Boar introduced to two sows. Constantly mounting!

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AdamM

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We have two 1 year old sows who we've had since they were 6 weeks old. One of them is more dominant than the other. They don't fight, but they do have the occasional scuffle and the dominant one growls at the other frequently when her space is "invaded". On the whole they get on fine.

Today we have introduced a rescue boar, who has been neutered. Apparently he had been living on his own.

When we handle him, he is very calm and friendly. So very happy with him so far in that respect.

We introduced them on the floor and the boar spent a lot of the time chasing and mounting them both, which we expected.

They've since been put into the cage (we thoroughly cleaned this out this morning) and the boar has continued the mounting. He keeps chasing both pigs (the dominant one, more often than not) and then mounting, despite their squeals.

I realise that this may be common behaviour but he is doing it alot. Almost every time he comes out of his box, he's chasing one of them. Our dominant sow has gone over to him a few times chatting, and he chases her off. He is also doing a fair bit of teeth chattering, but has not bit or done anything particularly aggressive. The sows are obviously not enjoying their new cage-mate yet, but is this likely to die down soon or does it sound excessive?
 
It is on the livelier scale of things, but not uncommon.

When I introduced my own neutered boar to his first lady, he was on complete testosterone overload for about two days running before he found the on-switch for his brain again.

It will die down EVENTUALLY; your girls can take care of themselves! As there has been no overt aggression from the girls right at the beginning, you need not worry about fights erupting. The teeth chattering means "stay away from me!"

Quite a bit of the squealing is actually mating behaviour - girls do it to tell a boy that they are not ready - YET! A girl coming into season may have to say A LOT, but she is never moving far away from the boy who goes glaze eyed as hears only "soon soon".

You may find that the first few seasons will be livelier, but even that will settle with time.

PS: After that mad cap start, my couple settled down to a very loving "marriage" that lasted until my lady sadly died last summer.

After one of the wilder seasons, I was sitting next to them on the following morning to see how they were. My poor "abused" Dizzy came up to me, interposed herself between me and Llewelyn, her bum facing me. Then she nuzzled him from top to bottom, threw me a very dirty look over her shoulder, cuddled him some more, gave me another look and went back to breakfast.

You can't say any clearer "Don't meddle with MY man!", can you? That taught me ever to make any assumptions again! rolleyes

Best of luck!
 
Wiebke said:
It is on the livelier scale of things, but not uncommon.

When I introduced my own neutered boar to his first lady, he was on complete testosterone overload for about two days running before he found the on-switch for his brain again.

It will die down EVENTUALLY; your girls can take care of themselves! As there has been no overt aggression from the girls right at the beginning, you need not worry about fights erupting. The teeth chattering means "stay away from me!"

Quite a bit of the squealing is actually mating behaviour - girls do it to tell a boy that they are not ready - YET! A girl coming into season may have to say A LOT, but she is never moving far away from the boy who goes glaze eyed as hears only "soon soon".

You may find that the first few seasons will be livelier, but even that will settle with time.

PS: After that mad cap start, my couple settled down to a very loving "marriage" that lasted until my lady sadly died last summer.

After one of the wilder seasons, I was sitting next to them on the following morning to see how they were. My poor "abused" Dizzy came up to me, interposed herself between me and Llewelyn, her bum facing me. Then she nuzzled him from top to bottom, threw me a very dirty look over her shoulder, cuddled him some more, gave me another look and went back to breakfast.

You can't say any clearer "Don't meddle with MY man!", can you? That taught me ever to make any assumptions again! rolleyes

Best of luck!
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Thanks for the reply.

Overnight they were quite noisy as the boar continued but today he's a bit calmer. He's still mounting quite a lot but doesn't seem to be chasing them quite as much.

We feel a bit sorry for the sows though, as they don't seem very happy in his company.

Is it likely that this behaviour will stop completely or will it just be more mild than it is now?
 
This behaviour will mostly stop whenever the girls are not in season. With age, even your boar will calm down as well and will go overboard only very occasionally.

Your girls might be disgusted right now - but you may have noticed that they haven't thrown him out, either! I have found that the drama of mating absorbs a lot of other tensions; it also serves to really knit your group together.

Girls come into season every 15-17 days for about a day; but they are ready to mate only towards the end of that for a very few hours. These seasons are not always so strong that a boy will chase the girls every single time (although you will have to wait a few moths for that to happen).

But you will probably hear him rumble a lot, especially over the first few months - he has to tell the girls a lot what a strapping lad he his so they will continue to favour his services.
 
Yes, they haven't shown aggression to him. In fact, I haven't heard our dominant sow growl at him once. She just makes agitated noises whenever she's being chased by the boar or if he goes near her.

