I was wondering how often a sow comes into heat. My sow her name is hilda she is about 6 1/2 months old she camein and out of heat(boy is it short) , I put her and my boar together in the pen. I am very doubtfull that he was able to do the deed see he seemed to be a little too short. Hilda is taller then he is. I really dont think breed would have anything to do with this but he is a blue butt and she is a hamshire. But I am asking how often they come in heat because if he didnt get the deed done then I have to sell him and go with A.I. By the way hilda was a pet for me that is why she has a name I had two others I raised for the freezer and I really missed them so my husband got me her along with two others the boar and one for the freezer.
When we had our gilt she came into heat about every 21 day... My personal opinion though is not to bred them until they are about 8 months of age...Another thing is that you don't want to overfeed they only need about 4 lb of feed per day....
An old farm way to test if she will take the boar is to try to sit on her hindquarters. If she will let you, she is ready for the boar. I have heard of fairly good sized dogs being bred by a mineature breed, so I guess where there is a will there is a way. Ken S. in WC TN
P.S. Once bred an old saying is three months, three weeks, three days and three o'clock in the morning. If you make a notch at the skin contact point in your thumbnail the day of breeding, when it reaches the end of the thumb is about that long. Ken S. in WC TN
21 days on the heat cycle. They can give or take a day, even two. You want to sit on her back when she isn't eating to see if she will stand. Watch her ears when you do this, they should get more perky. Also, she will push back at you (upwards) when you sit on her. You think you have a heat date now, so start watching her vulva for swelling at 19 days. You should see a difference. 6 month-old + gilts that haven't shown heat can often be "moved" (change their environment, separate them from other pigs/animals) which seems to trigger their heat. The boar would breed at first standing heat with no problem, AI would take place several hours later, 2-3 different times. If you decide to AI, the supplier can give you good instruction. You must know your pig to do this and watch her often to be successful. Even inexpensive semen has an expensive shipping price unless you are close enough to a supplier. Agreed on the farrowing, they have no problem going in the middle of the night, but if you want all lives pigs for sure, you'd better be there. Good Luck! mamagoose in Ohio
I wouldn't worry aboutthe little guy- if he wants it bad enough, he'll get it.Our neighbours had a full size jenny and a miniture male- he only was half her size.It was somewhat amusing to watch him try so hard, but he could only just get his feet up on her back- but by golly, she turned up pregnant- the little fellow herded her down into an irregation ditch so he could''reach''
