Post by WindyRidge on Sept 23, 2015 23:42:34 GMT
So we finally managed to get Boaz in the pen with Naomi. I know keeping boars and sows together is common. But neither pig is used to such an arrangement. I'm not sure how it transpired as I didn't witness it directly, but Naomi now has a decent gash in a back leg. Not life threatening in any way, but a pretty good bite. Boaz is old and does have good size tusks. It wouldn't take much to do damage. That is, he may not have been any more aggressive than a young boar but with his tusks the same force may have done more damage.
At the moment, Boaz is flopped out trying to sleep. Naomi is off sulking. For better or worse tonight I'm leaving them alone. If Boaz was actively chasing her it would be different. But it's a decent size lot for 2 pigs and clearly she is able to get away. I'm guessing this is just something they need to work out?
I'll definitely dump feed in 2 piles far apart tomorrow so they won't have to fight over one trough. I don't know pig behavior though. Is this just normal adult pigs figuring out how to interact? Or should I be more concerned?
It may be worth noting when we first tried to put them together Boaz just wanted to sleep and Naomi kept coming into his space bugging him. Although I didn't see it, I'm guessing the interaction was about the same this time. I would see her approach him, but I never saw him specifically seek her out.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Edit to add: Boaz is not an aggressive boar with us at all. Though I'm leery just because of his size and my inexperience with pigs when i'm in with him he has never offered to be mean in any way from the time we first loaded him. We've chased him in after he's been out and go in his pen with him daily to retrieve feed buckets, etc. He did, as I understand it, live in barn kept solitary all his life before coming here. I don't know their setup for breeding times.
At the moment, Boaz is flopped out trying to sleep. Naomi is off sulking. For better or worse tonight I'm leaving them alone. If Boaz was actively chasing her it would be different. But it's a decent size lot for 2 pigs and clearly she is able to get away. I'm guessing this is just something they need to work out?
I'll definitely dump feed in 2 piles far apart tomorrow so they won't have to fight over one trough. I don't know pig behavior though. Is this just normal adult pigs figuring out how to interact? Or should I be more concerned?
It may be worth noting when we first tried to put them together Boaz just wanted to sleep and Naomi kept coming into his space bugging him. Although I didn't see it, I'm guessing the interaction was about the same this time. I would see her approach him, but I never saw him specifically seek her out.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Edit to add: Boaz is not an aggressive boar with us at all. Though I'm leery just because of his size and my inexperience with pigs when i'm in with him he has never offered to be mean in any way from the time we first loaded him. We've chased him in after he's been out and go in his pen with him daily to retrieve feed buckets, etc. He did, as I understand it, live in barn kept solitary all his life before coming here. I don't know their setup for breeding times.
