Can I raise male and female potbelly pigs in the same pin?

Im thinkin about getting into raising some pigs I got an offer for 20$ each for piglets and i would be interested in breeding down the line but to save space i was wondering if i can just keep them in the same pin for most of the time?

Just 1 male and 1 female

Also if i have to separate them do you think i could just pin the male by him self and let the female free range around the backyard?

My backyard is about 1 acre with chain link fencing

Any advise related to the question or not would be appreciated thanks

In my limited understanding of pigs, they are very social and quite happy to be kept together for the most part. Many people move the sows into a separate space when they have small piglets to keep them from being inadvertently harmed. Also, if you are not interested in the sow having piglets, then of course keeping them separate is probably a wise plan. I would suggest reading this as it seems to contain some of the information you're looking for. Good luck!

Yes, you can raise males (boars) and females (gilts) in the same pen. We keep males and females together. Our pigs become sexually active around four or five months but the females do not generally take (get pregnant) until eight months, rarely we'll see one take at six months. One generally slaughters them by six months so that is not a problem. If you want you could separate them around the fifth month. They do like being together and will likely grow faster together as they are competitive feeders - they see someone else eating and think of eating. Note that our experience is with farm pigs. I don't know if the small pigs like Pot Bellied are the same.

I would suggest dividing your acre up into a minimum of four paddocks and then doing managed rotational grazing. That will improve the soil and forages over time. See:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:sugarmtnfarm.com+managed%20rotational%20grazing

Cheers,

-Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/