keeping pigs together??

daniel-delarosa

Chillin' with the herd
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I just got a 100lb female duroc yesterday. I have chance to get another pig this weekend. It is a 30lb male york cross. Can I keep them together? The duroc is my first pig so I dont know much about raising pigs. The male is uncut, if that matters.
 
I don;t know... The female may bully the male... We've had pigs before, but they were the same age.

All i know is that boars tend to have a 'boary' taste, but it depends where thre from (some peple claim to have none boary tasting boars)

Hope someone knows bout the age differences cause its pretty big!
 
It will be fine. They will get to know each other and get along great till feeding time, and then all bets are off. They are "pigs", you know. Put them together and let them sort it out.
 
So I presume the little weaner male is approximately 6 weeks old given the weight... the gilt will pick on him a bit but its just a show of whos the boss, I would however keep a close eye because the gilt can possibly cause the little guy some damage, I would feed them from seperate pans so when she decides his dinner is better he can go to her pan... it will be a bit of a merry go round but he'll get food that way.

As for boar taint I have always been told that the presence of the gilt/sow will jump start the male horomones there by tainting the meat... I was also told that if the male is seperated from the gilt for a period of time, completely seperate (including visual and scent) the taint will leave his meat however if you are planning on putting him in the freezer I would just castrate him and if he is a breeder it won't matter anyway since you won't be eating him.

If you are leaving him intact be aware that both of them are fertile and can carry a pregnancy from around 6 months forward (males sooner).... and at 100 pounds she is probably in the 5-6 month mark...
 
Oh shes a 100lbs? OOps, I thought it said 300lbs otherwise I would've given more suggestions XD.
 
I just got a 100lb female duroc yesterday. I have chance to get another pig this weekend. It is a 30lb male york cross. Can I keep them together? The duroc is my first pig so I dont know much about raising pigs. The male is uncut, if that matters.
If you are planning on eating him, castrate him as soon as you can. You do not want the risk of pregnancy of tainted meat unless you like tainted meat. Some folks do but it is an acquired taste which I have tried & would rather forgo :)

The gilt will be the dominant one due to her bigger size. You will need to feed in two bowls in order to give the little guy a chance to eat & even then she will have a much bigger appetite than him so he may not get enough to eat.

Pigs are herd animals so do like to be together.

Liz
 
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