husboars

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guineabecs

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Hi guys. I'm just wanting some more information on a 'husboar'. Wiebke, I remember you mentioned this before in a previous post of mine. I will soon be getting 4 more female piggies, and I already have 5. They aren't all going together at the moment, but next year when they all go back out when it warms up, we will be getting either a shed or very large hutch and run for them all to go together. My females get on very well, and have always been very good with new introductions, but I was wondering would it benefit them if I added a neutered male when the time comes/
Thanks!
 
Girlies love having a boy to keep them company! It is often said that the most stable relationships are neutered male/female ones :-) Wiebke and her Tribe/Troop are wonderful examples of this. Just make sure you keep an eye on the relationships between your girlies too. They will have to sort out who is top female, and in a group it may chop and change too. :-)
Good luck with finding a husboar! :-)
 
I love my neutered boars - all three of them! (Not to mention the ones that have sadly passed away.) x)

Boars don't interfere with the sow hierarchy itself; they just slot in where they fit in around the existing hierarchy as they need to get on with all girls in order to be allowed to mate. By introducing a "husboar" to a group of sows you are working very much along piggy instincts. Sows live in a core group with one male (who has to be accepted by them); group dynamics are wired for that kind of scenario.

Some boars are born leaders like my Hywel, who is the unquestioned president of the Tribe (and who I specifically chose for the job of following in the large pawsteps of a very competent patriarch, founder husboar Llewelyn).
Other boars are more laid back and are letting the sows dominate, but are using their considerable skills to keep the peace between several strong personalities, like Terfel, who has turned out to be a master diplomat and worth his weight in gold in successfully integrating a very fear-aggressive elderly half blind sow into his group of formidable cataract ladies; Mali is now one happy, relaxed girl and very much one of the group!

You will find that most people who have introduced a suitable "husboar" to their existing girl group have had a very positive experience. The main sticking point is initial acceptance, especially by the top sow. Ideally, it should happen quite quickly once they start interacting. If you can, take all your girls for a trip out, especially your top lady, for a round of boar dating at a rescue to make sure that they click, then you are onto a winner! Some very dominant, mostly older sows are not too keen on getting a rival for attention; that is why I always recommend dating at a good rescue with these things. The chemistry needs to be right! In your case, I would recommend to look out for a rather laid back non-dominant boy who will not overturn the apple cart.;)

As far as I know there are one or two rescues around Bristol that have a boar neutering policy. Not sure whether Glynneath GP Rescue has any (Suzy prefers to boar date and is very good at it). Dating at a rescue has the advantage that you only come home with a husboar if there has been success.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209994852075231951564.0004b8fd9391b4257d8eb&msa=0

Of course, what you cannot control are group dynamics over a longer space of time when you have changes at the top and the group needs to rearrange itself in a new hierarchy. But that goes for any kind of piggy group that you have for several years, as piggies get older/die and new ones come in, and the whole dynamics shift accordingly.
 
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Thanks Wiebke, that is really useful :-) when the females go out together next year I will have to look then for a husboar, and try and take the gang for a date! Does it only work with a male that has been neutered a long time rather than a recently neutered one?
 
It works any way! The main thing with husboars is that the chemistry/character combination with the top sow is right; age is not so much a consideration. Subadult boars can go overboard at first when they meet ladies for the first time and testosterone is turning the brain off; adult boars tend to react less violently.

12 month old Llewelyn had instant chemistry with my three year old bereaved Dizzy even though the first couple of days were a bit wild. After her death two years later, he became the patriarch around who I built up the Tribe.

One year old charismatic Hywel, who was in the habit of bullying any boar he was introduced to, was neutered on my cost by and with the consent of a new very local rescue (who was struggling to pair him up) when I found out that his predecessor Llewelyn had terminal cancer and was not going to live for long. Hywel came here to spend the remainder of his 6 weeks post op wait after Llewelyn had passed away, living in a cage next door to the girls who were very scrappy an hormonal during the interval. I did the intros myself as I had more experience with mixed gender intros than the rescue lady.

One year old shy Terfel was dated by my two then three year old cataract sows at a rescue with a neutering policy; I'd specifically been looking for a very gentle submissive boy. It was an instant hit and he was popcorning with delight even when he was told off by the girls. :))

Bryn was a five year old "widower" when he arrived here to live with one fragile three year old sow and then with several older/ill ladies; he turned out to be rather dominant - thankfully, his ladies weren't! But I found it difficult to shift any less submissive girls over to his group and had to find alternative solutions.

His job has just been taken over by three year old Maelog, who is much less dominant and more diplomatic than Bryn, even though he is the leader of the group and was initially neutered because he ended up fighting with every boar he lived with/was introduced to. Maelog/Mallow was neutered last year when he was two years old and he has lived very happily for the last year with a single wife, Rhosyn/Rosa, at TEAS sanctuary. I've been fostering them for the santuary this year.
 
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