boars and sows together?

hello guys,

can i keep a boar and about ten sows together in a large pen? someone said that they would kill the piglets. i cannot bekieve this, so does anyone have any experience with it?

No personal experience but here are things to consider from another thread.

We keep our boars and sows together right through farrowing in the warm seasons. In the winter we provide the sows with stalls they can go into and defend so other pigs can not enter - this mimics their seeking out private farrowing spaces on the margins of the pastures during the warm seasons. The boars do not hurt the piglets.

Realize we are not penning at all. Our pigs our out on pasture. We have about 400 pigs on about 70 acres of pasture doing managed rotational grazing. They're divided into herds. At any one time there are 50 to 200 pigs on three to ten acre paddocks. For example, the north field which is about eight to ten acres has about sixty sows and a breeder boar right now. There are many piglets in there in addition to the adults. This extensive system where there is plenty of room for everyone works.

In an intensive penned situation I would expect it to be different. If you pen the pigs then I would suggest separating the farrowing sow from other pigs so the piglets have a chance to get up and able. Normally on pasture the sows don't introduce the piglets to the herds until about four to ten days after birth. That natural timing gives you an idea of what they need.

See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/12/23/boars-with-piglets/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/05/20/piglets-popping-north-2013-spring/

Your mileage may also vary with the boar, and sows. We specifically select for pigs that have good temperaments and do well in these situations. Mothering instincts and temperament are very inheritable. Eat mean people.

If the boar is in with the sow he will re-breed her possibly sooner than you want, before she has a chance to regain weight after nursing, which can be demanding on her. Also if you want to control when the sows deliver, either so they can all raise the babies together or one can take a few from another's too-large litter then you might want to pen him until you want them bred.

My boar was very careful and protective of the piglets. He'd lay across the entrance to their shelter at night, keeping the piglets within safe. With coyotes around it was a prudent move. On the other hand, I had to separate my sow and her piglets from the herd because the larger pigs were nursing on her, and the piglets weren't getting enough milk! The other pigs exerted their dominance over the piglets by biting them, which made them really holler but it didn't look like it actually injured them. From being chased and bitten by the other pigs, the piglets got very timid, even of us. The piglets can go through the fence, tho and spend most of their time with the larger herd, away from their mother. So I don't think they're very scared of the rest of the herd!

Hi - this is an old post - but hoping that it will "ping" to some people who replied before.  I have a similar question.  We have had 2 sows and a boar for a few years that have not breed.  They were raised together and are living in a small pen, and we take them to a movable pen we rotate round the garden and then "mow and carry" a lot of grass for them.  We know someone else in a similar situation, and they have been told by a university "expert" that the problem is that they will not mate successfully when they live together, but a separate enclosure is necessary for the boar.  Apart from the time and money involved to do this, it also seems rather unfair to the boar, as pigs are such social creatures.  

Any comments?

Walter Jeffries wrote:We keep our boars and sows together right through farrowing in the warm seasons. In the winter we provide the sows with stalls they can go into and defend so other pigs can not enter - this mimics their seeking out private farrowing spaces on the margins of the pastures during the warm seasons. The boars do not hurt the piglets.

Realize we are not penning at all. Our pigs our out on pasture. We have about 400 pigs on about 70 acres of pasture doing managed rotational grazing. They're divided into herds. At any one time there are 50 to 200 pigs on three to ten acre paddocks. For example, the north field which is about eight to ten acres has about sixty sows and a breeder boar right now. There are many piglets in there in addition to the adults. This extensive system where there is plenty of room for everyone works.

In an intensive penned situation I would expect it to be different. If you pen the pigs then I would suggest separating the farrowing sow from other pigs so the piglets have a chance to get up and able. Normally on pasture the sows don't introduce the piglets to the herds until about four to ten days after birth. That natural timing gives you an idea of what they need.

See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/12/23/boars-with-piglets/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/05/20/piglets-popping-north-2013-spring/

Your mileage may also vary with the boar, and sows. We specifically select for pigs that have good temperaments and do well in these situations. Mothering instincts and temperament are very inheritable. Eat mean people.

thank you for posting and thank you to the other person who bumped this. This is good to know.

Thanks for this - I can understand a separate pen for farrowing, but is there any evidence for a separate pen to encourage mating?  We have had a really hard few years in terms of  weather/flooded pasture/low feed, but looking at a good spring ahead (we are "down-under".  I am wondering if I should put the time and money into a separate pen or planting heaps of fattening fodder crops (e.g. beetroots) and hope increased body mass will do the job.

Annie Hope wrote:is there any evidence for a separate pen to encourage mating?

I have seen no such evidence in the research literature nor in my own experience with thousands of litters out on pasture. We keep them together and they seem to do very well like that. At unusual times we have separated to control farrowing due to an upcoming massive construction push like when we roofed over our butcher shop. Otherwise together is our rule of thumb and they seem happier for it as well as producing lots of piglets.

Currently I have two related boars, father and son, in one pen and two unrelated sows in a different pen.  They know each other from pasture time.  I would like to know if I can put them all together for the winter.  I know breeding can occur and plan to put them together around January for convenience and warmth.  
Would really like your input as I fear for the younger boar when the girls come in heat.

Hi Ed,

I am beginning to suspect that much depends upon the specific breed.  I have Kunekunes.   I made separate corrals and paddocks for them.  They made it clear to me that they were going to be together.  So far, it has worked ok. If one gets near delivery time, I do separate.

Here they are out of pasture in their corral.

How do you know when they're near delivery time if you don't know when the sow/gilt became pregnant?

My boar learned real quick that he's not allowed with the new momma and has been a gentleman ever since. He sleeps at the door (still under a roof), even though he has an option to sleep elsewhere. Other sows are the same and even defend the little ones on the new mom's behalf, should you unwisely interfere.

The only "downside"...they're constantly pregnant and you risk inbreeding, should you keep gilts you raised past the point of entering sexual maturity.

Elizabeth Ko wrote:How do you know when they're near delivery time if you don't know when the sow/gilt became pregnant?

Teats swell up, mom starts segregating, may walk a lot and, just before, there will be water breaking (a streak from her visibly swollen vulva).