Notably, the slight amount of dominance between our sows has vanished. I haven't seen or heard a single conflict between them.

Assuming the sows aren't in season at the moment, is the mounting situation likely just to be down to him meeting them for the first time? Presumably he'll become bored soon?

The boar is certainly doing a lot of rumbling when walking around, but the teeth chattering has completely stopped.
 
It all sounds normal to me.

I had my neutered boar next to my sows in a separate cage for 6 weeks after his op (they remain fertile for up to 6 weeks after neutering). I think this helped as he calmed down a lot before we properly introduced them all.

When one of the sows is in season the whole chasing, grumbling, squeaking starts all over again but the sow normally just lets him get on with it! rolleyes

I'm sure they will calm down. The fact it has stopped the bickering between the girls is the beauty of a boar/sow combo. I think sows get far more stressed bickering between eachother than seeing off the advances of a new male.

It's their natural hierachy, they'll sort it out. :)
 
It sounds all very normal; this was just the intial excitement - give it a bit more time and it will all settle down nicely!

Next time round you're having fun and games is when your girls are coming into season; I have found that the first season with a male around tends to be much stronger than average. It is also a time your boar and sow will bond much more closely through their shared experience.

Some sows can be proper drama queens, by the way!
 
We had that behaviour when we introduced our neutered boar to our girls, he seemed to be in heaven and they spent a lot of time fending him off. There was a lot of noise from him but the girls just seemed to run and spin a lot to get him off. Now they are all very happy together!
 
Thanks for everyone's advice.

The boar has started to settle in throughout the week. There was more or less no mounting but he still rumbles alot towards the sows. He has slowly began to be a bit more friendly to us too, he's eating out of our hands and not always darting for cover if we try to stroke him.

However that all changed last night when he took a fancy to a particular sow who he's been hounding ever since, so about 24 hours now. He keeps mounting and teeth chattering towards her.

The other sow is pretty much ignored and stays out of the way. This is the more dominant sow.

Is there any way we can stop this, as the sow is clearly unhappy?!
 
I am guessing she is coming into season. Expect this for about 2 or 3 days. She will be vocal and unwilling except for a window of a few hours when she will allow him. Then it should lessen until she's coming into season next time.

This normally happens for a few seasons in the beginning strongly and then lessens as time goes on.

Leave it to the sow he wont risk really annoying her.

OOH forgot she may pee right in his face to tell him to get lost. That's normal too.

I have a boar in with 6 sows - it's been nuts for the last 6 weeks or so but is all pretty chilled now. It will get better.
 
I should point out that when I say hounding, he chases her all round the cage until he gets what he wants. We have it set up so there's plenty of ways in and out of the boxes, but he eventually catches up. Despite the protests and desperate attempts of the sow to escape, he won't let her get away and we are worried that this is making our sow unhappy.

Plus, sometimes when he mounts her, it will be from the front and his claws seem to be going into her eyes.
 
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OH and expect the rumbling to carry on. They do it all the time.

BRRRRR BRRRRRR. I say that my Orson is doing his helicopter impression. He's telling the girls that HE is THE MAN!
 
Thanks for your reply.

That all sounds fine, but it seems to be more or less constantly. He'll get off for a moment, walk somewhere else, then start chasing again. Sometimes it's just seconds inbetween.

Do you think they should be separated for tonight?
 
No I wouldn't separate, my boy chases his girlies all the time, with an attempt at humping but he's never had any luck. His girls are spayed so no joy for him. Aslong as there is no blood drawn it should be fine, believe me it looks worse than what it is.

Thankfully with my boar who hasn't been done, his intro to his wifes was completly uneventful, he does however chase the girls on occasion... they will pee on him when they get fed up.

Do you weigh the girls? That maybe an idea just to make sure no one is losing weight.

Forgot to say if you do separate you will have to go though this all again, it should die down in time. I would sit it out! Easier said than done I know!
 
The problem with separating is that you need to start introductions again once you reintroduce.

It's your call only you can see what's going on. But if it stopped and then started again it's 99% because of her coming into season and will pass.

It really is your call. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
 
Just to update anyone in a similar situation, we've had them for a while now and as people have advised, the mounting has gradually reduced to the point where it will only last a much smaller period of the day and not be as frequent.

Thanks for everyone's help!
 
Thanks for the update! You seem to have a rather lusty specimen! ;) thankfully, it will get less and less with time, apart from the occasional flare up - but even those will decrease as your boy gets older.
 
Hehe :)) I have a boar and two girls too. I though he was a little too active in the beginning too but he settled down, like your furry man did too. Sometimes it gets just as bad again though and the brrrr-ing NEVER stops :))
 
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