[ferretkeeper]

I have just acquired Winston the lovely iron age boar:



He has settled brilliantly, I loved him from the moment I saw him, he is so gentle and calm but it occurred to me that I maybe shouldn't be fussing and spoiling him too much - I want to keep him on side and easy to handle but there must be a balance between working boar and soft as sh!te.

I also don't know exactly how to introduce his hareem to him. I have a succession of lucky ladies waiting and have sort of decided the order of matings but in terms of actually introducing them? I am unsure as to how this works, not sure of current etiquette!!!

Winston is in a large pen with two gates, well away from the main pig enclosure, and there's potential for him to be on one side of a gate, her on the other, but I fear the gate will be ripped off it's hinges once he knows what's awaiting him - should this bit be brief and supervised?!

I have some of his latest offspring who are now 3 months old approx, so it's a good 7 months since his last mating. I think I will try him on a sow who knows the score first but I also have a gilt who I need to get in pig before she goes off the idea, so send her next?

What length of time do they stay together? My sow was in for the whole standstill last time and we got a good result, but other people have said not to keep them together 24/7.

I tend to overthink things but I want to get this right.

I have installed a radio but am thinking iPod with Barry White on shuffle might be more appropriate, candles, wine?!?

All suggestions welcome!

[Hassle]

Looks a lovely chap, take the ladies to him, other side of the gate for 30 minutes to give him time to get a fine wine and flowers then let her inside his pen one at a time as they come into season, that way he wont spend time sniffing the new pen and will get straight to the loving  once she has been serviced take her out putting her back in again morning and night during the heat phase... this way you will be sure that the sow/gilt was covered.

Otherwise you can just let him run with them and keep your fingers crossed 

[shygirl]

we just ran ours together in a very large field with no problems. he went to try and work straight away - tho the younger gilts tended to run away.
have you quarantined him? our boar came with lice which didnt show up for a few weeks when he then went bald so we had to delice the whole herd. 

id love to see a full picture of him. what breed is he crossed with?

[ferretkeeper]

Thanks both, yes familiar with the lice problem...last year my first sow came to me in pig and a few days after was contacted by the last owner to say the other sows he ran with had lice, brought by boar, great! And now the finishers I bought at market last month brought lice - I checked and checked before I let them in with other pigs but the buggers are here again, so whole herd treatment req'd - and after a close look today I see Winston has the eggs visible, maybe old ones, but regardless he'll be included in the great de-lousing!

He is Iron Age so Tamworth x Wild Boar. I have two sets of his babies, one lot had a tamworth mum, other lot had tamworth x GOS mum, all gorgeous so I have high hopes with my tamworth and large black girlies! Will try and get more photos, he's a bit shy!