Mean gilt

[lscheopner]

We bought 2 barrows and a gilt this spring. Already have one barrow in the freezer, and one we sold. Planned on keeping this gilt to breed but she is mean. Her brothers were fine but she tries to bite you every chance she gets. It takes 2 of us to get in her pen to do anything, one to keep her back while the other one works. We raised several hundred head of pigs when I was a kid and never remember having a mean gilt. Has anyone had this happen? Did you keep it or send it to freezer camp? I figure there is no reason to keep a mean gilt if I can buy one that isn't. My dad will buy her from me and take her to the locker.

[Misty]

she will just get meaner. Especially afer she gets babies and has the protective urges.

[Up North]

Get out your Guitar and play them Slaughterhouse Blues.

[lscheopner]

Could she maybe carry a stress gene? She runs up and down the fence constantly when she hears anyone around. Checking tomorrow to find the closest slaughter date. So much for wanting to raise a litter of pigs this year!

Laina

[Misty]

is she a white hog? The only way to know for sure is a blood test. But there are signs you can look for. White hogs will turn a purple color on various places on their body. Their tails will just quiver like when we shiver. They can lock up in their hind end and not be able to move.

[lscheopner]

No none of that. She just runs up and down the fence growling. Really bad since the barrows are gone. She is so lean from all the exercise.

[RedHogs]

It sounds like "boss hog syndrome", i have it alot.... its always the dominant sow or in your case gilt, even with a boar.... she will rule the roost, i can remove the top hog and within a few days one will take the spot.... it is breeding, not anything wrong with her...you might slaughter a real well bred animal and replace her with well mannered junk. If and only if, you can build a quailty pen with feeding and watering done without direct contact with her.... breed her and see what you get.

[John Schneider]

The smart thing in my opinion would be to find yourself a nice pig with a proper temperment. There are plenty of world class gilts in the world that are not mean. There are responsible breeders all across the continent who wouldn't sell dangerous pigs, no matter how nice they looked.

[lscheopner]

She will be going to my freezer or someone elses. I barely weigh a hundred pounds and hate to have help to do my chores. Since this is my only job I like to do it myself and cannot work with an animal that I cannot handle or feel safe around. Will be in the market for a gilt but may wait till spring unless a good deal comes along. Thanks for confirming what I pretty much already knew needed to be done.

Laina

[John Schneider]

My last piece of advice on this subject would be to try to find yourself some heritage breeds of hogs if you are planning to raise a litter each year. I feel it is important to try to preserve our heritage breeds before they become extinct. Since you are waiting until spring anyway, maybe that gives you enough time to find something in your area? Just a thought, but there are plenty of advantages to heritage breeds for the homesteader...not the least of which is behaviour. I trust my Large Blacks in the same way I trust my Border Collie. Plus, it's fun to be different!

[lscheopner]

I want Spot hogs but can't find any in my area. The last ones I found were $140 for a feeder pig. We aren't wanting show just for meat. Love the Large Blacks but haven't seen any around here.
My father bought my gilt and she will go to the processor middle of October. She got a hold of my only goose the other day and ate it.
Can you give me a list of heritage breeds or a website with some info?

Laina

[Up North]

I had a beautifull spot hog gilt that we had to eat. She went mean too. I couldn't even let the kids near her gate. She would try and grab them. Check out these sites.
www.nehbc.org
www.albc-usa.org
You can often write to the registry of the particular breed you like and they will send you a breeders list.

Heather

[lscheopner]

Thanks for the information! I will give those sites a try.

Laina

[John Schneider]

If you go to my blog at www.goldforestfarms.blogspot.com there is a list of links on the left hand side. Amongst those links are some heritage hog sites including the English Large Black Pig Breeders Club website. They have worldwide links to breeders and may be able to help locate something nearby? LB's are good natured and root little, Berkshires too. Tamworths are very good pigs although maybe a little more aggressive than some other breeds. Everyone will have their own opinion. I love the looks of the spots but know little about their demeanour.

