How to Breed Pigs

Get started here and learn all about how to breed pigs and about pigs mating process. Keep your pig populations healthy by paying close attention and caring for your animals.

By Randy Kidd
Updated on February 11, 2023
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by AdobeStock/mixalina

Get started here and learn all about how to breed pigs and about the pigs mating process. Keep your pig populations healthy by paying close attention and caring for your animals.

In a previous article I tried to pass along all the know-how necessary to rear eating-size porkers from weaned feeder pigs. Of course, a number of folks will want to set up a year-round breeding operation. If you’re thinking of learning how to breed pigs,
however, you should know right off the bat that rearing newborn piglets is a somewhat involved and risky undertaking. In fact, from 30% to 40% of the baby swine born in the pig-breeding business in this country die shortly after birth!

But a small scale homesteader is able to provide more conscientious caretaking than can most large enterprises, so you should be able to save almost all your curly-tailed youngsters … and successfully raise an average of 16 hogs per sow (from two litters) each year. All it takes to achieve the goal is a lot of tender loving care and some solid know how.

How To Breed Pigs: Mating the Sow

Obviously enough, the first step toward rearing healthy piglets is making sure the intended mother is mated! A gilt (a young female hog) should reach sexual maturity at five or six months of age, and be receptive for two or three days of each subsequent 21 day cycle. You can be sure that a sow’s in estrus (heat) if the female has a swollen vulva. She also may or may not have a slight mucus-like or bloody vaginal discharge, act restless, urinate frequently, twitch her tail, hold her ground when you press down on her hindquarters, or try to “ride” other sows.

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