Spaying/neutering piglets?

[Bcvagoats]

Hi, I am thinking of adding Guinea Hogs to the farm to rotate around and till areas. My question is, if I get piglets of the same sex, is spaying and neutering absolutely necessary still? If getting males, are piglets usually castrated before purchase, or is this unheard of? And is spaying farm sows unheard of? I worry mostly about behavioral issues due to not altering. Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[thethinkingweasel]

My husband (who has several more years' experience than I do with raising Guinea Hogs & Ossabaws) says that the reason male piglets are usually neutered regardless is because of the possibility of boar taint (which is only a 1-2% chance), which ruins them for eating. But if you're not going to eat them, don't bother. We neuter our male piglets, but spaying is an operation you'd have to have done by a vet. We can't really speak to behavioral issues, because we raise ours for meat and slaughter them between 9 and 18 months. We had a breeding boar for 6-7 years, who acted like a pet until this year when he got rather protective of the piglets and then started getting out of the electric pen several times, until he finally disappeared altogether about a month ago. Maybe he wanted to sow some wild oats after all those years....!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I raise AGH's also and my boar is a big baby. He's the tamest one out there, will come stand at the fence with his mouth open waiting for me to put something in it.

I castrate so I can let the boys and girls run the same pasture together.

 

[Ridgetop]

I agree about castrating the boars. No need to spay the sows then. It is easy and cheap to neuter the boars (or just buy barrows) but having the vet spay a sow gets pricey.