[langfauld easycare]

our sow was due to farrow in about a fortnight going by the look of her, she has a belly etc her last litter came of her in december. i was working next to there run yesterday and seen the boar jumping her several time she appeared to be standing i went in and put pressure on her back but she would not stand . i always thought that if in pig they would not stand for the boar . she is usualy quite hard on the boar as he is young but seemed quite happy to let him jump yesterday .anyone any thoughts on this .thanks

[Fowgill Farm]

Around the time sows are due to give birth they give off a scent tot he boar like they're in season, if she's that close to farrowing she SHOULD NOT BE IN WITH THE BOAR so get them spearated NOW. I suspect you've miscounted her season or when she was caught by 3wks so she'll probaly pop in the next week or so so start making your preparartions.
Mandy
 

[Beewyched]

Totally agree with Mandy, you may need to take extra precautions to keep him away from her for a while.
 
My KK boars used to hang around outside the door of our old "maternity wing" every time a litter was imminent - I used to think it was cute - daddies visiting their babies - awh   
Now a (tiny) bit wiser, I keep them well away from at least 2 weeks before Dday.
 

[Berkshire Boy]

Well I'm afraid I'm going to disagree about boars.  I have had a few sows farrow early and still been in with the boar and never had a problem. Funnily enough had one farrow this morning and dad was present. I've seen the boar eating with piglets in his trough and not a hint of a problem just eats round them. Boars are not the devils they are portrayed as. Boars need loving to.

[langfauld easycare]

thanks for the input   sheep and cattle are more my thing its my daughters sow .i only ever used to keep a couple of weaners for the freezer.at her last litter i left her with him till she started to let down milk but didnt see any jumping like this but then he wasnt much more than a weaner  .he is a sap of a thing  the boar actualy gets bullied by her .only having the 2 and being outside its a bit of a pain as neither settle very well on there own.will split them just to be safe .my daughter is a bit scared of the sow as she is a fair size saddle back cross . but we were gifted a couple of kk guilts on friday which i plan to run with the osb boar once they are out of quarintine .my daughter is much more confident with these.and they are super friendly . the big sow will get sold with young at foot or the young reared and the sow sausaged .

[HappyHippy]

but we were gifted a couple of kk guilts on friday which i plan to run with the osb boar once they are out of quarintine .

I'd be wary of putting Kunekunes to anything bigger than a Berkshire boar  (but maybe others will disagree or have other experiences to share) Mainly because of the size of the piglets at farrowing - bigger boars make bigger piglets and Kunekune being a small breed, might struggle to deliver big piglets since they're smaller pigs. Since it's gilts you've got I'd be tempted to try and find a KK or Berkshire boar for them, for their first litter at least, to try and minimise any problems at farrowing.
We've had OSB/Kunekune crosses, but it was from an OSB sow with a Kunekune boar and not the other way round 
HTH
Karen

[langfauld easycare]

thanks hh , was going to ask that question before he got put in with them .the other was, they are both about a year old one is a fair bit smaller than the other will she catch up or has she done all her growing .what is normal age/weight for running kk with boar.
we bought 2 kk cross osb at lanark a while back they were superb compact pigs, balls of meat . we dindnt have them long as they were ready to go .the boar killed out at 41kg without head . the guilt was 39kg . but as they were bought at auction i dont no which way the cross was .i was well pleased /impressed how they turned out.

[langfauld easycare]

also found out that kuneys not rooting is a bit of a myth 

[HappyHippy]

Oh they do root  We've noticed with ours that they tend to do it most when young, or when the grass starts to lose it's goodness in the autumn (but sometimes they must just notice something nice smelling under the soil and turf it up  ) Generally though, they do far less damage than any of the traditional breeds.

For me, I aim to have the gilts well grown before putting to the boar - usually between a year and 18 months old, ideally 80Kg liveweight as a minimum.
Kunekunes won't be fully grown until they're about 2.5 - 3 years old, but I've found that even in one litter there are some pigs that are always just a bit smaller (shorter in the back and leg) so your little one might never get to the size of the bigger one. It could be that the bigger one is stealing all the food though and bullying the little one - keep an eye on them at mealtimes to make sure they're both getting a fair share 

If you can measure their length from the ear to the root if their tail (when their head is up) and their 'girth' (just behind the front legs) it's quite easy to calculate their weight. Measure in meters (so if she's 36 inches, that's 90cm or 0.9 meters  ) and here's the calculation 

Girth squared, multiplied by length x 69.3 = weight in kilos.

