The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: JoeMac on September 30, 2009, 05:34:27 pm
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An hypothetical (for now) question for all you helpful people .
As some of you know I have a pair of young unrelated Kune Kunes a gilt and a boar to be raised for meat .However if I decided not to send them on their holidays and let them breed instead what would be the situation with the boar .I'm pretty sure that you cannot let the boar run with the young pigs ,how long does this last for or is it a permanent thing .My boar is a real character and I wouldn't really like for him to be by himself all the time .As you can tell I am still undecided about what to do but maybe the progeny would fatten up next year .At the moment I am still sticking with plan A but I keep looking at my options .
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer
JoeMac
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Don't know about kunes but we have had litters in with the boar [tams /osbs] Some we kept in until weaning others way past for company,works well if you remove the sows . can get difficult if you keep young [frisky] boars,sows and the mature boar together, young fellas will get a right pasting. But a boar will tolerate young pigs well if no sows are about.
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Hi my pens are all adjacent to eachother, so when my boar is alone he has company albeit through a stock fence, where they can still communicate :)
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Thanks Dixie ,that may be an option
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Hi my pens are all adjacent to eachother, so when my boar is alone he has company albeit through a stock fence, where they can still communicate :)
I have the same system with my dogs. they are separate so if any of them have a grudge they can't do any harm, but they always have company, and are in with me at night where I am the boss.
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I personally would never run a boar with any other piglets, weaner's growers etc, at the end of the day he is a boar and the "top man" and should never be 100% trusted. If you have a outdoor system running with him your sows to serve them is ok, although personally I don't do this, if he is a young boar he can pester sows to death and also he may get a leathering of a sow that will put him off mating or over stretch himself and do the same, I like to take the sows to him and see them served so you know the exact date you are due to farrow instead of guess work. Keep him in a next door pen or at very least where he can see or smell other pigs is a must, this has the effect of keeping him interested he'll "talk" to the other pigs and his pheromones in the air will bring your gilts/sows in season.
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Thanks pentre ,
Very informative
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Oh and make sure the fence is strong a rampant boar or indeed rampant sow, could break through! I have a gilt in heat at the moment, Rodney our boar gazes at her cooing (and being rude :o_) through the fence, they run up and down chatting!! (sex talk I reckon)! she will go in with him at her next heat!
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Hi JoeMac
I have Kune Kunes and have been breeding for about 5 years now. I have always been very careful to separate a sow who is due to farrow from the other sows and the boar until this year when we moved house!!
All sows and boar in together and because I completely lost track of what day/month year(!) it was I found a sow had farrowed in the ark in the field with everyone else around! Panic! Decided that it would be more stressful to move her so left her and 3 weeks later the other sow farrowed as well in the same field (separate arc) with Dad and Aunty still around.
Have to say they were the best, easiest piglets ever. All took turns to babysit including the boar and piglets fed from whoever happened to be nearest. Incredible. I certainly will not worry so much again.
They did have plenty of room (about an acre) but no-one seemed in the least aggressive or bothered at all.
Di
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Thanks Di ,
Maybe the Kunes manner is more relaxed .I think if breeding was this trouble free I would go for it .I don't want to sound lazy but the space is more of an issue for me .I am looking for some new pasture to rent but it doesnt seem that easy around where I am to find something .Maybe someone has some ideas about where to find grazing ?.
thanks again Di
JoeMac
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Sorry to be the misery in the woodpile, we had a few piglets escape up the lane to "dad's" pen. He was very violent towards them, actually physically damaging a nice female piglet. In the past he had been very gentle with piglets who escaped into his field. This time was the exception. It might have been a bad pig day for him, but its not worth the risk.
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We have double fencing between boar and sow pens.
If a sow has a litter she is at least two pens (outdoor or indoor) away.
The boar also needs protecting from a Sow - once had a Saddleback nearly kill a boar that broke into her pen in a shed for farrowing, when she gave off a false season smell at 3 days after farrowing - she will protect her piglets to the death - he was a lucky boy.
For good pig advice you can not beat the advice given here from hilarysmum, and Pentre1230 ( and Annie (doganjo) is brilliant with all animals due to plenty of good experience too ;)
Three well "experienced" and give consistent good advice - good luck and well done for being
wise enough to ask this - love hypothetical questions - saves animals from stress or at worse death
xx :pig: xx
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Thanks everyone for all your advice .Books are all very well but you can't ask a book questions and experience takes time to gain .
Cheers all
JoeMac
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We know of a breeder who runs their whole herd as a family unit .Adult boars ,gilts,sows weaners[male and female] they have plenty of space and all rub along very well.Pigs are one of the most sociable and intelligent species and thrive with each others company.So much depends on how well they have been socialised and their general temprement spend time with your pigs get to know them and their personalities.Treated well [ie allowed to do whats natural]and respected most pigs will be well behaved social friendly creatures.You can get some argy bargy but generally it's not serious just setting the ground rules for the social order. Everyones different what works for one doesn't always for another.Personally our boars always have company in their fields with them.