Starting A Heard With Two Boars

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squeakypigs01

squeakypigs01

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We currently have 7 pigs (2 boars, 5 sows) and want to eventually have one or two heards. The boars are curently living together and will be until we neuter them. We are going to put the sows outside soon and were wondering if we could have all the pigs in the same heard with both neutered boys (who are brothers) or have two separate herds. Would having both boars in the same herd not work behaviour wise?
Many thanks.
 
Hello - good question but the answer is fairly simple. No, you can't have 2 boars (even neutered) in a herd of sows. They will fight over the sows. You have to replicate what would happen in the wild and have 1 boar with his own sows. You can keep 2 herds side by side (like @Wiebke does) but only 1 boar in with any group of sows.
 
VickiA said:
Hello - good question but the answer is fairly simple. No, you can't have 2 boars (even neutered) in a herd of sows. They will fight over the sows. You have to replicate what would happen in the wild and have 1 boar with his own sows. You can keep 2 herds side by side (like @Wiebke does) but only 1 boar in with any group of sows.
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Thanks, this is really helpful. we'll have to separate the shed and have them side by side like you said. Can't wait to get them all out in the sun.
 
squeakypigs01 said:
We currently have 7 pigs (2 boars, 5 sows) and want to eventually have one or two heards. The boars are curently living together and will be until we neuter them. We are going to put the sows outside soon and were wondering if we could have all the pigs in the same heard with both neutered boys (who are brothers) or have two separate herds. Would having both boars in the same herd not work behaviour wise?
Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Two boars in the same herd usually don't work out and you are most likely ending up with fights once the sows come into season, so please either keep your boys together as a separate pair unless there is a real reason to split them or split your sows into two groups with a husboar each.

Please keep in mind that you also need to factor in a full 6 weeks post-op wait until your boars are 100% safe to go with girls. My Tegan, the little baby in the avatar, is the legacy from an over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of mine, I hasten to add; mum arrived pregnant); but it can really happen as late as that. I have since heard of more cases.
 
squeakypigs01 said:
We currently have 7 pigs (2 boars, 5 sows) and want to eventually have one or two heards. The boars are curently living together and will be until we neuter them. We are going to put the sows outside soon and were wondering if we could have all the pigs in the same heard with both neutered boys (who are brothers) or have two separate herds. Would having both boars in the same herd not work behaviour wise?
Many thanks.
Click to expand...
From what I understand you can't have 2 boars in the same herd.
 
VickiA said:
I think @Wiebke meant either keep the boars as a pair and the sows as a herd or split the sows and put one neutered boar with each herd.
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I have amended my post. Vicki has got it right. Sorry, I was in the middle of cooking dinner.
 
2 boars with only 5 sows definitely wouldn't work but in certain circumstances 2 boars with multiple sows does work. First they need a really big area such as 4 metres x 2 metres. Second the ratio of females to males needs to be at least 5 to 1. Anything less than either of these & it's unlikely to work. Even with these minimums in place it's not guaranteed to work but I have seen it working & it's lovely when it does x
 
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