This handsome little beast will hopefully, if all goes right, be the sire to our next crossbred market hog litter by Porkchop.
Are there things that could be improved on? Certainly as with all animals, but I think he's an excellent terminal sire for Porkchop, and we'll likely be keeping a gilt from the litter and culling the Chopster.
He is such a square mover, and I like that. I am not a fan of pigs that cross their tracks. He's also hard headed, and plows his nose through everything.
When we offloaded him from the trailer, Porkchop (who is a year older than him, and much bigger than him) was excited... until he tried to mount her. She's not in season yet (any day now), and he is relentless. While young, he knows what he wants, and he's going to get it. I honestly would be surprised if she didn't come into season tomorrow.
Porkchop is the mostly black one. The lighter one is Big League, who she was bred to last time. See how much finer in bone he is when compared to Diesel? Same with her. I'm looking to fix that. Several of the piglets in her last market hog litter were really light boned, which was a shame. It's hard to keep them sound when they've got so much mass to them, and are light framed.
It may all go pear shaped, but I have high hopes, and apparently, so does Diesel, since Porkchop is much bigger than he is!
At one point, he ran across the pen and lept upon her. She's not particularly enthused, and while he hasn't succeeded at his ultimate goal thus far, he certainly looks like he's having a good time! And while yes, I feel like a Piggy Pimp, I have to say, I wouldn't be surprised if people fall all over themselves to get a piece of this boar first chance they get. He's just to die for.
We'll keep you posted!
I would really like to see a video of this mating posted. Just curious of who/whom is going to help Diesel "get it in". Porkchop, being a year older, will be a challenge for Diesel to reach without help!
ReplyDeleteI dunno. Dad's like a foot shorter than mom, and he figured it out. :D Heehee.
ReplyDeleteBut in all honesty, she's coming in season right now (as I suspected she would). And she's not that much taller than him, just bigger as in mass. He has no trouble getting up there, she just keeps moving on him because she's not standing yet. I figure in two days, she'll be standing, and we'll see how it goes from there. :)
ReplyDeleteThe height of the sow is an issue but not near as much as the build of show pigs compared to a meat hog. The larger rump causes problems with angles of natural mating. I have used as many as 4 boars on one sow trying to get her bred and have one sow now that has never been bred naturally, because of the build of her rump. I truly hope Diesel is successful and very well might be. Just from my experience, more than not, a stool is involved and somebody has to get there hands sticky! Lol
ReplyDeleteThankfully, Porkchop has been bred naturally this last litter to a Chester White, so I hope that she doesn't have a problem the second time. As for hands getting sticky, well, we were fortunate to follow Lisa's advice and attend that seminar on collecting and artificially inseminating pigs this summer, so we feel confident if we had to collect and AI with fresh, we could. :) CROSS YOUR FINGERS we don't have to do that. :D
ReplyDelete