Chapter 3 - Management of Boar

• The boar is one of the most important animals in a pig enterprise.
• One boar will generally produce 15 to 20 times as many offspring per year as do breeding female in the herd.
• Proper transportation of boars minimizes stress, the possibility of injury or disease that may affect subsequent boar performance in the breeding herd.
• Transporting Newly-Purchased Boars

  Recommendation:

  1. Use safe, well-built loading and unloading facilities.
  2. Use a divider in the truck when hauling strange boars to prevent injury caused by fighting.

  3. Clean and disinfect the truck before and after transporting the boar.

  4. Provide suitable bedding: sand, sawdust or straw.

  5. Protect against wind, extreme cold, rain or heat.

  6. During hot weather, transport boar in a well-ventilated truck using moist bedding.

  7. Avoid hauling boars that have been fed just before loading, especially during hot weather.
• Handling the Newly-Purchased Boars

  • Proper management of a new boar during his first two months on the farm greatly improves the chance of becoming a useful, aggressive breeder.
• Handling the Newly-Purchased Boars

  • Quarantine - Isolate the new boars for 30 days in a clean and disinfected facility separated from the main breeding herd.
  • Blood test - During the quarantine period, have a veterinarian make a visual inspection and take a blood sample to test for the boar’s previous exposure to transmittable disease. Test for brucellosis or leptospirosis. These two diseases are commonly associated with abortion and the production of weak or dead pigs.
• • Parasite Treatment - Use a broad-spectrum anthelmintic for treatment against endo- and ectoparasites.
  • Vaccination - One week after deworming, vaccinate/re-vaccinate your boars. Check the vaccination program where the boar came from and check it with your own.
  • Introducing New Herd Mates - During the 30-day quarantine period, introduce several market animals or place some of the swine herd manure into the new boar pen. This allows him to develop some immunity.
• Avoid serious losses due to low conception rate and small litter size at birth. This can be accomplished either by semen evaluation or by test mating.
• Semen Evaluation

  This is the easiest and the fastest way of estimating the fertility of the boar, it is done by collecting fresh semen sample and then its volume, motility, concentration and morphology should be examined by a qualified technician.
• Test mating provides an opportunity to observe the new boars’ sexual behaviour and his ability to save the gilt normally.
• A training phase consists of teaching the young boar proper procedure for mounting a female and successfully breeding her.
• Test Mating

  • The first service is crucial to a young boar so it should be with a suitable female. A quiet, cooperative, docile, and strongly in-heat sow is preferred.
  • Always take the female to the boar pens.
  • Observe the boar’s ability to protrude his penis, produce a proper erection, and enter the vagina. Prevent anal services and watch for a limp infantile (small) or tied penis.
  • Observe the mated female(s) from 18 to 24 days after breeding to determine return to heat.
  • Assessing the Boar Breeding Potential
• 1.Purchase a boar only from an established farm and give priority to a farm with a sound health program.

  2.Always ask for the health record of the prospective boars and closely examine it.
• Feed boars 2.3 to 3.0 kg of ration with at 13 to 14% crude protein.
• The exact level will depend on breeding load, conditions of the boar and climatic condition.

  Provide fresh water at all time (as high as 4 to 5 liters of water per kg of air-dry feed).

  Avoid drastic changes in the diet of and in the method or system of feeding the boar.

  Don’t over- or underfeed.
• Feeding boars

  • Feed boars 2.3 to 3.0 kg of ration with at 13 to 14% crude protein.
  • The exact level will depend on breeding load, conditions of the boar and climatic condition.
  • Provide fresh water at all time (as high as 4 to 5 liters of water per kg of air-dry feed).
  • Avoid drastic changes in the diet of and in the method or system of feeding the boar.
  • Don’t over- or underfeed.
• Keep boars in comfortable and individual pen or stall that is draft-free and dry. The pen measurements is 0.6 m x 2.1m with a height of 1.1 meters. If the boar pen doubles as the service area, allow between 5 to 7 square meter of floor area.
• 1. Use of individual pens or stalls to eliminate fighting, riding, and competition for feed.
  2. Install high and strong pen partitions and gates to prevent boars from jumping over and injuring themselves.
  3. Keep boars cool and comfortable during the hot summer months
• • A boar should start serving at 8 months of age.
  • Sexual maturity is a gradual process in which sperm production and sexual desire begins concurrently in increasing intensity.
  • Some boars reach sexual maturity as early as 100 to 147 days of age.
  • Boars below 8 months generally produce a smaller volume and inferior quality of semen.
• • The frequency of service must be regulated to conform to the physiological capacity to produce an adequate supply of viable sperm cells.
  • As the boar becomes older, there is an increase in its semen volume and total sperm production.
• As the boar becomes older, there is an increase in his semen volume and total sperm production.

  
• It is a good practice to keep one young boar in reserve for every 20 breeding females in the herd to take over the breeding work in case one or two of the herd boars become incapacitated for one reason or another.
• In a multiple farrowing program, the recommended ratio is as follows:

  1.Two services per sow per heat period. 15 sows or less - one boar (at least 15 mos. old) 15-25 sows - two boars

  2.One service per heat period 20 sows or less – one boar if young boar 30 sows or less – one boar (at least 15 mos.old)
• Lack of libido and failure of the boar to breed

  1. Genetic problem that results in abnormal sex drive (Culling is recommended)
  2. Temperature may be too high. Heat stressed boars are inclined to breed less frequently and satisfactorily.
  3. The boar may have been injured during a breeding attempt.
  4. Feet and leg problems (lameness, hoof injury)
  5. Too fat, consequently lacks stamina and libido.
  6. Not properly fed.
  7. Not handled properly especially during the first mating.
• B. Failure of the females to conceive through the mediation of the boar.

  1.Improper breeding technique of the boar may be the cause, it is possible that the boars do not remain in contact with the female long enough.

  2.The boars may be afflicted with a particular disease or if motile sperms are present, it is likely that the sows have a disease.

  3.The problem may be the result of general infertility that could be of genetic origin.

  4.There may be a physical or anatomical defect in the reproductive tract of the male.