Pot belly boar for heat check?

[Shawn]

Just curious if anyone has used a potbelly boar to heat check gilts and sows? Or if it would even work? I am just getting into breeding a few for my kids 4H project and having a boar around has proved troublesome. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Darin]

Chinese Meishan boars actually work really well for this. Smaller, mild-mannered and easy to handle with a really high level of pheromones so you get a strong response from females in estrus. I have a commercial farm client that has a group of half-Meishan boars just for this purpose. PM me if you might be interested in getting one.