if its not illegal we are not at all comfortable with the idea of castration) how do those of you who raise mixed herds manage the boars? The research we have done suggests that male sexual maturity can and often does develop significantly earlier than 6 months in some breeds. Ours were Saddleback/Large white crosses.

Do we just have to accept that if we raise a mixed herd we will just have to send them off earlier and therefore at lower weights than we would like?

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2017, 10:07:27 am »
You can castrate. Job for vet and should have been done well before you collect them as weaners. There is also an injection but for such a small number it would be way too expensive. There is a difference between frisky and actually being sexually mature but if you can't keep them apart then you should just get one sex.


I am surprised at your weights for the gilts given the large white in them. The boys were reasonable weights for pork.


What did you feed and did you worm?








Paul and Caroline

  • Joined Apr 2014
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2017, 10:33:01 am »
Harmony

My neighbour/breeder is unwilling to castrate so that isn't an option for me. The boys were actually displaying and mounting each other - they tried it on with the girls but they weren't having any of it!

Do you think the gilts were light for 32 weeks?

We got them at 12 weeks and fed them on a pellet/sow roll mix for a couple of weeks and sow rolls only thereafter. They got an occasional treat of spent brewers mash when our micro brewer neighbours did a brew and We gave them some veg and fruit,  butnot very much as we don't have a supplier round here and could only give them what we had grown or bought from the supermarket. The had been wormed with panacure just prior to us getting them

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2017, 11:58:49 am »
We keep pedigree GOS and the boars generally go in at 22 weeks maximum and the gilts two weeks later.  We split them into boars and gilts a week after weaning.  We feed what can be cleared in 20 minutes at weaning, reducing gradually to 10 minutes before slaughter and, starting four weeks before slaughter, slowly substituting about one fifth soaked wheat to put on a layer of fat for good crackling.  Vegetable garden waste is fed as an addition to give them variety but, of course, nothing that's seen the inside of the farmhouse kitchen.

3county farm boy

  • Joined Jan 2017
  • Love my family animals and life's sweet
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2017, 12:53:02 pm »
I wouldn't feed them the sow nuts try growers then finishers, I only use sow nuts for sows
Everyday is a day to wake up for

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2017, 02:11:46 pm »
Yes, I would say the girls were light at 32 weeks. We send our Lops in at around 100 kilo LW and we can bacon the sides or cut for pork. These days with modern curing you don't necessarily need bigger pigs, which actually equated to fatter.


You fed the gilts for another 10 weeks roughly for another 7 kilo's DW but to bacon you take out the bones.


Your bigger boy would have been shy of a 100 kilo LW.


I would also say they should have been wormed again.

Pigsmightfry

  • Joined Jan 2015
  • Carlisle
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2017, 06:44:03 pm »
We keep OSBs and they all go at 70-80kg, beyond that weight they put on fat too quickly, we don't differentiate between porkers, cutters and baconers, but we still use the meat for bacon, pork and sausages.

We separate the sexes at about 4 months so we don't get any of the problems you may be finding, however, before 6 months weaners do play a lot which can be seen as sexual behaviour.

If you want pigs of the same sex I suggest you put a request on here, there are plenty of weaners around and you will soon find a local breeder who has 4 of the same sex.

pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2017, 09:54:35 pm »
Probably a silly question but wouldn't it be easier to get a second shelter and some electric tape then you can keep 2gilts and 2 males separate?  Or just find another breeder who can do you 4 of the same sex?

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Managing Boar weaners
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2017, 05:20:46 pm »
All the native breeds we've kept have had a 16% sow & weaner nut all their lives.

 

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