Just a side note here about obtaining heritage hogs. I recently bought a young boar from a breeder in Ontario. I am in Alberta...that is about 3600 km's. I paid $200 for the boar and another $200 for the shipping. Considering the demand for breeding stock, I think it is well worth the extra expense to get exactly what you are looking for even if it is from quite a distance. Usually, a bigger breeder will have shipping contacts. Here in Canada, and I am assuming it is the same in the U.S, there are livestock shippers going back and forth across the continent on a daily basis. They make stops as needed to pick up and drop off animals and take care of feeding and watering along the way. I met the driver 1/2 an hour away from my house with the horse trailer to pick up my new boar. It was quite easy. If you bought more than one pig, or if you buy younger animals, the shipping will be less. I guess cost is relative to everyone...I wouldn't want to obtain all of my animals in this manner, but it gets you started and I suspect that the premium you can charge for the rare breed offspring will more than offset the initial cost of obtaining the parent animal.

[Paula]

Originally Posted by RedHogs

It sounds like "boss hog syndrome", i have it alot.... its always the dominant sow or in your case gilt, even with a boar.... she will rule the roost, i can remove the top hog and within a few days one will take the spot.... it is breeding, not anything wrong with her...you might slaughter a real well bred animal and replace her with well mannered junk. If and only if, you can build a quailty pen with feeding and watering done without direct contact with her.... breed her and see what you get.

IMO this is irresponsible advice. You are advising someone to keep a gilt who tries to bite people frequently. What do you think'll happen when she has pigs?
Any pig who even considers biting should be culled. They're too dangerous.

[RedHogs]

You may well be right, but it could also work itself out. It's one young hog alone for first time... hogs are social and need distractions, breeding can be part of it, feeding could be a big part of it, race horses on grass don't act like race horses cranked on heavy grain. My point is a safe pen could give the freedom to explore other remedies without sacrificing saftey. If i separate a hog and leave her alone for long, I'm gonna need a new barn.... That same hog when returned to her group is asleep in 15 minutes. Mean and scared look alot alike.

[John Schneider]

You have some good points RedHogs, but the dominant factor IMO is breeding. I separate my small herd on different occasions for different reasons ie. farrowing, breeding etc. There are times when my pigs are suddenly alone and they have never once showed aggression even though you can tell they are anxious. Instead, we spend more time with them when they're alone...scratching, feeding and even playing with our boar. I don't know cause I'm not a hog, but I do know that a pitbull is more dangerous than a bordercollie. Breeding is everything.

[RedHogs]

I agree completely, this hog is probably out a straight confinement setting, more hog interaction and bulk feeding with little human interaction, the aggression is often praised in boars as large pen breeding uses boar stimulus, and multiply breeding per day, an agressive boar will agressively rant and cover more sows. This hog will be more high maintanace, more unpredictable, and generally high strung all the time. The breeding is often very tight gene pool wise, some of my sows are line bred on both sides, and my best sow was bred back to her half brother. This emphasizes the carcass qualities and sets up a powerful outcross with hybrid vigor. These hogs will often not be pets, as the tighter you pull the blood lines the more sensitive they become. I don't breed for this but i expect some of it, if properly prepared and with a good setup, the pigs will grow fast and big on less feed.

[lscheopner]

Guess I didn't explain in the first post that we raised them from 30#. They were farm raised and had human interaction daily. They may have been linebred and could be a reason. Not willing to deal with an ill tempered animal or breed and hope she doesn't throw that trait.
Our pigs are my husbands favorite animal and he spends a great deal of time scratching and talking to each one. She was also mean when she was with the other pigs. We had to lock her out when we loaded the barrows to take to locker because she kept trying to bite me everytime I entered the pen.
I worked for an AI department in a hog facility for years and had to work with boars on a daily basis. Trusted them more than I trust her. The only thing they wanted was a cookie and they were happy! We have a 650# boar and he is easier to handle. All he wants is to be scratched and his eggs.
Up North- We raised and showed spot hogs when we were kids and loved the breed. Our show pigs were like big dogs and followed us wherever we went. The sows were good momma's but the boars were aggressive. Never had one bite me but would hit you with their snout if you got too close.

Laina

[highlands]

If she is truly a mean animal then eat her. There is no place for mean animals on the farmstead.