can a single pig be AI'd?

[Deleted]

I am having a great deal of trouble getting my pig AI'd. There is no way I can get her to a boar. I am ready to give up. This is the second pig we have raised thinking to get her bred, the first one sweet thou she was I had to slaughter her, because she had learned to open the pig pen door and no matter what I did she found a way, I could not keep her off the road. I tried and tried to breed her, and just could not get the right timing so off she went. (by the way THAT day she kept CLOSEing the door she knew, to bad she didn't know not to go on the road. I cried over that one!)Now we have another big gal and I have missed the last two heats... I can tell her heat and I try when she shows signs of standing.... She will stand, but by the time I get the equipment ready she just won't stand, we've gone throu that every day for over a week, until her heat abated. Then I read the other day a single pig can not be bred, " they need to smell a boar" Does anyone know this to be true?

By the way I just read the post about the fella who's pig knocked him down! WOW I have to say I would rather face a cow than a pig any day! our other sow dressed out 450 lbs that has to be nearly 6 to 700 lbs live.... this one is nearly that now..... pigs get my UNDIVIDED attention!! I use a willowy switch with me at all times! It gives the same kind of message as an electric fence. These girls can kill you in a heart beat and never understand why you've stopped talking. I love my pigs and I would not hurt them but their language is pretty brutal. But the will even eat their own litter because of a bad mood.
NEVER TRUST a big pig.

[Janene]

See if you can get some kind of boar scent. A rag rubbed on a boar and kept in a coffee can or a tin can (out of the house!) will work. (Cheaper than finding a product called something like "Boar in a Bottle"--you spray it by their nose--it's man-made to mimic boar smell.)

When she's in heat--open the can and let her get a whiff of the scent. That'll help her "lock up" and be more prepared for AI'ing. Just like a cow, mark the calender. Using the "Pig Perfume" should help keep her a happy camper while you are getting the AI stuff ready.
Janene

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

Actually, I've found that boar slobber or boar urine is the best scent device. I've tried the boar scent in a can and found it useless.

You can get a stronger standing heat by taking her for a drive a couple of days before you expect her to be in heat. Doesn't have to be far, just 15 or 20 minutes in the trailer. I don't know why, but when I depended on AI before I had a boar, it sure did the trick. Especially for the first-time gilts. Gilts are tricky because they don't know what's going on, so you need extra tricks.

Some girls just don't stand well either. I've had some that were so agressive in heat it scared me. When they were ready, they were ready right now and would chase me and rip off my raingear. I've also had some that would never stand at all, even for the boar. The boar only got them because he was tirelessly persistent and wore them down.

Imagine someone coming at you with a tube and catheter. You want to do what with that? When I do AI, I plan on spending about 20 minutes on top of the sow. You need to take time. Have you seen a boar "courting" a sow? They are rough. I like to butt into their sides with my knee--not abusively, but enough to know that I'm there. I don't want to be overly explicit, but you need to rub the vulva like the boar would. Make growling noises. Get on top of her, backwards and sit on top, or lean with all your weight on top of her. Make sure you have the catheter all the way against (if you're using the fat foam-type) or twisted into (the spirette-type) the cervix. Then (this is the magic part) start the squeezing. The best way is to just let her suck it out of the bottle, which will happen when everything is right. She'll hump her back up and the semen will flow out of the bottle by itself. Or, gently and slowly squeeze it out. If it won't come out, or there's a lot of backflow (more than a drop or two) the catheter is in wrong.

Remember, there are billions of sperm in there and you only need 8 or 10.

If she is an aggressive one, have your escape plan ready. Maybe lean a piece of plywood against a post or something so you can jump behind it and get away. Those girls are fast.

FYI, if you've got one of those girls that will come at you because she's "in a bad mood" I'd get rid of her. My girls are sweet and trustworthy. But I never mess with the babies in front of them. Their job is to protect those babies, and I'm not tempting fate. One close call was all I needed.

The other thing is to make sure you're taking care of the semen properly. Rotate the bottles gently, twice a day, and keep them at the right temperature. This is crucial. Don't use a lubricant that isn't recommended by the company.

Good luck!
Shelley

[piper]

First, yes, a single pig can be bred AI. I think the hardest part on some girls is knowing exactly when to breed.

Then a couple of other things that came to mind when reading your post. A pig is usually fertile for maybe a day so you are spending unnecessarily a lot of money in boar semen if you are inseminating every day for a week. And, unless you are on the cutting edge of frozen swine semen, boar semen is shipped fresh cooled so quality starts degrading immediately. Is this a gilt? A gilt at 6-700 pounds could be too fat to settle. Can you make some sort of a stanchion with steel fence posts and hog panels to hold them still while you inseminate? Ah, what the heck, get a couple more gilts and a boar...there's no better way to lose money than a bunch of cute little pigs.

I will second culling for a bad attitude. In general, I am not the least bit afraid of my sows or boar. If a baby starts squealing that is a different matter.