[schottfarms]

I have a few intact male hogs 2.5 month old. I picked them up cheap Can they still be castrated. What about boar taint. Is that set in already? Thanks

 

[8680massey]

Had a neighbor that was a cattle buyer that would buy 2-3 year old boars. He cut them, fed them for about 6 weeks and butchered them. Said no one ever knew the difference. You should be good.

 

[rcyung]

Back in my hog days, sometimes you'd have a boar that would have offspring that would show up with a few herniated testicles. I wouldn't castrate them but feed them out to about 120 lbs live. I would slaughter them for my own freezer .Or in the summer would have a whole pig on the spit that we built. Invite a bunch of friends over...good times. Never had a problem with tainted meat.

 

[SouthernSK]

Schottfarms there is no worry about boar taint at that young age. In Europe they do not castrate males in some of the countries and butcher them as normal hogs. You can still castrate them. Make sure you use some antibiotic like penicilin to prevent infection from setting in and make your cut so the wound drains. It is also helpful to use a tranquilizer like stresnil to sedate the hog. If you do not castrate them you should butcher them on the lighter side to prevent boar taint issues.

 

[jesseb99]

We use to do the same as 8680Massey said except we would eat them ourselves. I think if we would have butchered them with out castrating them and feeding them for six weeks we would have noticed the taint, but after doing so we never noticed anything.