Filed under: June 2013
Andy taking a break
June 14, 2013
Yesterday, I made a trip and got a new boar. Our old boar had gotten too large to breed the smaller gilts. I also have a few of his daughters here and so needed an unrelated boar. I also wanted to inject some new genetics into my breeding program … so this Duroc boar fits the bill nicely.
He came from a farm that raises show pigs. They are the high dollar kind, but worth the money. The farmer sells semen from some of his boars for $250.00 per straw…that is some pricey stuff! This boar is out of that stock and will be a good boost to our future herd.
I like my mostly York mother pigs. The York breed is known for it’s mothering skills. I will attest that they are good mommas and I keep only the best ones that I can. I farrow in nests, often on pasture, so I need a self-suffient mom who will take real good care of her babies.
I also know the benefit of the hybrid vigor created from a three way cross. I try to use Landrace and York in my sows, then cross them with a different breed of boar. I have good feed to meat ratio doing this and have proven it over and over for the last fifteen years.
The boar got out of the trailer and I knew that he would need a name. I thought about it for a while and came up with this solution; when I walk visitors around my farm I can say…. These are my sows …”and he’s” the boar…. Get it ?? And He’s the boar … Andy’s the boar 😮
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