When to band a male pig?

[donrae]

I'm with Cassie, again. I never worm my butcher hogs. We feed hog finisher, I've not heard of finishing a hog on corn. I know folks finish cows on corn or grain to increase marbling in the meat, but to me a hog has plenty of fat, they don't need more. Hog feed is mostly corn, anyway, but has more protein and fat, a more balanced ration. Ours get the appropriate hog feed and whatever kitchen scraps are available and we have great tasting meat.

I was thinking about your meat flavor today and came up with some possibly reassuring examples from personal experience. One year we took several deer, some does and one large, mature buck. Once in the freezer, who knew which package came from which animal. I never tasted anything bad from a mature buck, it all tasted the same to me.

My sister's husband has taken mature male bear, again no bad taste. Surprisingly, bear "hams" cured like pork hams taste pretty darn good!

 

[Hapigrl]

Thank you guys again! I am very optimistic about this mishap no. Live and learn I guess. Just a side note, we have 2 more piglets now. They are our pigs sisters since the same sow had another litter and would not feed those babies either. We got them when they were 5 days old and are now about 15 days old, and both GIRLS!!!! lol!!! Can't wait to see how this all turns out

 

[Hollow Point]

Boar taint comes from uncastrated male pigs that are sexually active. This is caused by hormones in the body of the animal, which every male species of animal has and are aroused by a female in heat. I have butchered 1-2 year old male boar that has never been around a gilt or sow and had no bad taste in the meat at all. Key to avoid any issues is to never butcher any pig, male or female when it is in heat or sexually aroused. Pigs sexually mature at around 8 months old. I normally castrate my shoats from 3-6 weeks old because they are extremlly easier to handle at that point. After about 2 months olds and thereafter it can still be done, you just need a trailer, rope and someone with experience. Some people use corn before the butcher date to clean the animal out and give it a better tasting meat. I have went both ways and really have not found much of a difference.

 

[boltandtank]

please help
why can't you use the band method on a pig. ? I have a 8 week old male and I just can't cut him. I don't want to cause that kind of pain on him.. I was hoping that I could use the rubber band method. has it ever been tried.
thanks,
Shirley in pa..
my first pig and he is for meat.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

The anatomy of a pig's testicles are different from that of ther species. They are held very close to the body and not pendulous. Banding a pig would do serious damage and would have no guarantee of actually removing the whole testicle.

If you can't do it yourself, call in a vet to do it. At this point the pig will need some sedation to get it done.

 

[cassie]

please help
why can't you use the band method on a pig. ? I have a 8 week old male and I just can't cut him. I don't want to cause that kind of pain on him.. I was hoping that I could use the rubber band method. has it ever been tried.
thanks,
Shirley in pa..
my first pig and he is for meat.

Take a good look at the scrotum and testicles on your pig, and then tell me just how on earth you would go about banding him. If you can't bring yourself to castrate him, either take him to the vet, find a stockman who will do it for you, or leave him as he is. We butchered a couple boar pigs that weighed something like 300 pounds, which is heavier than the usual butcher weight of 200 pounds. The meat was fine. I am not sure why. Someone told me that since they were never used for breeding and were never around any sows they didn't produce the typical boar scent. I am certainly not suggesting that anyone do what we did, but if you butcher him when he is fairly young I wouldn't think there would be any problems.

 

[boltandtank]

thank you for your answer.. I do have a female with him same age. so I will look for someone to take care of him.. I do plan on having them both butchered at a young age.

 

[cassie]

Since you have a female, you either need to get the male castrated or make sure they are kept separated. Otherwise that gilt is going to get bred. This can happen a lot sooner than you might expect.