Why are pigs one of the most ideal animals to breed? Why do farmers include pigs in their list of animals to breed for money and business? This is because breeding pigs doesn't take up to much time and pigs are capable of producing large litters. They have a short gestation period and it normally would only require a few boars or male pigs to mate with many sows or female pigs. If you're interested in breeding pigs for business and would like to have a good and fresh start, here are steps on how to correctly and properly breed pigs:

1. Remember that you don't have to buy too many boars to breed. You can just buy a single boar, ideally a year in age, and have him breed with about 30 to 50 sows that are either housed in stalls or in a large pasture.

2. Always begin your breeding business with research. You need to know who to go to in order to buy the best boars for breeding plus the best and most fertile sows that can produce large litters that are not only healthy but that have the best qualities. You can either browse through the yellow pages for names of pig breeders or visit and get referrals from well-known stores that sell pigs and pig feeds.

3. When breeding pigs, select sows that are at least 9 to 10 months old as this is the ideal age for breeding. For the boars, you can either buy them when they're at least 8 months old if you have a small number of sows then breed them with a larger number as they grow older. Again, the older the boars are, the larger the number they can mate with.

4. Sows need to undergo physical check-ups to make sure that they have no infections or health problems that could produce problematic litters. You should also perform these check-ups to see if the sows are ready to mate. For instance, to check if the sow is ready, look at the vulva and see if it is swelling as this indicates the start of its fertility period. Young sows can be bred on their first day of fertility while older ones can begin on the next day after checking.

5. In breeding pigs, gestation lasts for about 113 days, so breed the pigs during their fertility periods until pregnancy has been successfully achieved.