I need help- I'm not good with numbers and I am not knowledgable about weight gain in piglets. I want to produce fair pigs for our county's 4H youth this year. Our weigh in for this county is Dec 7 give or take a few days. When will I have to AI to ensure our show pigs are no more than 75 pounds on Dec. 7? I would like them all to be 65-70 ideally but as long as they don't go over weight, we'll be fine. Thanks in advance.
You might consider talking to some people who are in your county's 4H youth group in your area, and ask when they do their breading, and see how it worked out for them. Try to contact the one who runs the 4H youth group program for more info. Have fun and I Hope you win ! ! !
If you know how long it takes your piglets to reach that weight, to it add three months, three weeks and three days. Then court back that many days from the fair. That would be the ideal date to AI assuming the sow was in standing heat. Ken Scharabok
HI Ken, That's just it, I don't know how long it will take a piglet to go from birth weight to 70 pounds. I've never bred these sows ( or any domestic sow) my razorbacks take considerably longer than a domestic would. I though it was about three months but I'm not sure.
Thank you Bumpus, We aren't showing this year, we are selling to the kids. Some of the families around here buy their show pigs from out of state and I have two excellent sows that I plan to AI with champion stud semen. You've given me the idea to call their breeder though. She breeds for 4H and might know how long it will take the piglets to reach 70 pounds.
HI, DH use to be a hog breeding manager, so hope this helps. Depending on breed, figure 10-12 weeks from birth to reach 65 pounds. It will also depend on how much protein in their grower feed, etc. Let us know the genetics and we'll try to give you more info. Irishstars@ esinc.net
Let's see- for the third time trying to post this reply (and I thought the new software and new host would solve these problems) Thanks! The sows are 47% Yorkshire, 47% Duroc, and 6% Pietrein. They will be bred to 100% Yorkshire. This will be their first litter but they are one year old this month.
Curious I guess as to when they have the fair in you area. Here most of the 4H fairs are in July or August.. The pigs shown here aren't born until after the first of the year.. For pigs that big in Dec. you'd breed around the first of of May. Catching your gilts in heat at the exact time you decide on may mess up your plans.
The county 4H fair is held at the end of March/beginning of April. We are in Florida where the cool temps are milder in the winter than the hot temps are in the summer so it is much better for the kids and the pigs to grow them Dec-March. I just looked on the gestation calendar with the information Irishstars gave me and determined May 15 would be a good time to AI them. Last month they went into heat around the 19th so I will be tracking them and doing it before May 15 more than likely. My girls are very easy to catch in heat. They are extremely vocal and obnoxious. If the piglets are born a little early I may have to resort to reducing the protein in their feed or feeding them less. I've never done this so I might be thinking it will be easier than it will be. Eek! I hope not.
