BackYardHerds ForumRaising Cows, Goats, Sheep, Horses and More... in your BackYard |
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Back about 30 - 35 years ago, I hauled a very good, registered Yorkshire boar to the sale barn. He had gotten very large (nearly 800 lbs), and we had too many of his daughters in the herd to continue using him. We called him big Herman. He was quite gentle, but he had tusks about 3 - 4 inches long.
After he had gone through the sale ring, I walked back to the area where the truckers load out their purchases, and the trucker was walking back to the individual boar pens with a large sledge hammer. I was surprised to see him open up a pen, go inside and hit another large boar in his nose with the hammer. It broke the nose on the boar, and he squealed in pain for quite some time. The trucker then proceeded to load the boar into the semi truck, and he returned to get another one. This one happened to be big Herman, and before I could stop the trucker, he had hit Herman in the nose too.
I became quite upset, and asked the trucker why he was doing this to the boars, and he said that if he didn't, he would have a pen full of dead or cut up boars when he got to his destination. He claimed that the boars will fight and cut each other up with their sharp tuske if their noses aren't broken.
This has bothered me ever since. I can see the logic in this, but it does seem very cruel to me.
Several years later, I had a couple of medium sized Duroc boars that got together. They began to fight, and (not thinking) I stuck my right leg between them to break them up. One of them got me with his tusks, and I had to have 30 stitches in my lower leg. He took a chunk of skin and flesh about the size of a silver dollar out of my leg. Of course, it got infected, and took most of the summer to heal completely.
Sorry to "boar" you all, but these are true tales.
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Wow. Sad. I imagine people still do it, and obviously there is a reason he did it, too bad there wasnt another way.
Glad you didn't get hurt worse-
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Makes you wonder what a trailer full of strange bulls would do on the way to the *, although I know they are usually packed too tightly to cause much commotion. But I could imagine 
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Animals are so mistreated and I am sure that trucker did not think twice about what he did as it was just part of the job there are other methods but it cost a few dollars more.....shame !!
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How sad.
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I manage a commercial boar herd, when I cull a load of boars I never do anything special, just chase them all on the trailer, I do try to have enough so they don't have too much room and the banging that goes on is loud. We did try once to cut off the tusks of the boars, but it was a gong show.
NEVER GET between two fighting boars, use a sheet of plywood. Duroc's are one of the meanest breeds, about 90% of my herd is duroc having one try to attack me is almost a daily occurrence.
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