Boar (redirected from boar-sow ratio)

boar: see swine.

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boar

 or wild boar or wild pig

Any wild member of the pig species Sus scrofa; the ancestor of domestic pigs. It is native to forests ranging from western and northern Europe and North Africa to India, the Andaman Islands, and China and has been introduced to New Zealand and the U.S. It has a bristly, blackish or brown coat and stands up to 35 in. (90 cm) tall at the shoulder. Except for old, solitary males, boars live in groups. They are omnivores and are good swimmers. They have sharp tusks and, though normally not aggressive, can be dangerous. Because of its strength, speed, and ferocity, the boar has long been a prized game animal.

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boar

1. an uncastrated male pig

2. See wild boar

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boar [bȯr]

(vertebrate zoology)

wild boar

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Boar 

wild boar (Sus scrofd), an artiodactylous mammal of the family Suidae. Body length, up to 2 m; height at the withers, up to 1.2 m; weight, up to 300 kg. The upper and lower tusks, particularly large on the males, are turned up and out. The body is covered with coarse bristles, and in the winter, with a soft undercoat. Adult boars are brown; the young have light lengthwise stripes. They inhabit North Africa, Europe, and Asia. In the USSR they live in the Baltic region, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, the Volga delta, Middle Asia, Kazakhstan, Southern Siberia, and Primor’e.

The wild boar prefers forests and reeds near reservoirs and mountain forests. It is omnivorous, feeding on rhizomes, tubers, grass, acorns, the fruit of wild apple and pear trees, worms, insect larvae, snails, and small rodents. Wild boars herd in small groups and are nocturnal animals. They mate from November through January, and three or four young are born from March to May. Boars are hunted for their meat, hide, and bristles. They sometimes damage crops. Domestic pigs derived from the wild boar.

REFERENCES

Sludskii, A. A. Kaban. Alma-Ata, 1956.
Sokolov, I. I. “Kopytnye zveri.” Moscow-Leningrad, 1959. (Fauna SSSR: Mlekopitaiuschie, vol. 1, issue 3.)
Mlekopitaiushchie Sovetskogo Soiuza, vol. 1. Edited by V. G. Geptner and N. P. Naumov. Moscow, 1961.

I. I. SOKOLOV

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Boar 

a male swine animal; the swine sire. The sexual instincts appear at four or five months of age. For best breeding results, the boar should be put into service no earlier than ten months of age, when it weighs 160–200 kg. In purebreeding, the boars selected are from superior parents, the largest and most typical representatives of their breed and possessing no apparent external defects. Culling is carried out at the age of two months according to physical appearance and at six to 6½ months according to weight, average daily weight gain, backfat thickness, body length, and the plumpness of the ham area.

During the first breeding season, the reproductive capacity of the boar is tested according to the conception rate of sows and the quality of the piglets. Boars that are transferred to the main herd, which is done at about 1½ years of age, are progeny tested, that is, evaluated according to their genotype—the fertility of their daughters, the total weight of each litter at birth, and the fattening rates and meat qualities of the offspring. Such an evaluation system makes it possible to differentiate boars according to desired traits. In directed purebreeding, high-grade boars are used as the progenitors of lines based on the dominant characters of the boar—fattening rate, or meat quality, and fertility.

The quality of the semen is checked periodically. A boar produces more offspring than a sow, especially with the widespread use of artificial insemination, and to some extent affects the productive qualities of the progeny. With artificial insemination, a single boar may service 250 to 500 sows. A boar is usually bred five to seven years.

REFERENCE

Volkopialov, B. P. Svinovodstvo, 4th ed. Leningrad, 1968.

E. I. GRUDEV