The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: chickenspigsstuff on June 13, 2022, 04:50:01 pm
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Hi, looking for a quick bit of advice.
Due to poor planning I have found myself with 2 boars and 1 gilt. They are Pietrains and as far as I am aware siblings.
We normally keep the pigs for around 6 months and then send them off to slaughter for the freezer.
I can't find any information on the risks of 1) siblings getting pregnant and 2) if she is, and I send her off to the abattoir, am I going to get into trouble if she is past a certain date.
Advice on likely maturity dates seems to vary quite a lot as well. I believe pig gestation is 3 months & 3 weeks?
Hopefully it is unlikely she gets pregnant and we can just send them a little earlier than normal. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do. Is it mad to keep them all together? Is there a deadline I should cull her? Are they very unlikely to get pregnant anyway?
Many thanks in advance!
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We've kept various combinations of weaners over the years and have had no problems with mixed sex groups. Boys have not mounted girls and we've never been told by the abattoir that any females were pregnant at time of slaughter. The most "fighting" we've experienced has been with an all male group with not a girl in sight.
I would think that if you send them off promptly at 26 weeks then the risk of pregnancy is quite low.
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I used to have Pietrain X weaners, perfect on a saddleback as they came out leaner. I sent mine off always before 6 months understand about mixing the sexes. The only problem we had when like that was they would scrap and sometimes nastily, blood and pigs don't mix. It's amazing how spiteful a pig can be to its siblings, yet when they are all boars, never had this problem (the last 4 were all boars and turned on the sheep and the cattle, but not each other! Enjoyed eating those little blighters at 5 month!)