My main boar is the biggest ham that I have. I raised him to be very friendly. I run my sows with two boars and never have to care when someone is in heat. It does give me a constant flow of piglets throughout the year but I am ok with it. The boars do help raise the whole sounder and do not fight each other or kill the little ones. If the sounder has enough space, they do not have any of those problems. As for worrying about when they give birth, I still maintain my Laissez-faire method. The mother in question will disappear into the woods for a couple of days and eventually come up for morning chow. That’s when I count what she gave me. With a little culling I usually get 12 birthed and 12 survive to market weight.
I prefer the boar method. It actually worked last year with my 20 pound miniature potbelly boar and my 700 pound duroc sow. Due to their size difference I didn't think it could be possible. But with a haystack as a boost for the little boar, they managed to do the deed! They actually had a healthy litter of 12 piglets!
Hey boar good coverage! I worked on a dairy that did AI and had a couple of Bulls in with the ladies to guarantee coverage. Seemed to work always had 99% success. I am waiting for some goats to deliver now or next month! So knowing that they should be pregnant and when would be great and not as stressful on me! The control aspect is great better than the should be anytime now method!
Hey Troy just from my experience a bore is a pain in the ass you need to build something like Fort Knox to stop them from breeding when you don’t want them to
I'd have to do ai. I did the math on 4lbs of organic feed per day and I'd be paying almost 900 to keep a boar over the year. Not to mention the annoyance of picking up, moving and feeding 1500lbs of feed.
To keep a boar yes you do need good solid fences with a hot hot electric fence. I've kept as many as 3 boars at any one time. Each boar does require his own pen. Boars will fight one another. I have found the boars are easy to have around, but a solid pen with electric fence is a must. I never go into the boar pen (I am female ) if it's necessary to enter their pen my husband goes in. Boars (pigs in general) have excellent sense of smell so there's no tricking them. They get to know their caregivers scent. They even react to strangers. Proper feeding of a breeding boar is important. You don't want them too fat or they get lazy and cannot perform as a stud. Also try to time breeding during cooler temperatures as boar fertility can be affected in very hot climates.
C.J. Rogers We move the sow to the boars pen. Our sows happily follow us to the boars pen following a bucket of feed. We ensure she is hungry by moving her in the morning prior to having her morning feed. Also we time feeding the boar so the boar is distracted by food (he's busy eating ) so we can open his paddock gate and bring his love interest into his paddock. Works great for us. After a couple of days together and having witnessed a breeding or two we again use feed to move the sow and feed the boar do he's busy eating while we open the gate and let the sow out. Moving pigs works well if there's 2 people one works to keep boar busy (by feeding him) while 2nd person leads the sow along with bucket of treats (feed).
I currently have two Boars in a separate lot away from my 4 females separated by two strands of hot 14 gauge haven't had no problems of them wanting to intermingle when I want to breed my females I turn them into the bore lot I haven't had to do this yet but when I need to retire my boars I'm going to have a vet tranquilize them so they can be castrated and I plan on waiting 6 months plus before they're processed when I first started I kept my females with my boars I was getting two letters each year from each female but either way I've only ever had between 8 and 13 babies at a time from each female during farrowing
Why not do both? I'd assume that there's no reason why you couldn't have a boar for regular breeding and occasionally throw in AI when you're in an experimental mood or want to hold back some new sows for the future.
I've been wanting to try the AI breeding to see. Me and a buddy share a boar so most of the he time we breed two times a yr. The boar deal seems to work out for us . We plan on use him a couple of yrs then get a another boar . Or borrow another buddys boar for a breeding.
My boar keeps the ladies in line as well. They can be pretty mean to each other and he will quickly break up a fight if the girls get too excited. Another note:My boar is in love with one of the girls. It's adoring to see them cuddle and talk to each other. That, alone, is enough for me to keep him and his sweat-heart together. (AGH)
Ever had any issues with a gilt or sow not wanting to stand? We have had that issue without a boar on sight a couple sows wont even let us near them to try AI
If you were going to use a bore and you had to isolate them from the sows, would a single bore do well in isolation or would they need company? I’ve been told that there are animals that do better when they are not alone. Our pigs pack animals?
If i could get up to 5+ sows i would definatly get into ai.......but up here in nothern maine ai is scarce and let alone fir pigs. I would like to learn myswlf but its not worth setting up to ai for 1 sow all year. .......so i have to keep a boar and feed it.......keep it by itself till needed then turn him to sausage and raise another ahead for next breeding
I think it completely depends on the size of one's operation. I want one litter per year from one or rwo sows. I would go AI. Ludicrous to keep a boar on my little patch. But if TSHITF, I might just keep a boar on hand. If that's the correct phrase......
