[Hilarysmum]

My boar has 7 sows of our own to cover throughout the year, due to the rarity of his breed over here he is very much in demand to cover outside sows.  Could anyone advise me how often it is safe for him to cover a sow.  My OH thinks not more than one a fortnight, possibly a month, whereas the boar would prefer one a day.  What is the happy medium?  Whilst I want the boy to enjoy his life, his health and fitness is our priority, dont want him overdoing anything.

HM

[pigsatlesrues]

Did you find out any other info on this subject HM?

It is a little detail worth knowing about - wouldn't want to over work the poor little chaps!!

Kate

[Hilarysmum]

Odd you should ask, yesterday Simon Longe of PIF emailed me with an answer

He says:

 In answer to your 'boar question' - In the mid 80s I worked for The Pig Improvement Company at their nucleus herd in Oxfordshire, We did a trial on semen counts in working boars to find out the optimum 'work loads'.  The result was 2X per week - that is services not numbers of sows. So for your boar, one sow a week is ideal, any more or less reduces the semen count.  Probably more of a problem with smallholder boars is them not working enough.
Simon