Post by robynsa on Jul 29, 2014 7:36:53 GMT -5
I have a few questions that I'd appreciate some help with please!
1. What to do about a boar
Now that Munsie has shown us that she has the goods and is a great mum, we'd like to go ahead and have her add her contribution to the farm in the way of a couple of litters a year. All of this litter's piglets are white (their sire is white and Munsie is at least half white pig if not 7/8) - and Munsie's dark skin or spots didn't carry across at all. We'll put the boar over Munsie again once the piglets go, but that will be his last engagement. I can't see us getting anything but white pigs from him. White pigs don't do well here in the sun, but anything BUT white pigs are frowned upon and we rarely see spotty pigs come across the auction and if we do, they're not good enough to breed with. We don't get GOS, RW or Tamworth in SA. Our goal is medium sized pigs mostly for sausage and the odd pork roast. And piglets that are more easily marketable to smallholders (everyone struggles with the same thing when not keeping them in indoor situations). Our only non-white option would be Duroc or spotted PB (small size). So... what would you do? Would putting a Duroc over her increase our chances of getting the dark pigmentation or would she still throw pinks?
2. Pig paddock fence
We are currently building a fence in an area that we'd like to plant loads of corn next season and we're doing a high strain wire fence (7 strands) to contain the adult pigs for the next year and have them turn over the ground for us. I've split the area into two pastures so that we can move them across when they flatten the first one. The same principle but with less strands is containing our Dexters (a feat in itself). The strain on the wire means it doesn't budge at all. Two of the sows are easily contained behind a 60cm pallet fence which they could easily push through or break, but they don't try. Munsie is the escape artist but she and the piglets are currently behind field fence without any escapes and I've seen her trying to lift the fence, but she can't lift the strain wire on the ground and gives up almost as soon as she starts.
Has anyone ever had success containing pigs with high strain wire WITHOUT adding a strand of electric? I could do that but I can't really afford to buy a new energiser for this purpose right now, but I also don't want to put the pigs in and have them learn that they can get out. Would it be worthwhile to do the lowest strands with barbed wire or is that a really bad idea?
3. Weaning the piglets
They are enormous and SO fat, easily 8x bigger than their birth weight. They are 4 weeks old tomorrow. Munsie is still happily nursing them though they are drinking cow's milk and eating grain, drinking water, rooting and generally being piggies
In terms of weaning, do I do it cold turkey and is 6 weeks ok? Munsie's teats are looking great now and I don't want to get to the stage where they get ripped up, so the earlier the better for me.
1. What to do about a boar
Now that Munsie has shown us that she has the goods and is a great mum, we'd like to go ahead and have her add her contribution to the farm in the way of a couple of litters a year. All of this litter's piglets are white (their sire is white and Munsie is at least half white pig if not 7/8) - and Munsie's dark skin or spots didn't carry across at all. We'll put the boar over Munsie again once the piglets go, but that will be his last engagement. I can't see us getting anything but white pigs from him. White pigs don't do well here in the sun, but anything BUT white pigs are frowned upon and we rarely see spotty pigs come across the auction and if we do, they're not good enough to breed with. We don't get GOS, RW or Tamworth in SA. Our goal is medium sized pigs mostly for sausage and the odd pork roast. And piglets that are more easily marketable to smallholders (everyone struggles with the same thing when not keeping them in indoor situations). Our only non-white option would be Duroc or spotted PB (small size). So... what would you do? Would putting a Duroc over her increase our chances of getting the dark pigmentation or would she still throw pinks?
2. Pig paddock fence
We are currently building a fence in an area that we'd like to plant loads of corn next season and we're doing a high strain wire fence (7 strands) to contain the adult pigs for the next year and have them turn over the ground for us. I've split the area into two pastures so that we can move them across when they flatten the first one. The same principle but with less strands is containing our Dexters (a feat in itself). The strain on the wire means it doesn't budge at all. Two of the sows are easily contained behind a 60cm pallet fence which they could easily push through or break, but they don't try. Munsie is the escape artist but she and the piglets are currently behind field fence without any escapes and I've seen her trying to lift the fence, but she can't lift the strain wire on the ground and gives up almost as soon as she starts.
Has anyone ever had success containing pigs with high strain wire WITHOUT adding a strand of electric? I could do that but I can't really afford to buy a new energiser for this purpose right now, but I also don't want to put the pigs in and have them learn that they can get out. Would it be worthwhile to do the lowest strands with barbed wire or is that a really bad idea?
3. Weaning the piglets
They are enormous and SO fat, easily 8x bigger than their birth weight. They are 4 weeks old tomorrow. Munsie is still happily nursing them though they are drinking cow's milk and eating grain, drinking water, rooting and generally being piggies
In terms of weaning, do I do it cold turkey and is 6 weeks ok? Munsie's teats are looking great now and I don't want to get to the stage where they get ripped up, so the earlier the better for me.
