[Bumblebear]

After the dramas of losing the two berkshires we are left with ginger pig, who unfortunately we have become quite fond of, unsurprising really.  My question now is how could we keep her?  We will have a shed and 1/3 acre when the lambs go but we do need some meat too.  Could we get in a boar to service her, eat him then keep back a weaner from her litter to keep her company?  Would he be tainted after servicing her?  How else can we logistically keep her?  If she's next to the goats would they be company?  Kitchen cottage, is Charlotte your only pig?

An advice welcome. 

[shygirl]

ai is very easy and economical but leaves you a few months of no company for her.

[Bionic]

I know you are fond of her but at this stage I would be tempted to let her go on her journey. Eat the meat and take some time to rethink after everything that has happened to you recently.

[kja]

I know you are fond of her but at this stage I would be tempted to let her go on her journey. Eat the meat and take some time to rethink after everything that has happened to you recently.

my thoughts too.

[HappyHippy]

I know you are fond of her but at this stage I would be tempted to let her go on her journey. Eat the meat and take some time to rethink after everything that has happened to you recently.

my thoughts too.

ditto 

[Bumblebear]

Putting pigs inthe land isn't a problem because they would all be vaccinated stock.  The land will always haveerionit, just like tetanus.  You're probably right about our hearts ruling our heads.

[Marches Farmer]

A lonely pig is a sad pig, especially through the winter. 

[langfauld easycare]

my mate kept a single sow for years . by the time the last of her previous litter was going to the butcher she would farrow again . so always had her young as company

[ferretkeeper]

There you are...if you want to keep her (and I don't blame you!) you could get a companion in who's destined for your freezer for now, then when your ginger girlie's old enough to breed (if not already) a young boar could indeed service her and go on his way after that, and the young ones would be company for the future as Langfauld says.

In fact that was what we were going to do here, use finishers to service the sows, but then I found a lovely boar whose offspring I already had - looks like one of his sons was still on Plan A though, at least one of the sows is already up the duff  !

As it happens I do think other animals in the field are sort of suitable company for a lone pig, for a short while at least. I ended up with a sow by herself for a couple of months, she was in pig and I didn't want to stress her by introducing a new pig on the scene. She was quite happy, got all the fuss from everyone, but the other animals were nearby and seemed to hang around her pen! I keep the youngest pigs and the soon-to-be-departing pigs next door to the goats, they get on great!

However having read what you've been through, could you do with the break and maybe start fresh with new pigs next spring maybe? I think I'd keep the pig but then I'm soft  - I lost my first kid followed swiftly by his mother this year so when my other girl kidded NO WAY was I selling her baby, in fact I've been and got more goats - so much for the business plan!

Sorry I'm no help whatsoever!

[oaklandspigs]

Agree with the general census
either make the decision to take her off
or get a male.  Can't remember how old your ginger is, or if she's had piglets, but if young I'd be tempted to get a young male, even a weaner, he'll be company for her through the winter, and then can service her as he becomes ready.  Yes you can then take him for the freezer.  Like Ferretkeeper we have often used young boars to service our girls, particularly the young gilts as some of our boars can be too big for them.  You'll not get a taint problem from an outdoor kept male who's only served a couple of girls.
 
If you girl is older, you might need a boar who's near or actually active, as it can be difficult to get a pig pregnant if they either have a long period before first becoming pregnant, or have long intervals between litters.
 
And yes if you then want to keep her as a breeding female, you can buy males, or do AI.
 
Or there's also nothing wrong in deciding to keep her as a pet (not economic, but who cares!).  You could then just buy a weaner or two to keep her company, and just keep topping up as they go.
I'd not suggest you keep her either alone or with other animals and expect her to be happy.  Yes there are instance where different species bond, but normally pigs need company of their own kind. By the by it is illegal in the Welfare of Farmed animals Regulations 2007 to keep a pig where it cannot see other pigs, unless under medical treatment, or within a week of farrowing.
 
