Why do you want to breed your own pigs?
Saskatchewan winters are long and we always welcome the end of it, especially with thew birth of spring piglets!
We love having piglets around but breeding and farrowing pigs isn’t right for everyone.
If you want to breed pigs - you have to overwinter them.
This is a PRO & CON
If you want the easy way out and don’t want winter work then breeding pigs is not for you.
In colder climates like Saskatchewan, most people don’t want to keep animals over winter. It’s a lot of work and it’s extremely cold here.
Going out every day in ridiculous temperatures, dealing with frozen water troughs, hauling water and figuring out how to keep pigs warm can get old really fast!
That said for me it’s a pro! Otherwise, I would stay inside all winter and become a couch potato!
Are you fed up with trying to find piglets every year?
It can be very hard to find pig breeders who are in it for the long haul. People get in and out of pigs all the time and some years piglets can be hard to find.
When grain prices rise many people will quickly sell all their pigs and then start up again as grain prices fall.
On a year when the grain prices are high in fall you may struggle to find piglets in spring the following year.
Many start with pigs thinking they will be a good source of income and they have lots of family and friends to sell to BUT when you have a breeding pair of pigs you can soon end up with more pigs than family and friends.
The pigs will eat you out of house and home if you don’t have somewhere to sell them.
When good genetics and the traits of a certain breed are important to you, finding a registered knowledgable breeder close to you may not be easy.
In this case breeding your own is a good option.
A list of registered breeders can be found on CLRC.
Do you think it will be cheaper to raise your own?
When you calculate your weanling cost and the fuel and time to pick them up does it seem like you could raise your own cheaper? A weanling you only have to keep for a few months.
Breeding pigs means keeping them year-round. The costs also start to add up. You have the initial cost of breeding stock, fuel, bedding, labor and feed - plus maintenance and repair costs that larger pigs will inevitably cause to your infrastructure.
Pigs are herd animals so you will need at least 2. Either 2 females, if you plan to A.I or breeding pair, a sow and a boar.
You will need separate accommodation for the bred sow once she gets close to farrowing - I know I will get people saying “We never have any trouble with ours being in the same pen”
Yes, you can definitely take this risk. If you have a lot of room and the sow can take herself off to a quiet area then you likely won’t have problems.
I have had sows farrow in the same pen as the boar with no problems BUT I have had a boar that started a fight with a new mother and I lost all but 3 of the litter. I have also had a sow sneak up on another farrowing sow and steal the piglets - by which I mean eat them!
Farrowing disasters can happen
Sows can lay on all their piglets,
They can farrow anywhere if they are outside, meaning you will have to be vigilant and keep an eye on them, or provide a good, safe place for them to farrow.
Other pigs may or may not bother piglets, yes if you have your bred sow with other pigs, they may eat the piglets.
Sows can savage their own piglets
If they farrow in extreme conditions, piglet survival is rare if you aren’t around to take care of them.
If you have to help piglets by putting them on the teat, they will likely squeal, which upsets the sow and can be dangerous for you and the rest of the piglets, who will likely get stood on when she jumps up to see what you are doing.
Do you want to be as self-sufficient as possible?
Having your own breeding stock certainly lets you have more control over your food. You can breed your pigs year-round to fit in with your schedule.
Having a breeding pair is a great idea for homesteaders with young families wanting to teach the kids about self-sufficiency and the responsibility of raising livestock. Especially if you choose the Berkshire breed, they are great to be around and they become part of the family.
You don’t have to worry about finding piglets every year and a good breeding pair of pigs can last you for years. We have had Berkshire sows that produced well until they were over 10 years old.
If you want to keep young females back then you will likely want to switch your boar out every few years, but for a small self-sufficient operation focused on meat production, this isn’t necessary.
Finding Breeding Stock
Don’t leave it until the last minute - Gestation of a sow is 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days, so when you have decided when you want to farrow you need a boar that much in advance.
How do you find breeding stock?
This depends on what you are looking for. For registered pig breeders in Canada, you can check out the CLRC or you can go on Facebook or Kijiji where you will likely find a huge array of pigs for sale.
BUYER BEWARE - Have you seen bred sows for $250 or boars for $50? Surely that’s too good to pass up?
Ask yourself why are they selling a bred sow for $250 - it hasn’t even covered the feed costs for that pig and she would be worth more than that for meat.
Sometimes you will get lucky but often these good deals are usually too good to be true.
Some pigs are extremely aggressive,
Some will be terrible mothers and kill their piglets.
Or you may have an oddball breeding, like a large pig to a small one. In this case, you could have piglets that take forever to grow.
You can get bad production, sometimes a gilt will have only a few piglets and we always give them a second chance but some sows can be bad producers - every time!
Finding a boar - a boar is 50% of what you produce
You will usually have to buy one - I get asked if we rent boars - No we don’t. It is a health risk to our herd.
You will need a secure pen for a boar. Any breeding male can be dangerous to be around. We chose the Berkshire breed because they are known for being docile and not aggressive like some breeds. We also know our genetics and the history of our pigs and don’t keep aggressive lines.
Look for a breeding boar from a reputable breeder, rather than one that is just down the road and cheap, why is it cheap? What is it? Cross-bred boars may not produce good piglets.
Different breeds of pigs have different growth rates.
Selecting the right boar/breed for you and your situation is imperative, especially if you want quality meat. Picking up a wild boar kune-kune cross that will produce piglets that take forever to grow is not the best choice.
Bringing in boars all the time can increase your disease risk. Make sure you have a quarantine area whenever you bring in new stock.
AI - You can get fresh or frozen semen
Fresh is easier to deal with than frozen but you need to know your sows cycling dates.
Frozen is very expensive and harder to deal with, plus you need a Semen tank which needs to be kept charged with liquid nitrogen.
What do you do with your old boar?
If you choose to keep a boar sooner or later he will need to be replaced and you can not keep 2 boars together - they fight!
Boar taint is a thing! Read more about boar taint here
Breed Selection - Different breeds have different qualities.
Do you want a fast-growing pig - one that you can buy in spring and its butcher weight by fall? This would be something like a Duroc or Yorkshire.
Do you want a fat/lard pig, the health benefits and flavour that we get from the lard from our free-range Berkshire pigs is why we choose a lard pig breed.
Do you want a small carcass? this would be something like a kune kune.
Check out the different breeds to see what suits you and your situation.
You need to find a vet
We have a Herd Health and Welfare check every year. In Canada, you need a Vet if you ever need any medications. You can not buy them over the counter they have to be prescribed.
If you want a healthy herd of pigs and ever need any medications you will need a vet.
This sounds easy! Not all vets will work with pasture-raised pigs, so start calling around before you consider breeding pigs! If you have a sick pig your vet will ask you for a pigs temperature when trying to diagnose an illness.
How are you going to take the temperature of a pasture-raised, free-range 600lb sow?
When you start breeding pigs you will need to focus a lot on herd health and feeding quality food for the best reaults.
You also need to bear in mind that pigs require different medications than horses or cows, I often see people on Facebook advising new pig people to use pour on cattle or horse wormer on pigs - Ask your vet what he thinks about this!
Piglets need castrating, otherwise you run the risk of boar taint in the meat. Read more about boar taint here
BUYER BEWARE - If you do come across a good deal and you see a pig advertised as a certain breed - RESEARCH that breed, if it’s a white pig advertised as a Berkshire pig - IT’S NOT A BERK!!
Some of the issues you may get with breeding your own pigs may just be because you don’t know what you have bought and have bad genetics.
This is why we choose registered pigs, we know a lot more about our breeding stock because we have the papers and the history on our pigs.
Happy piggin!