AGH boar a dud - what would you do?

[simplynaturalfarm]

My AGH boar I got is no good - hubby checked and said his testicles aren't where they should be and he is a runt to boot. I don't knwo why as they are all fed the same amount but anyway, I now have 4 lovely sows and no boar.

I'm on a guinea hog list and many people are putting other breeds over the AGH gilts. My husband said the sow seems to dictate size and so to do whatever I want. . .

I advertised and everybody has BIG yorks in the 350-600lb size. My guinea hogs are maybe 90-140lbs.

We phoned a fellow who raises a variety of pasture pigs and he has a large black purebred from late summer that is probably 200 now and he said he is a bit of a runt and he doesn't know if he will breed yet but that he mentioned him because he is smaller than a normal large black. He also has a yearling half red wattle, 1/4 chester white and 1/4 poland china that has bred a few sows already. He figures he is in the 300lb range. the price is quite different - $200 for the large black, $375 for the yearling. The sucky thing is I have no reason to NEED a different breed of pig/butcher pig/boar as I have a freezer FULL of pork from butchering 3 hamps in November. . . ah, well such is life . . .

What would you guys do? I have seen litters of berk x agh, hamp x agh (yes, AGH gilts) and we drove 7 hours to get the gilts and to get another boar I would have to drive 7 hours one way as the closest person is the other side of Minnesota. . . A very kind KFC lady offered to ship me a young boar and I'm contemplating that route for next year's litter (as it would be probably 9 months before we could get a litter out of him - that reminds me, delta never got back to me!), but I really want to get them bred right now for spring/summer litter.

[haecklers]

It seems to me there should be boars closer to you than that! Maybe try joining more pig forums? There's an American Guinea Hog one on facebook, also a pastured pig and one called something like "smaller pigs". Personally I'd probably go for a pot belly boar, some of them get fairly big and on pasture they don't get nearly as fat as guinea hogs, a trait they seem to pass on to their offspring. I've got both and the Guinea Hogs are really a lot fatter than the pot belly pigs on the same diet, and their frames are only a little bit smaller.

[Jerseylady*Heather*]

We bred our mule footed hog, who was only about 200 lbs mature to a Duroc. The piglets came out just fine and the meat was excellent.She had two litters with him before he got too big and we sold him. But his genetics were much bigger and there were no problems.

I would be inclined to see if you could have one shipped in, plan on about $300 for shipping by air. Or if the breeder 7 hours away would be willing to meet part way. Also put up ads you never know who might have one they want to sell.

We are trying to decide if we want Berkshires or Mule Foots, we keep going back and forth. We have a lot of waste milk so it would be nice to have some pigs to feed it to.

[eljay]

I've been thinking about crossing my AGH as well even though I do have a boar. Considering the amount of time it's going to take them to grow to a butcher size and your climate, a cross might save you a lot of money feeding in the winter. Will a runt boar breed a smaller sized pig? It could be a win/win.

Do you have a market for selling AGH in your area? If so taking the KFCer up on her offer would be a good idea. I'm amazed at how well ours are doing with the winter here.

We have a runt as well. She's about a third of the size of her sisters and looks more like a pot bellied pig in her features. She eats about the same amount as the others.

[charlesh]

Do you have fhe option to AI them this year?

[Nonesuch Melissa]

Here the cheapest quickest thing for me to do would be to grab a Potbelly (the bigger quicker growing ones) boar for $50-100 and get litters on board. Also this cross will help you establish your market for small weaners and connect to people who might want purebreds in the future.

Other crosses I like are Ossabaw Island Pigs and Kune Kune Pigs because again you'll be reaching the 'small pig' folks in your area.

My first purebred AGH litter is all gone. I have a litter of six on the ground that will not be weaned for about 4 weeks if you decide at some point you need/want a purebred boar.

[haecklers]

If you keep an eye on craigslist you may be able to pick a pot belly boar up for cheap. Or place a "want" ad. You could luck out and find one that's somebody's pet that you can just borrow for a week or three.

[simplynaturalfarm]

Believe me, I have an never closed tempest search for pot bellied and AGH - I am on the facebook groups and EVERY month I post a want in their section - as do the other two people from Minnesota LOL. I only got the first sows because a WI KFC lady mentioned them to me. I thought finding a boar would be easier - SHE had a hard time finding one. I found the guy in SD and just for back up got the 2 boars. . . one ended up a gilt! Honestly! ANyhoo, that was all my fault for not double checking and assuming they would know a gilt from a boar!

Kune Kune closest are in WI, Pot bellied are southern MN which is 7 hours, and nothing else closer.

Charlesh, I would do AI, but I'm having the DICKENS of a time figuring out when they are standing. All they do is run in circles around me screaming for treats. See. . . I take them excess milk and that really wrecks happy pigs. If they had a constant flow of weak diluted milk they would never do this, but it is winter and I dump it in once a day. They are in one side of the chicken coop and I give the chickens the scraps and the pigs go bonkers smelling it. They have $6 bale alfalfa in their side and they do eat it, but the SECOND they see me they go to screaming at the top of their lungs. So I stand in there and they mill around me. and I wait and I wait. They they snort through the alfalfa and even though I can tell they are coming into heat, every day when I do the old pressure test, they scoot out from underneath me. Not like my easy to tell Berkshires! And I know they have been in heat 3x now. I have to know with chilled semen right away. The shipping is going to be about $130 and the sows are not coming into heat at the same time right now. So, I may miss it, order wrong time and then have to order 2-3 x and at that point I will have paid for a boar.