 
 
 

[Bumblebear]

I spoke to the breeder today (GP is a birth notified tamworth) and he said he is on a standstill at the moment and will keep an ear out for me in the meantime.  He is also bringing round a top up eri vac.  GP is 6 months old and has such a terrific temperament, we're not even getting the 'nibbles' (?!) we got from our weaners last year or this.  A part of me thinks let her go now just in case we lose her too, but another part of me thinks she could be the answer to next years plan which would be to keep a sow and sell the weaners/raise the meat to sell to our butcher friend, ironically we could have sold all the meat and some this year!

At least by keeping GP we will have a sow who is good natured and that we actually like to start us off. BUT, would I need to buy in a young boar every time? Or is 'line breeding' ok?  I'm thinking if we kept her we could also loan a boar from the same place....

[shygirl]

would the breeder register her for you, so she had a pedigree? it would make her offspring easier to sell.

[Tudful Tamworths]

She may be birth notified, but that doesn't mean she's good enough for breeding from. I haven't followed your story, but I'm assuming you bought this pig for meat. If so, send her off. If you want to start breeding, breed from good stock (preferably registered, as you potentially double your market - i.e. people who want bog standard weaners for meat and - if you put your pigs to a pedigree boar - people who want breeding stock).
Check your pig's underline and see if she has at least 12 sets of fully-formed, evenly-spaced teats. She'll need them to support a decent-sized litter. This is even more important if you plan on cross-breeding, because litters can be bigger.
As the others have said, please don't keep a lone pig.
I would also resist the temptation of putting a boar weaner in with her and expecting him to serve her. A frustrated young boar that hasn't got a clue how to do the job can cause endless problems - particularly if he's much smaller than the gilt/sow. They try and mount even when the gilts/sows aren't in season, rarely manage to mount properly, and can cause the gilts/sows to slip and injure themselves whilst running away. Alternatively, the boar can end up having nasty injuries from the females if they don't want his attentions.

[Tamsaddle]

Agree with Liz that it would be far better to breed from a registered Tamworth, not just a birth notified one, which signifies only that her parents were both pedigree but nothing about her own standard.  You will be keeping your sow for years, and a good quality registered pig opens up your potential for future sales of breed standard weaners as well as weaners for meat.   


If however your ginger pig is good enough, I would be inclined to get one or more female weaners as the companion pig, and use AI on the ginger pig, which is very easy to use and generally completely successful.   Or use a stud boar;  owning one would be crazy for a single sow.   Even so, you have to plan the timing/ages/purpose of the companion pigs with a great deal of care.   One option is to have the companion pig ready to go for slaughter when the sow farrows.   In your case, if you get your 6 month old gilt pregnant at 8 months so that she farrows at 12 months old, 6 months from now, even if you were to get in the youngest 2 month old weaners as companions now, they would not be able to go to slaughter for another 6 months, ie. 8 months old, which could be longer than you would have liked.   Or you could stagger when you get companion weaners, starting with one now to go to slaughter at 6 months old, and then overlapping with a second younger one, in say 3 months time.


But that generates another timing issue you need to think about.    The sow can be alone on her own for the week pre-farrowing and 7-8 weeks with the piglets, but if you still have a single companion pig around, this one is now on its own and will need a companion itself.     And at the end of the 8 weeks when the piglets are weaned, the sow needs to be completely separated from her piglets for at least 2 weeks, and ideally, to be put with one or more companion pigs.


Sorry to make all this sound so complicated but you need to think it all through in detail.   Including, what time of year your home bred weaners will be ready for sale, and whether anyone will want to buy them then.    In my opinion, by far the best solution is to aim for two same age breeding gilts/sows, and to try and have them pregnant and farrowing at almost the same time every time, so they can always be companions to each other, barring any unforeseen disasters.   


And finally, as I said in earlier posts on how this all started, with ery, three of my home bred, ery-vaccinated at 6 and 10 week old weaners caught it, albeit it exactly 3 weeks after a sow returned from being served in Somerset who may have brought it back with her, but do bear in mind that the vaccination per se is not a 100% guarantee that they won't catch ery, possibly more mildly, later on. 


Have fun working it all out! 


   
[size=78%]   [/size]

[Tamsaddle]

Hi Bumblebear - can't wait to hear what you decide about orphan Percy pig in Suffolk, and whether your ginger pig is soon to be getting the new friend she needs.