[jools]

Sorry if this is a really random question as I'm a newbie and my partner is the pig man in the relationship!
Is there somewhere that rarebreed frozen seman can be purchased?  We're looking into starting up a pig business with rarebreeds and my idea (as I said clueless!) is to have a variety of sows but to keep the blood lines pure to AI the sows.  This way we wouldn't need to keep a selection of bores to match the sows, just the one bore to serve a few of the sows and "tease" the other sows before AI.

Not sure if this is a practical idea.

Jools

[daniellestocks]

you can get it mail order  we got some from a website which has different breeds, with the different lines of boars within the breeds, to choose from, my partner did it all tho so i will try find the details an get back to you 
As i remember they we really helpful over the fone 
Danielle

[HappyHippy]

Hiya,
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust have this page on their website
http://www.rbst.org.uk/stock-exchange/artificial-insemination
It shows AI semen currently available, I'm not sure if individual breed societies might also have links.
Like you, I'm hoping to go more into breeding soon and my plan is to keep sows and just get the semen in 'to order', I'd feel a bit safer that way, don't want lots of randy boars or the worry of trying to keep my kids away from them  So will be interested to hear how you get on.
Good luck, Karen x

[sagehen]

I'm getting visuals of a frozen mariner here 

[JulieS]

There is a section on the BPA website with details.

www.britishpigs.org

I have GOS and used Deerpark.

[jools]

Thats great thanks.  I'm just starting to put our business plan together so it's saved me lots of time trolling through the google results and want to make it as acurate as possible so we can be realistic.

Sagehen- I know weird isn't it.  I've had visions of my nephews coming over and thinking they're a new kind of ice pop!! Explain that to the parents!! lol

Jools x

[jools]

JulieS- Just had a look at that website and it's got all the other little charges that I wouldn't have thought of when budgeting so thanks!

[Mr Pig]

Be aware that you will be dealing with fresh semen, not frozen which is generally never available. Order the semen from Deerpark (the only supplier of rare breeds semen) on the day that you notice the gilt or sow first coming on heat. It will be delivered on the next working day. Do not refrigerate it but keep it at room temperature. It has a limited shelf life and if unused within 7-10 days, throw it down the drain.

[daniellestocks]

It was deerpark we used, they send you 3 of bottles and pleanty of tubes to work with, i think it was £20 plus postage,
good luck with your venture 

[sausagesandcash]

Surely someone else in the world does rarebreed semen!

[Mr Pig]

Nobody else in the world does rare breed pig semen. the bank at Deerpark is supported by the RBST and the BPA.

[jools]

Maybe I'll revise my business plan and keep bores instead!!!

[Malc]

I'm told Deerpark offer an excellent service and, as long as you are on UK or Irish mainland, it's maybe the best option. The only reason we don't use them is that we're on a Scottish island and even first class post can take four days to get here.

Of the alternatives, keeping one boar is expensive and not really worth it unless he's going to be working regularly. Keeping more might leave you struggling to make any money from the venture unless you are going to be working on a large scale.

An alternative would be to rent boars from other local breeders. Have a look at the various breed websites. The only trouble with this is moving animals on and off the holding and the consequent paperwork and regulations regarding standstills.

If I were you, I'd go for AI - or start with one breed and work from there.

Hope it goes well.

[Wildman]

We have a real good saddleback boar (Carl bloodline) if anyone is in the Essex/herts area and we can send semen bu post?. We do have other boars we can use it depends on what you are looking for.

[Mr Pig]

Are you a licensed AI Centre?