[princesspiggy]

with only one boar in the litter, im pretty sure we should castrate him as he'l be raised with the other gilts. what age should i get the vet to do it? i know it prob shud have bin done in week one but dorothy was so protective, i didnt want to upset her by taking him away. definitely dont want to risk boar taint as were keeping him til finishing.
they are booked in with butchers for exactly 6 mths (xmas rush etc) what weight can we expect at killing, and back?
thanx dudes 

[Beewyched]

Not sure what breeds you've got PP, I've only got Kunes, so other folks may be of more help on this one - Robert/Lill/Karen?

Kunes usually get castrated at 3-5 weeks because of the inguinal (sp?) problem.  They also seem to mature sexually a lot earlier than other breeds (our SoS was impregnating at 5 months  )  Kunes take longer to finish - a 6-month Kune will probably only give you about 24-30 kilos when de-boned, they're better left until 9-10 months. 

Again, with Kunes, if you use the old tape measure to get a live weight - you probably need to deduct about 20-25% for your end product.

Sure he'll taste amazing though 

[HappyHippy]

If the vet's doing the castration it can be done at any age - although you might want to consider some pain relief for the wee guy if he's a bit older - it would add to the cost I expect  My vet's quoted me £10 per piglet for a 'standard' castration - no anesthetic, just slice, pull and slice again  With the Kunes it's a much more complicated process  (it would be wouldn't it !) a 'closed' castration with anesthetics and painkillers etc and the costs for that at 6 weeks (roughly 15Kg-20Kg weight) was approx £40 each.
At 6 months old (providing it doesn't go really cold in October/November) I'd expect him to be approx 85Kg liveweight - dead weight probably around 65Kg and 'packaged' meat (minus bones, head, trotters etc) to be roughly 45Kg. But hopefully others will give you their figures too so you can compare.
HTH
Karen

[princesspiggy]

sorry i forgot to say they are tamworths. does a horse weigh tape work on pigs?

(our SoS was impregnating at 5 months  )

what is SoS?
thanku

[HappyHippy]

SoS is short for 'Son of Syd'  a wee Kune Kune boar Lynne's got 

I'm not sure about the horse tape - never used one
But here's an easy one for pigs -
Measure heart girth in meters (round the body, just behind the front legs)
Multiply it by itself and then multiply it by the length in meters (from base of ear to base of tail)
Multiply the answer by 69.3 and this will give you the weight in Kg
Accurate within 5Kg apparently.
HTH
Karen 

[princesspiggy]

ok, just used a horse tape (for ponies under 14.2)
belle is gos at 4 mth and 3 weeks approx - 65kg
dorothy 18 mth tam sow - 250kg
delilah was slimmer and 14 ths and we got 176kg meat back so im thinking she was 240kg so im guessing it could be quite accurate.

the tape equation is girth 2(cm) x length (cm)   divided 11,877

after finishing all our other pigs at 9-10 mths seems strange to be finishing them at 6 mths, just seems so small. obviously its the optimum time financially.

i will try ur idea karen when i can a find a tape measure...they are like gold dust here  lol 

[Berkshire Boy]

Why is everyone is obsessed with boar taint,they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. All my boars go for meat the guy I sell them to  kills 700 pigs a year and never had a problem with taint.
Why is it that people complain about notching ears but are quite happy to castrate a weaner with no anesthetic, barbaric.

[robert waddell]

Berkshire boy
boar taint is real not an imagined thing            there are two reasons to castrate the first the taint the second is a management tool   with pedigree pigs selling entire males that do not meet the standard there is a real chance they will be used for breeding without the testicles they are just meat pigs (an alternative is chemical castration or penicillin injected into the testicles)
the old chestnut about taint     the last boar piglets to get cut you could smell the boar from them (student vet also smelt the stink)
also you can run them as a group without fear of unwanted breeding
notching  once you get up to three or more notches per ear the blood on the head shoulders and ears is quite alarming
cut males can be kept to over 100kilos either slow grown on grass or pushed on nuts without wasting energy or growth on riding other pigs
back on track if you have been trained by a professional person you can castrate WITH CUTTING NOT TEARING up to 4 days old thereafter it is a vet job
i do not use the tape method as i have a pig weigher and a cattle weigher for the over 135 kilo pigs
2 pigs went last week to slaughter the first weighed 125 kilos and on the hook 93 1/2 the second weighed 120 kilos  and 87 kilos on the hook
this 6 months crap  pigs all vary from breed to feeding to housing conditions  some can be 125 kilos at 26 weeks others can be just 60 kilos

[princesspiggy]

thanx robert, theyr def off at 6 mths as already sold and need to back before xmas. i just wanted to be able to give an approx weight to the buyers.
with only one male piglet in litter he has to be raised with gilts or he will on his own. i dont want to risk any boar taint as im selling the meat privately. i was presuming keeping a mixed sex group would bring out the boary-ness compared to single sex groups.
am i worrying over nothing? at £40 castration fee and i presume vet call out on top, then thats the profit out the window anyway.

to cut or not to cut?

[Berkshire Boy]

I didn't say it was imagined but it is rare. I run any weaners I'm growing on in mixed groups and never had a problem, you are generally not keeping them long enough for pregnancy to be a problem.
To say you should castrate to stop a meat boar from being used to breed is ridiculous, do you sterilise all your gilts for the same reason.
I do agree that people need to learn to slaughter by weight and not age, 6 months is not the holy grail.

[welshlass181]

The slaughter house we went to said that boar taint does exist but i have not seen it myself (not had much to do with pigs until recently).  

I can only comment on the castration as i have experienced it myself lol we had 3 KK boars done that were given to us (only reason they were done is so we could keep them with the herd until they go to forever homes) the biggest one was about 30+kg the middle one was about 20+kg and the baby Chopin weight about 10kg and she is smaller than my lil staffy.  Now these boars were sold to the old owner as coming from the same litter and be about 8 months old   i have serious doubts lol as the stud male i kept weighs in at about 50kg

[HappyHippy]

am i worrying over nothing? at £40 castration fee and i presume vet call out on top, then thats the profit out the window anyway.

to cut or not to cut?

No vet call out fee, I take them to the surgery   And that £40 is for a closed castration - you'll probably find that for a standard castration and a bit of painkiller they'll not charge as much as £40 - best to give them a phone and see, before you do decide whether to go ahead with the 'snip' or not.
Karen  

[welshlass181]

Mine were closed castration and it was £50 a pig !!!!!!!! I nearly died cos i was quoted between £60-£80 for all 3

[robert waddell]

castration is my choice        only today i was informed that this gent had pedigree tamworths on seaking clarification on them he was sold the boar and sows as pedigree without paper work but still insisted they were pedigree       now how many people have bought just a pig in the mistaken belief it is pedigree
Berkshire boy you must be very lucky with your mixed groups       that gilt that looks as if it has eaten more nuts than the rest will have had at least 2 nuts more

[princesspiggy]

No vet call out fee, I take them to the surgery  

with movement forms etc ?? that mite be a better option.