There is something to be gained from a crossbred if it works and I don't need purebred replacements. Nobody here butchers themselves except for us - I think they will be upset paying $50 kill plus .65c lb for a 150lb critter. So, they would like a larger hog. (we got these guys for ourselves and they eat WAY less than a regular pig and don't dig like regular pigs)
ALso, they are definitely fatty pigs (no, mine are not overweight, but they are known as a fat pig). Adding a cross that is leaner will help (same way with a pot bellied). The guys that are crossing with larger pigs are getting much faster growing ones but only have to feed small sows overwinter etc.

Don't you like how I can make myself feel better about not having a boar?

Heather - the mule foot around here (my bil got into them because the people who wouldn't eat pork would eat mule foot) have small litters. Having said that, my purebred berks had small litters. You NEED a big litter to make the sows pay. The biggest litter I had was 8 or 9 (bad memory now) and that gal laid on 4 of hers. Otherwise they had 5-7. The mule foot did not get very big compared to our 1000lb boar. Boy was he big and intimidating but a big baby.

There is NOTHING that compares to Berk meat. I dug out a package of berk pork chops and last year's hamps (I refused to drive 6 hours to pick up berk feeders for $250 a piece). The flavor is insane on the same feed. WE are hoping AGH are closer to berk for that. Lots and lots of good fat on the berks and just better quality of meat. I would do berk in a heartbeat if I could find a good high yielding sow OR I would cross here. There is a fellow who has a boar from us and crosses to whites and crossbreeds and he gets 13-16 piglets in each litter while maintaining 1/2 breeds.

Melissa, have you tasted your AGH yet? How does it taste?

[Nonesuch Melissa]

Yummo fatty pig meat. I love pork fat in all it's glorious deliciousness! None of that lean 'other white' dry meat for me. Even the RWs were a little on the 'lean' side for my taste.

[simplynaturalfarm]

Melissa, I got hungry just reading that LOL

Had to come back and edit because I can now hear pork fat crackling and popping in a frying pan and I don't even have any pork thawed! Oh my for a good fatty pork chop with some balsamic! Instead I'll fry up some home made pancetta - that is some seriously addictive stuff.

You know, those lean pigs don't even make good bacon!? I made 12 packages of bacon in January and had some from our lean hogs and it is almost unedible.

[funnymamma]

So are your AGH's registered or do you have pedigrees on them? The reason I ask is that I have a beautiful, big boar that is related to virtually every pig near me and for several hundred miles so finding an unrelated sow or gilt close is next to impossible. Just pondering the possibilities of somehow doing a trade. I'm not opposed to seeing pigs fly... My sow now is the grand-daughter of my boar so the inbreeding COI is almost 30%. Not what I love but it's what I got right now....

Untitled by lizeck, on Flickr

IMG_2149 by lizeck, on Flickr

IMG_2106 by lizeck, on Flickr

[Nonesuch Melissa]

What a ham! And such a cutie.

[simplynaturalfarm]

no, not registered. I know I have considered how to keep track if they are not registered, but to be honest they are the ONLY AGH I could find. The place I got my boar from got his from Kansas in order to not have them related to the Minnesota guy, so I went with that.

I've seen pictures of you and your boy on The facebook list :)What a sweetie he is!!

[Nonesuch Melissa]

I am also in love with those shoulder roasts. (drool)

[haecklers]

I wish you were closer. We ran out of non-GMO corn, can't find any more, and have too many pigs and chickens! I'd sell you an AGH boar for a song! It's been too darn cold to butcher, and they've all just kept getting BIGGER! I'm dying for some breakfast sausage, too! I've decided I like "Little Jake" better than "Rocky", so Rocky the AGH has got to go! Little Jake, by the way, isn't little, but he was the spitting image of "Big Jake" only younger by 6 months... Well, not little for mini meat pigs - he's probably around 150 lbs. The AGH are a little too fatty for me, we'll be giving the back fat away to a friend to play with, and just rendering the leaf lard. I had to trim an inch of fat off the belly to make reasonable thickness bacon. They're in with the pot belly pigs and if I feed them less the pot belly pigs get hungry.

[suzorse]

simplynaturalfarm shipping would be cheaper for you as you would be closer to the boar studs
have you tried the push test while they are sucking up milk and occupied ,if they are receptive they will stop drinking just a thought
Suzanne

[crazypiglady]

Just thought I'd share that if you'd like breeders and don't have a boar look into AI'ing them. Super easy and much more cost effective than keeping aND maintaining a boar year round, especially if there's only a few sows. To AI a pig is the easiest thing and onky takes minutes.We've had 2 fantastic boars but we went strictly AI for these reasons. You can find semen in any price range from $50-1000. Just all depends on your end goals.