Is it possible???

[Free Birds]

Hello, I am fairly new to pigs so need some information from those who have some experience. I have a male potbelly pig, I believe is intact. He came to us full grown and was left behind by a family that moved so don't have any other history. I'm guessing that he was not fixed. About two and a half months ago, we got a female pot belly pig from a family that bought her as a baby, kept her in the house and then couldn't keep her because she grew into a big pig...they were told she would be small, around 30 pounds. That's another story for another day. Anyway, she has been with the male pig since she arrived at our farm. As far as I have seen, she wants nothing to do with the male and sends him running every time he comes near her. I have never seen them even nap near each other. They don't fight, it's just a matter of the female is definitely the boss pig and seems to be determined to keep away the male. So, I was talking to a farmer this weekend who has pigs and he said it's very unlikely that she has not become pregnant. I just thought that she could not be pregnant because she doesn't want anything to do with the male. The farmer said that doesn't mean that they didn't get together and that it's not that uncommon for pigs. I'm stumped. Any thoughts on this?

 

[donrae]

They don't have to like each other to mate. If you have two sexually mature, unaltered animals of the same species in the same enclosure, the female is likely to be pregnant as soon as she comes into heat.

 

[Free Birds]

Thanks so much for your quick response. I really didn't think about it that way...just figured that since she never lets him near her (that I have seen) she was not receptive to being bred. Ha! I should have known better. I know cows and goats and that certainly is the rule with them; if an intact male is in the pasture, the females WILL be bred. Oh well, it will be ok if she is pregnant. She's certainly old enough at a year and a half and we can find homes for the babies with no problem. Now I will have to start reading up on how to tell how far along she is in the pregnancy and what to provide for her nutrition and accommodations.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I agree with donrae! Just because you don't see them mate, doesn't mean they haven't when you weren't looking. I would be on the lookout for piglets (gestation is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days ... Easy one to remember!) and if you don't want piglets in the future I would think about separating them.

Also, pigs and cows have something called standing heat. Basically this means when the animal goes into heat, it doesn't matter whether the female wants the male near her or not. As soon as he hits a certain spot (on the back by trying to mount) she basically freezes for long enough for him to mate her. Back in the day (and somewhat less today) farmers used to use this to tell if cows and pigs were ready to be bred. They would just touch them on the back and if they froze, they were in heat. Now we have ways to make them ovulate when we want them to, so this method isn't used as much on larger farms.

 

[Free Birds]

Thanks so much for the information. Interesting about the standing heat because goats do that same thing... I always know if the female will be bred if she stands for the male. Didn't know that it would be the same for pigs. I appreciate your willingness to answer my questions. Now I will have to figure out about how far along she is in her pregnancy!