The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Pikeman on April 17, 2013, 05:12:52 pm
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Right been offered 2 weaners that are gos. I want to send them to slaughter eventually. Does it matter if they are girls or boys? How do you know when they are ready for slaughter? Will they be ok in with the 2 kune kune we have?
Thanks in advance.
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I have had boys and girls, but never mix! Two boys or two girls.
ow long you leave them until slaughter depends on what you want the meat for. i usually send mine at about 26-28 weeks, but you can leave them longer to make bigger hams! I think this is the optimum time for them to grow without putting too much excess fat on. There is a measurement you can take (around their "chests") but I can't for the life of me remember how big they are supposed to be! Do a search on here for 'measuring pigs' there's loads of info on here.
Good luck! :pig:
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You are looking for 55 kilos for pork weight this is 24-28 weeks or 100 kilos for baconers, there is some discussion of longer than 28 weeks for males can cause boar taint, although this can depend on the ability to taste, and how sexual active (depends on how intensive) pigs can get sexual frustrated and try it on with anything.
Finally GOS need to be food managed they will happily eat lots and put on the fat look at 1lb per pig per month up to a maximum of 4lb.
There is a respected name for GOS ... Fowgill farm that posts on here and will point you in the right/ correct direction
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Personally, I wouldn't mix Kunekune with traditional breeds - the GOS will root up all the grass the Kunekune need to graze and their feeding requirements are totally different - so if they were all in together you'd find either your Kunekunes were getting too much (and getting really fat) or your GOS weren't getting enough and not growing as well as they should.
If you could split the paddock with temporary fencing that might work okay, but it's good practice to keep the new pigs completely seperate for at least a fortnight, just to be sure they're not carrying any diseases that could transfer to your Kunekunes.
We aim for 85Kg live weight for our traditional breed pigs (40 inches when measured round the body, directly behind the front legs) which will give you a carcass weight around 50Kg.
For mixing - uncastrated boars and gilts mixing would be a situation I'd avoid no matter what breed (potential for taint and unexpected arrivals ;)) but if the boars are castrated it would be alright.......just watch for bullying if you do decide to mix them.
HTH
Karen
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Thank you for the help. The kune are both girls so if we have to mix do the gos need to be girls ir gilts?
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Yes a gilt is a female pig that has not had piglets
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We aim for 85Kg live weight for our traditional breed pigs (40 inches when measured round the body, directly behind the front legs) which will give you a carcass weight around 50Kg.
.......just watch for bullying if you do decide to mix them.
HTH
Karen
Agree with HH witen above. GOS are very placid generally but will squabble to establish a pecking order just like any species. If you're getting gilt piglets your KK's will bully them as they'll be smaller so watch out for it, GOS grow fairly quickly and will soon be as big or bigger than the kk's.
You may also need a different feeding regime with the two types of breed as HH mentioned in her post but i don't know the in & outs of rearing KK's only GOS :love: .
Feel free to PM me if you have any GOS related questions or go to the GOS website www.gospbc.co.uk (http://www.gospbc.co.uk) for lots of info.
HTH
mandy :pig:
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Thanks for the advice, much appreciated it. I have 2 girls coming in the next week :)