FOD Boar

[long_range_rob]

I thought the FC had recruited a couple of Rangers for a short term (18 month) contract to cull boar exclusively.

As ever I reserve the right to be wrong!

 

[timbrayford]

Sell the stalking rights then nothing only the big stuff will get shot, the big cheque books will come out and the man wanting to for fill a dream of knocking over a boar will be still a dream........

That's not necessarily so, what we do know is that wildlife management is too big an issue for a civil service dept. set up with the remit of growing trees to handle!

 

[paul k]

I thought the FC had recruited a couple of Rangers for a short term (18 month) contract to cull boar exclusively.

As ever I reserve the right to be wrong!

I think you might be right, my recollection is that the minutes of the council meeting noted that the FC had recruited more rangers.

 

[BearStalker]

Sorry i don't want to be clever but they not breed twice a year what do happens sometime if the sow lost the piglets in a couple of week the sow able to breed again but that still once a year...

I don't want to be a "Kill Joy", but with the mild winters we are having, here in the UK, allowing for more food to be grown, a sow will drop two to three litters each year. Now, when you figure that a sow can be old enough for breeding at one year old, and the entire ruddle come in heat at the same time as the main sow, of the ruddle, there can be a very large ruddle very, very fast.

Is it any wonder why there are so many boar?

I have heard they are, now, just south of Inverness, I can only hope I will have my FAC and rifles by the time they get up to me, in Brora.

 

[timbrayford]

I don't want to be a "Kill Joy", but with the mild winters we are having, here in the UK, allowing for more food to be grown, a sow will drop two to three litters each year. Now, when you figure that a sow can be old enough for breeding at one year old, and the entire ruddle come in heat at the same time as the main sow, of the ruddle, there can be a very large ruddle very, very fast.

Is it any wonder why there are so many boar?

I have heard they are, now, just south of Inverness, I can only hope I will have my FAC and rifles by the time they get up to me, in Brora.

Twice a year is quite feasible but three times a year?

The average for commercial units with early weaning (e.g.earlier than natural) is 2.4 litters per annum, when I used to keep Tamworths they would not come back on heat until a few weeks after weaning around 8 -10 weeks after giving birth. This gives roughly a 26 week cycle if mated successfully after coming back on heat, i.e. 2 litters per annum ish

 

[Jagare]

I don't want to be a "Kill Joy", but with the mild winters we are having, here in the UK, allowing for more food to be grown, a sow will drop two to three litters each year. Now, when you figure that a sow can be old enough for breeding at one year old, and the entire ruddle come in heat at the same time as the main sow, of the ruddle, there can be a very large ruddle very, very fast.

Is it any wonder why there are so many boar?


I have heard they are, now, just south of Inverness, I can only hope I will have my FAC and rifles by the time they get up to me, in Brora.

Hungarian Hunter is right. Wild boar normally have one litter a year. As HH wrote if they lose a litter then the may have another. If the lead sow is shot then younger sows come into heat producing young late in the season. Mild winters and over feeding give bigger litters but still only one a year. Boar management is not like deer management. How would someone who buys a night on the boar have any idea what they are shooting at at night. Indiscriminate shooting of boar leads to more boar and more agricultural damage.

 

[hoodwink]

Hungarian Hunter is right. Wild boar normally have one litter a year. As HH wrote if they lose a litter then the may have another. If the lead sow is shot then younger sows come into heat producing young late in the season. Mild winters and over feeding give bigger litters but still only one a year. Boar management is not like deer management. How would someone who buys a night on the boar have any idea what they are shooting at at night. Indiscriminate shooting of boar leads to more boar and more agricultural damage.

I think the difference in these two opinions, is down to that these are feral Boar and not true wild Boar, so I believe may well have more than one litter a year.

 

[timbrayford]

I think the difference in these two opinions, is down to that these are feral Boar and not true wild Boar, so I believe may well have more than one litter a year.

To be clear are you saying that these animals are Wild Boar/ Domestic Pig cross breeds?

 

[ileso]

wild boar will have more than one litter in a year depending on two main factors, firstly food and secondly weather.
we can hardly compare the weather in GB or Western/southern Europe to Hungary or any other Eastern and Northern countries. They arent necessarily feral pig crosses just because they breed a lot.
In the North and East summers are short and winters are harsh making it normal to breed only once. However ... from my understanding the FOD is quite a big area, there are no natural predators for boar in England and there plenty of food for them all year round and they are pretty much left alone for the most part and the winters are not comparable to those in Sweden or Hungary.. I see no reason why they wont breed twice a year...

https://www.ntnu.no/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=e2c9a9d6-cd49-4b50-95c7-cbe0ad520156&groupId=10476

 

[timbrayford]

This document is worth a read to put FOD Wild Boar reproduction into perspective http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FR_F....pdf/$file/FR_FeralWildBoarDeanCensus2016.pdf

 

[Bandit Country]

This document is worth a read to put FOD Wild Boar reproduction into perspective http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FR_F....pdf/$file/FR_FeralWildBoarDeanCensus2016.pdf

The only 'perspective' I get is that the survey in 2015 was completely off the plot and there is no evidence that the 2016 survey is any better. The Comments & Conclusions bullet points are long on comments (excuses?) and short on conclusions - other than stating the bleedi*g obvious; boar numbers are going up in the FoD. One conclusion is notable by its absence. To stabilise the boar population the FoD requires a significantly increased cull effort.

 

[Tom_Ov]

So if the population of boar in FOD does carry on increasing year on year, anyone want to educate me as to which direction the population will expand in? I'm guessing the Severn forms a pretty good boundary to the east of the forest, so west towards Brecon? Or north further into Herefordshire?

How far have they actually got now?

 

[ileso]

The boar would already be trickling out slowly already ...
Anyway it becomes very problematic if they increase to a point where food becomes a problem for them... thats when they really cause major havoc. best not to let them get to that stage.
I am surprised you guys don't organise montaria style driven hunts. Its not that difficult to bring down the numbers with high seats as well...

 

[timbrayford]

The boar would already be trickling out slowly already ...
Anyway it becomes very problematic if they increase to a point where food becomes a problem for them... thats when they really cause major havoc. best not to let them get to that stage.
I am surprised you guys don't organise montaria style driven hunts. Its not that difficult to bring down the numbers with high seats as well...

I rather get the impression that the Forestry Commission would rather hog the shooting opportunities there!

 

[Jagare]

I am surprised you guys don't organise montaria style driven hunts. Its not that difficult to bring down the numbers with high seats as well...

What are you on about ? That would mean having to socialise and have a bit of fun. Go's totally against the grain of those who will keep it all to them selves. Because they can manage boar so much better than johnny foreigner .

 

[liongeorge]

This was on Radio 4 today , worth a listen. One bloke on there seemed to know what he was talking about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080wbwy#play

 

[ileso]

absolutely spot on that they are a positive part of the ecology.
dogs off their lease going after the boar, the boar are going to defend themselves!!! ffs