# breeding pair from same litter?



## dwbonfire (Mar 1, 2012)

i have a feeling i know my answer, but want to ask anyway.

i have been waiting on tam/berk piglets to be born to purchase, and i'd like to end up with a breeding pair so i can continue raising them and have piglets for meat and to sell. there are multiple litters at the farm, but all are sired by the same boar. my question is, could i get a gilt from one litter, and a boar from another litter, and be able to breed them and raise piglets for meat? the piglets would more than likely be purely for meat (mine would be anyhow, not sure if all buyers would be for meat as well) so they wouldnt be breeding, so could i get away with the parent pair being that closely related? again, they would only have the same sire, and be from different sows.

the only reason i am considering and asking this is because i havent had any luck finding these breeds close enough by, so i dont know when i would find another unrelated pig.


----------



## SuburbanFarmChic (Mar 1, 2012)

I say if they are terminal crosses and are from different sows then do it.


----------



## dwbonfire (Mar 1, 2012)

SuburbanFarmChic said:
			
		

> I say if they are terminal crosses and are from different sows then do it.


what does terminal crosses mean??


----------



## jhm47 (Mar 1, 2012)

A terminal cross is one made to provide only an animal that is to be used for meat, NOT for breeding.  An example might be a Yorkshire X Landrace cross female bred to a Hampshire boar.  The Y X L would be called a maternal cross,  and the H X YL would be a terminal cross.  The boar used in the terminal cross is usually from a very meaty breed.


----------



## dwbonfire (Mar 1, 2012)

ok, so where the piglets would be 'terminal' it would be ok for the parent pigs to be sired by the same boar? in other words, related, 1/2 brother and 1/2 sister..

i just dont want any defects because of it, or unhealthy animals. i will not do it if its not a good idea.


----------



## Cornish Heritage (Mar 1, 2012)

If you are breeding just for meat you can pretty much breed any relations together. It won't necessarily cause any defects. HOWEVER that depends on how closely bred the boar & the sow were! People get hung up on inbreeding a lot because there are so many folks out there saying it is bad. When you breed closely related animals together it actually means that you are concentrating the genetics & so if both breeders are good that can be a good thing. Of course if the breeding pair are bad to start with then that is a bad thing. You do take the risk of the bad genetics coming through but that is rare.

We do some "tight" breedings here at times BUT we cull hard for breeding stock & then the rest go for feeders.

What you are planning sounds fine to me - just make sure you see the parents & check out the piglets you are buying. Tell the breeder you are planning on breeding them so you do not want runts.


----------



## drdoolittle (Apr 4, 2012)

Well, I was told as long as they have different mothers it's o.k.


----------