It might be worth just mating the bigger one at the moment and give the smaller one time to grow more before putting her to the boar  I'm not sure where your nearest KK boar is ? I'm over Lanark way if you wanted to use Big Red, but depending on where you are there might be someone nearer - just give me a shout if you want me to find out 
HTH
Karen 

[shygirl]

Well I'm afraid I'm going to disagree about boars.  I have had a few sows farrow early and still been in with the boar and never had a problem. Funnily enough had one farrow this morning and dad was present. I've seen the boar eating with piglets in his trough and not a hint of a problem just eats round them. Boars are not the devils they are portrayed as. Boars need loving to.

i have heard of the same scenaro with cattle. a young bull was known to kill a calf as he tried to mate the cow whilst she was giving birth. might only happen in 1% of cases, just preventation is better than cure. we did have a sow give birth with a boar present but that was due to miscalculating the dates and her failing to bag up in advance. luckily it was a big paddock and she took herself away to a quiet corner.

[langfauld easycare]

hi shy girl never heard of anything like that in cattle .our bulls have never botherd calving cows .but theres always exeption to any rules .went to see chilingham wild cattle a couple of years ago the cows go of from the herd to calf. apon there return if the calf is weak etc the dominant bull kills it .a bit rough but maybe how they have survived


hh how do you find the pure kk weaners sell .there always seems to be loads for sale and same adverts for long periods of time . our previous few litters of x weaners always sold pretty well .
they are superb wee guilts my daughter is in with them all the time which is what i wanted   [size=78%] no point her having something and being scared of it .  [/size]

[HappyHippy]

hh how do you find the pure kk weaners sell .there always seems to be loads for sale and same adverts for long periods of time . our previous few litters of x weaners always sold pretty well .
they are superb wee guilts my daughter is in with them all the time which is what i wanted   [size=78%] no point her having something and being scared of it .  [/size]

It depends how much time and effort you put in to selling them 
We always have people wanting good breeding stock and slowly but surely folk are starting to see them as a potential low-input source of pork too. It takes a wee while to build your name, reputation and customer base and one of the best ways to do this is by going to shows, talking to people and showing your pigs (plus, it's great fun  )
The Smallholder show in Lanark in September has Kunekune classes - it would be a great place to start 

Kunekunes are just the friendliest pigs I've ever met, my kids range in age from 9 to 2 - they're all in with them on a daily basis and they get as much out of it as the pigs do 
You must not be that far away from me ? I'm in Lesmahagow, so if you're ever over this way and want to come for a visit and talk Kunekune just let me know, the kettle is always on 

[shygirl]

hi shy girl never heard of anything like that in cattle .our bulls have never botherd calving cows .but theres always exeption to any rules .went to see chilingham wild cattle a couple of years ago the cows go of from the herd to calf. apon there return if the calf is weak etc the dominant bull kills it .a bit rough but maybe how they have survived

yes, it happened to my friends cattle, a young bull. its the smell they get confused with a try to mount the cow thinking its in season. it got crushed i expect.

(if you are wanting another story... another friend of mine who bred AA found his cow halfway through giving birth in the field, the calf was stuck in the birth canal so was half in/ half out. they caught a fox red-handed eating the calfs head whilst it was still alive. the poor cow couldnt do anything to protect it as it was hanging out of her back end. the fox was so confident it was needed shooing away by the farmers. i live just a mile away and rarely see many foxes. horrible.)

[Hassle]

I must admit never had problems with bulls and cows or steers and I think this must be an unusual occasion of a bull killing a calf. The only problem I have with our bulls is standing looking over my shoulder, I have however known a calf to be crushed by yearlings mounting as they try to work out pecking order.  Lucky that has never happened to me though but we do manage our cattle.

[langfauld easycare]

hi    hh we are near dunfermline .got family about airdrie and at lanark sometimes so might try pop in sometime and pick your brains. couldnt see me showing them unless the wee lass wants to. 


hi shyg  heard that story a few times with fox@ sheep .


hi hassel never had any bother either but one of my neighbours rekond his bull killed cow that had went down and he kept jumping her.