The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: PK on January 16, 2016, 01:58:07 pm
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We are thinking of moving on from fattening up bought in weaners to breeding our own. Setting aside issues of costs, what to do with any progeny etc., what is the minimum number of pigs needed that are advisable to keep, including both permutations of keeping or not keeping a breeding boer.
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We'll basic biology says 2, 1 male and 1 female...
Anything else is going to be tricky :-D
Sorry I'm ill in bed and couldn't resist, I'll let real grown ups answer properly now...
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Whether you keep a boar depends a bit on breed and where your nearest unrelated stud boar would be, if there are none around you that narrows the choices (though you could always buy in-pig sows or gilts and use AI)
To keep a boar working and happy I'd say a minimum of 3 sows (it could be a couple of your own plus stud work) but the more he works the happier he'll be :thumbsup: Others may have different ideas ;)
HTH
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Accommodation is a consideration. A sow with piglets will need her own area and if you hire out the boar a quarantine area would be advisable for his return. If you use a hired boar you'll need to work out dates and book well in advance. Similarly, if you hire yours out scheduling can be difficult. I've just had a phone call from someone who wants to hire my boar at the end of January who sounded somewhat miffed when I said that he wouldn't be finished running with my own gilts until April.
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We are thinking of moving on from fattening up bought in weaners to breeding our own. Setting aside issues of costs, what to do with any progeny etc., what is the minimum number of pigs needed that are advisable to keep, including both permutations of keeping or not keeping a breeding boer.
I wouldn't set aside the "other" issues especially what you will do with the progeny. If you don't have a market for the offspring why would breed? If you currently rear and eat two pigs a year for example and you have a sow that rears you eight twice a year that's a lot of extra to shift.
At the end of the day the more work you can give a boar the less he actually costs to keep. I disagree with the "more work a boar has the happier he will be". My boar has very little to do really as we never have more than four sows at any one time. He is perfectly content and actually I rather doubt he would be bothered if he had nothing to do. A boar merely reacts to a sow being on heat so if there isn't one on heat near him he's not going to give it a thought.
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Thanks for the replies so far. I set aside the "other issues" (which are of course important) to keep comments focused on the particular issue highlighted. If a hired boer is used then the breeding sow will need companions. Can this, for example, be a castrated boer or is the reality that a one breeding sow is not viable and that at least two or needed. Is it the case that you need to keep at least two sows and hire in, or keep separately accommodated when not running with sows, a breeding boer?
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Apologies, I keep spelling boar wrong.
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I wouldn't waste money on a castrated boar that you feed, year in, year out.
Work out what two sows would cost you to feed in a year, and research your local market re. demand for weaners and meat. See what the demand is and then see if it's feasible.
If you decide to hire in a boar, bank on paying £50 per sow. AI (if you can do it) will be about £24 per sow.
Spend a bit of time working out your business plan - even if it is, essentially, a hobby - before making a big commitment.
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16 YRS ago same position we were buying in 3-4 weaners per year feeding on hotel waste etc selling meat ,making money . SO we decided to buy 3 gilts and a young boar ( WRONG DECISION FOR US ) space wasn't an issue we have yards /buildings and they ran in forestry , and on the hill behind electric for bracken control . All went ok selling gilts to other people and meat boxes then we had to stop the waste food and buy more potatoes/ nuts at one point we had 23 weaners plus 4 adults to feed 3 other people that had bought gilts off us started trying to sell meat . SO 4 YRS ago all pigs were sold eventually ( took a year ) leaving a financial loss , and we were buying nuts in bulk . Now gone back to 2 weaners per year :relief: The 3 people who tried to compete have sold all their pigs . WHILE I accept that you are in a denser populated area than ARGYLL I imagine their are more pigs to . Good Luck