Fencing

Long narrow nose – Fencing is one of the major costs for pasture producers, 5 wire electric fence is the most effective and easiest to maintain. Pigs will try dig and push soil along electric fence lines and when current is no longer flowing through the fence, they can escape. Most of our domestic pasture pig breeds have short flat faces, this is not only beneficial for fencing as they have difficulty digging and burying fence lines, but this structure is perfect for grazing on pastures. Designed for digging, the Eurasian pig’s long narrow long nose will easily dig under and destroy electric fences.

• Eurasian pigs require a second solid fence, either 7ft chain link or double height welded wire hog panels.
• Install a chain link or welded wire fence at least 12 inches below ground level to prevent digging under.
• Eurasian wild pigs will ram and damage fences more frequently resulting from a higher level of stress under containment.
• Fencing costs and annual maintenance is significantly higher than domestic or heritage breeds.

Slow Growth Rate

Eurasian wild boar have a significantly slower growth rate to domestic or heritage breeds. It may take an additional year to raise this breed to a marketable butcher weight. Due to the slow growth rate, they will also be much smaller at reproduction age and will only produce small litters. Feed is one of the most expensive costs to raising livestock and continues to increase. Raising Eurasian wild boar or crosses will add significant costs not only due to the additional feed costs, but also during the same time a domestic or heritage breed would be able to produce an additional litter of piglets. This means you will need more space (and housing, fencing, water sources, etc.) to separate and raise Eurasian wild boar for that additional year up to marketable butcher weights. For this reason alone, most Eurasian wild boar farms went bankrupt.

Low Productivity

Eurasian wild boar have a small reproduction rate of around 5 piglets compared to domestic or heritage breeds which will commonly have a dozen piglets. For this reason, it is significantly more expensive to raise and keep sows for reproduction.

Poor Fat

Eurasian wild boar have a different fat structure than domestic or heritage breeds. They have very little internal fat within muscles but a thick outer layer. This produces a drier less desirable meat product with a poor carcass for bacon. During processing, the thick outer layer of fat that is removed ads to the decreased value of the carcass.

Poor Muscle

Eurasian wild boar have a different bone and muscle structure than domestic or heritage breeds. They have increased developed of neck and rib muscles designed rooting, and less throughout the rest of the body. They have a small pork chop, a small tenderloin, and a narrow bony smaller ham. These are key primal cuts to consumers. Due to a lack of key primal cuts Eurasian wild boar have a very poor yield and are less desirable to consumers. Additional feed and housing expenses to get to this marketable weight will require higher priced cuts.

Feral and Aggressive

Eurasian wild boar are very aggressive. For this reason, handling or even daily feeding of this breed can be dangerous – this is a trait of the breed. The raised alert ears result in a high level of stress associated with noise; especially when compared to heritage breeds such as Large Blacks that have drooping ears. A breed that is easily agitated from human presence and stressed will feed less, grow slowly and be more prone to disease. They require a much larger area with shelter to conceal themselves. This aggression, especially sows with piglets does not allow farmers the opportunity to remove canine teeth from piglets. These canine teeth will form into sharp deadly tusks that Eurasian wild boar use to attack by jabbing up into the upper thigh potentially severing the femoral artery, which is usually fatal. Canine teeth in other heritage breeds are less of an issue because they are more docile and easily trimmed at birth, but also are only visible at around 18 months of age, well beyond their marketable size. Due to Eurasian wild boar growth, rates they can have well developed tusks by the time they reach marketable weight and therefore handling at this time can be very dangerous.

Lifestyle

Raising your own food for table is meant to be an enjoyable and rewarding practice. Heritage pig breeds with their shorter flat faces allows for grazing of forages, which provides a niche grass fed product highly sought after by consumers. Making use of pastures during the summer greatly reduces feed costs as well. The docile behavior also makes them easy to handle. Eurasian wild boar with their long noses and aggressive behavior is not suitable for pasture grazing, within a day they will root and destroy an area leaving it bare an unproductive. The constant risk of escape makes for poor relationships with neighbors and the community. The aggression and dangerous tusks means living on-guard and overall a unsettling and distressing livestock to raise.

Overall Eurasian Boar make poor pasture pigs. They are not a viable option for a first time pig producer. Eurasian wild boar and their hybrids play a greater role in the establishment and spread of wild pigs relative to domesticated breeds. This has resulted in some provinces, such as Ontario introducing new directions to phase Eurasian wild boar and their hybrids out of the province by 2024.