Number of pig litters per year in the wild and hogs population in Central CA

[spectr17]

Most of the info I've read says wild hogs have 2 to 3 litters of 4 to 6 piglets every year. After seeing Kyle's from Boaring Experiences post on another forum saying it was only 1 litter per year I started asking other guides and ranch owners what they thought. They all agreed, it's only one litter year for wild hogs.

Many of the guides and ranchers I talked to also mentioned how the wild pig population in central CA is down a bit from the drought the past few years.

 

[dkhuntr25]

well i would venture to guess certain areas with different feed and climates would b different. im sure there are plenty of pigs that have 2 litters a yr

 

[spectr17]

I want to check with the TX folks and see what they say there. Any TX guides or ranchers who want to weight in on this here?

 

[shootstraight]

Been around wild pigs a long time. my observation in central ca. is all the sows will have 4-6 pigs starting in the spring and finished in early summer. Quite rare for us to see a sow with young any other time of the year.

 

[hunterdoug]

I've always heard they can have 2 litters a year but ive never seen a sow with multi generations 40 lbrs and new ones but ive seen babes both spring and fall

 

[hunterdoug]

oh and 8 to 10 is not that uncommon
if a sow is bread multiple times like a dog the more the merrier

 

[deermagnet]

piglets

Spec,

On my eastside ranch out of Redding our pigs will through 2 or 3 litters a year between 6 and 12 piglets.

I think the 2 main reasons these hogs are always ppregnant or being bred is the feed and the population of hogs. Having 2,000 acres of irrigated and tons of feed they are always fat and healthy. Private ground and management leave lots of hogs.

The way I see them is the way the breeding cycles go one year they through 2 litters and the next year they through 3.

My belief on the amount of piglets they through is related to the age and the health of the sows. We target boars and only shoot a handful of sows so we have mature healthy sows that are always throughing pigs.

4 to 6 piglets is low and may have to do with predation. From the day the piglets drop out something is trying to eat them.


DM

 

[Farmerdoug]

Here's what I know about the few domestic hogs I raise.(I have also raised a few wild ones in the past and they are almost identical). When a sow breeds, she is pregnant for about 3months 3weeks 3days(115days). After birthing, I like to wean my piglets at about 8 weeks old. After weaning, a sow produces a hormone which wll stop her milk production and dry her up. That same hormone will cause her to come back into season exactly 3 to 5 days after the piglets are gone and the milk has stopped. On the farm, we can almost predict 100% when our next litter will come. However, the X factor for the wild hog is how long will she let her piglets nurse. She may let them nurse for a long time. The longer she waits, the longer until she breeds again. Also, if she looses her litter do to weather or predators she may breed right back. I usually get two litters per year on my domestic sows. I would guess that a wild sow will probably have a litter about every 8 to 9 months do to the fact that the piglets are naturally weaned by the mother. I hope this helps. I am deffinately not not an expert on wild hogs. However, I do know a little about domestics and I believe a lot of their breeding characteristics carry over.ig-laughing:

 

[weekender21]

Sows, even in the wild, can raise 2-3 litters a year with optimal conditions. As you guys already stated above, the drought in central CA has certainly not provided optimal conditions over the past few years.
As far as the number of pigs per littler, I've seen as many as 12 little ones with a sow in the wild. By the time they are 40lb footballs, that number is usually down at least half. On the central coast I would blame this to mountain lion and coyote predation.
I have seen sows with teenagers (40lbs), and little piglets on several occasions but not once this year.

 

[shoot-it]

I blame the dfg for the big kill they did from helicopters from what I hear it was over 4500 a few years ago at del Puerto because of the golf coarse and some game preserves.The drought don't help much but the creeks still have a little mud holes.:bag-on-head: