boar wanted

[Mark Cowdrey]

I got caught with a boar that is not performing. They seem to be scarce. Any leads appreciated. Should understand electricity, not be too huge or old, & come from a reasonably clean farm.
Thanks,
Mark

[wild millers]

Hi Mark,

If you are interested..

http://www.internationalboarsemen.us/

They have been very helpful to us in the past and we had a 100% AI success rate with our sows over the course of two years with these folks. (6 litters of pigs I believe) They will send you a free AI instructional video if you ask for it and the process is actually quite simple. Good luck -Joel

[Mike Rock]

Nice website. We have Mangalitza hogs and also a large herd of American Mulefoot if anyone needs any. We have shipped by air to both coasts and had truckers from some fifteen states.

I didn’t see the CD listed.

Mike

[Mark Cowdrey]

Thanks Joel.
I have thought of that. What do you figure your cost per pregnancy to be? How do you choose semen?
I have a line on a couple boars and will probably go that route for a couple reasons. One being I am helping out some longtime farmers by sharing w them & don’t want to try AIing their pigs. I have watched a couple Youtubes (the one from Asia w the female tech in a pink suit & white boots, for example ) and it seems to be the hardest part would be knowing when you were “locked in”. Do you use the screw type or he mushroom looking ones?

Mike,
Where are you?

Thanks,
Mark

[JaredWoodcock]

I was going to AI my sows this month but the cost of shipping was prohibitive. I will AI in the future to bring stronger blood into pure bred sows to get some gilts, but for $100 in shipping and $100 for the semen I wanted, I can feed a boar.

Mark where are you located? my friend has a 3 year old hereford boar that he needs to move. We are in cambridge ny, right over the boarder from bennington VT.

feel free to call
518-677-3925

Jared

[wild millers]

Our Tamworth sow was easy to work with and was very obvious about her heat cycles. I think that getting your timing right is probably the hardest part of AI. Mostly, timing your semen order appropriately so that it arrives within a day or two of when she goes into heat again. (21 day cycle)
Shipping cost is extreme. We chose Berkshire semen for a cross that worked really well with our pure bred Tam. It ran about $10 for 2 straws of Berk. (You inseminate twice, once 12 hours after you see her come into heat, and again 12 hours later.) The shipping has been $80. I have only used the mushroom looking insemination rod. International calls it the golden pig rod. Getting it to “lock in” is not hard to do and it will be obvious when it has happened because with her contractions the semen will be drawn from the tube, you should not squeeze at all. This process takes from 3-5 minutes. A sow truly in heat will stand quite still that long especially if you are applying back pressure as you work. (In our case Annalisa would sit on her back while I worked)

We would get two litters per year from our sow with AI, she farrowed and raised from 8-12 piglets per litter for us. Never had trouble finding homes for the a robust healthy pig. So for $180 worth of breeding expenses per year we would usually sell around $1500-$2000 worth of piglets. Keep two of the best looking ones for ourselves, and sell their meat as part of our CSA offerings.

Jared, depending on how many sows that need to be bred, and especially if their heat cycles are all very different then the shipping would add up quickly. It is said that the semen will keep for 6 days at 60 degrees. AI is a little risky because you have to be so diligent about watching heat cycles and if you order that semen it better be worth it! Even so I have not/will not keep a boar even for a few sows primarily because of the added management of keeping such a large potentially dangerous animal around my family. I know that temperament is largely animal dependent and there are some very sweet boars out there, but a friend of ours used to keep a “sweet” boar until one day when a sow was in heat and the farmer was working in the pen, the boar came from behind and gored him through the ham string. This would also depend on the type of infrastructure you have for feeding watering and housing these animals. We have never had a proper pig barn of any kind to safely handle and move the animals around. I guess being properly set up to handle and feed a boar would make quite a difference.

Farrowing time was always a pretty exciting community even for us. Pretty magical.
Good luck.

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[JaredWoodcock]

Were you ordering fresh or frozen? The berk semen must be a lot cheaper than the Tam and Mang semen I was ordering. I have always had boars around and they are safer than the sows. I walk my boars around between pastures for breeding just with my voice and load them onto trailers without any restraints or gates. You do have to treat them with respect when they are with a sow in heat but it is no big deal. My 3 year old daughter works on the farm with me everyday and she can lead a 600lb boar, but I would never let her even close to the sows with out me between them.

[wild millers]

Having a well trained work horse is so dependent on the ground work and foundation training laid out in the early years. I can see that having a well trained boar would come from the same approach. That’s impressive to think of you leading him around the pastures like that. That speaks to how respect is built both ways from a working relationship between man and animal.

And yes, that was fresh semen we used, that’s why it could be kept in an insulated package at 60 degrees for up to 6 days.

[Mike Rock]

Well trained and cared for. Our largest Mulefoot, Detlef is nine years old and down to 700 pounds now. He has full tusks and even when breeding is a gentleman. The sows…… don’t turn your back very often.

Our main Mangalitza, Shazam, is the same but no tusks. A gentleman. One sow got cranky and she is going to be taste tested next week.

We have around 70 Mulefoot and 30 Mangalitza hogs. We have shipped to both coasts and in between. Inquire within!!

[Mark Cowdrey]

If a “wheel” is watching, how about renaming this thread to include “pig insemination” or some such?
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Got a boar. Thanks for all the help.
Mark

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