Do Females Have Tusks?

[littlegoat]

Hello,
I am getting my first ever pigs today! I am rescuing them from a farm where they would have been raised for slaughter. They are still piglets. I am getting 2 females. Do the females have tusks? I assume they wouldn't right now, since they are piglets, but when they are older.
Thanks everyone!

 

[holm25]

they shouldnt depends on if the tusks were pulled

 

[AshleyFishy]

Yes they can have small tusks. Normally you won't see them unless the mouth is open.

Just remember those pigs are going to be about 600+ pounds and can rip open your legs easily. Best advice I received when I got into pigs was "treat a pig like a bull, never take your eyes off of them and have a quick way out." Which I didn't take to heart till my placid loving duroc sow tried to take a chunk out of me.

 

[HoneyDreameMomma]

Just remember those pigs are going to be about 600+ pounds and can rip open your legs easily. Best advice I received when I got into pigs was "treat a pig like a bull, never take your eyes off of them and have a quick way out." Which I didn't take to heart till my placid loving duroc sow tried to take a chunk out of me.

LOL- I've considered pigs, but haven't talked myself into yet. This is the sort of thing that gives me pause. Littlegoat, I hope your experience is a good one. Do you know what breed the pigs are? I understand that sometimes you get different temperaments depending on the breed.

 

[elbesta]

If these are full size pigs and you don't want them for pork chops a 500 lb plus pig can be a handful. For the most part they are not pets. They can be very hard to keep contained, they can eat a lot and some people think they smell, (I think they are fresh as a daisy) but to answer your question, gilts/sows don't have tusks like a boar. I have pigs and they are very friendly they like belly rubs, BUT, when I come out with a bucket of feed it gets put In there trough from outside the fence. A 500 lb pig could snap a leg like a twig with out being mean. BUT if they are PB forget everything I said, have fun and don't feed them to much.

And by the way holm25

 

[littlegoat]

HoneyDreamemomma - I do not know what breed, but I was told that they could be 3 way mixes.
elbesta - We will be working very hard to tame the pigs. We will be leash training them, so we can take them out of the barn on a leash, and while they are not in there (or watching us), put there food down. We will try are hardest to keep them as friendly as possible. I will be spending lots of time with them

 

[Baymule]

3 way mixes sounds like they will make some large hogs. Rescuing them from slaughter sounds like a noble aspiration, but reality might set in somewhere along the way. Piglets are cute, so cute that you just want to hold them and squeeze them. Pigs are smart, entertaining and can knock you down like a bulldozer. Hogs are smarter, they ARE the bulldozer and can seriously hurt you. Walk a hog on a leash? I wish you luck with that, a full grown hog, that would be like walking a hippo on a leash. Even the friendliest of pigs can hurt you. Please be careful.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Story about a friendly pig. My wife used to work at the Swine Education Unit at NC State. All of there breeding was by Artificial Insemination, but they alway kept a boar on hand for "heat check".
This lucky guy was picked out as a little baby as just the friendliest pig you have ever seen. He's then handled more and a lot of effort is made to keep him tame. He's fed plenty and lives like a king.
So, one day, they let him out to make his rounds and he made a playful head swipe at one of the student interns. She had to have 48 stitches in her calf.
And they culled the heat checkers when the got about 250lbs. Per the other posters, they get much larger. Particularly if they are commercial type crosses. I would caution you to be careful with full grown hogs.

 

[AshleyFishy]

Electric fencing on the inside of their pen is a more reliable way to contain them. However, they know when that wire isn't hot and even the most well fed pigs will test it.

Like Elbesta stated feeding from the outside of the pen is the safest way. As for keeping them in a barn...I hope it is sealed cinder blocks with a concrete floor. Any dirt available to them and they will be digging down and peeling the walls back on the barn to get out. You might try running an electric wire on the bottom inside of the stall to help deter digging.

 

[happy acres]

Pigs grow into hogs quickly, and continue to grow throughout their lives. They can conceivably reach 1500lbs or greater. Please be extra careful with them!