The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: rockstar on May 10, 2013, 08:20:38 pm
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I am having my 4 weaners tomorrow, 2 boars 2 gilts from the same farrow.I plan on taking the 2 boars to 6 months for pork and the 2 gilts 8-9 months for bacon.Is it ok to keep the boars with the gilts upto 6 months or will they start mating .
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Hi,
If they were mine I would either keep them separate or send the gilts at 6 months and keep the boars to 8-9 months rather than risk the gilts being in pig when the boars go to slaughter.
Pete
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I would also recommend you separate, it depends on the breed as to how soon they mature some as early as 3-4 months
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We separate at 16wks if that would give you some breathing space to get something set up to separate them.
HTh mandy :pig:
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Thanks for the advice I shall get them parted by 16 weeks.
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Two years ago Charlotte got knocked up by her son, judging by the dates he was 19 weeks old at the time.... I had a chat with her about "boundaries" after that.... ;D
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i have 5 gilts and 3 boars and all live happily together. They are on schedule to go at 24 weeks so im not expecting too much monkey business
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Hi,
If they were mine I would either keep them separate or send the gilts at 6 months and keep the boars to 8-9 months rather than risk the gilts being in pig when the boars go to slaughter.
Pete
I''m guessing Pete meant boars go at six months and gilts at 8/9. Probably a typo.
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Hi,
If they were mine I would either keep them separate or send the gilts at 6 months and keep the boars to 8-9 months rather than risk the gilts being in pig when the boars go to slaughter.
Pete
I''m guessing Pete meant boars go at six months and gilts at 8/9. Probably a typo.
I think he meant gilts go first so they wouldnt be heavily in pig if they had got 'caught', or have I misunderstood? :thinking:
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Hi
As Bumblebear surmised, I meant gilts to go first incase they had been caught and keep the boars longer. With the absence of gilts the boars won't be risking getting boar taint.
Pete
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Personally, I'd do it the other way round - send the boars off first.
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Personally, I'd do it the other way round - send the boars off first.
me too always
Mandy :pig:
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Personally, I'd do it the other way round - send the boars off first.
me too always
Mandy :pig:
My reasoning was based on the assumption that the boars and gilts would be kept together upto that point and there was a chance that the gilts could be in pig (but only just caught). So rather than keep them and risk them either farrowing or being sent to slaughter when at a more advanced stage I was saying to send them first. All things being equal it would be the boars I would send first.
Pete