Bred??? 9 month old sow, 10 month old boar... ** Update Piglets! :)

[Hillsvale]

her hut is 8 x 8

actually if you click on our web site link and find the huts and coops link you will see the gilt when she is a baby... the hut pictured is where she farrowed, she is only here until she weans the piglets then she is back in the next pasture with the boar and the fellow scheduled for freezer camp in September

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Best of luck with them. Piglets are so much fun.

We let our sows farrow in 10x10 or 8x8 pens with an attached run so they can get some outside time.

 

[Hillsvale]

Yup.. the hut is 8x8 the run is 40x60 feet +-

hoping for the one week mark to speed up to us.. then there is less squishing potential. lol

 

[RIRs]

Very nice I will have to build one of these for my sow. I am hoping i can breed her in the next month or so shes with the boar all day but shes not letting him get dirty.

Thanks,
RIRs

 

[Hillsvale]

the new pen they moved to a month ago is about 60 x 120 +- and the one whos fence line we are clearing now will be about the same... piggy rotation!... we just moved the gilt Saturday thinking she would birth iin a week or so and wanted to settle her, guess she had other plans!

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

We do the same thing during the summer. They have alternating pens that I don't think any of are bigger than 50 x 100 and we plant beets, radishes, random field and veggie seeds in the pens while they are resting and then the piggies get to come back to them about 6-10 weeks later and have lots of stuff to root up. They are going to get bigger pasture pens during the winter but we'll have less pigs then too. We try to breed for piglets to hit the ground in Spring so that they are ready to butcher before fall and all we winter over is the breeders/keepers.

 

[Hillsvale]

well your obviously from a warm climate! lol.... our growing season started a month ago and will be done in September! I plant wheat to re establish the ground ... I have lots of grain from one of my guys who works on site here (at the real job).. he also handles the cranes unloading ships of corn, wheat and soya beans etc...and spillage is for him and he sells it to me. Last week we got about 700 pounds of corn, 200 pounds of soya beans and about a ton of wheat... great for supplimenting their feed.

We won't put our gilt into the pen with the boar until she has at least weaned the piglets, early September so if she were bred right away the next batch of piglets would be born before it got too cold (early January perhaps) failing that I wouldn't let her back with the boar until early January.... it also depends on when the third pen is punched through... then he will go to the newest pen and she can move back to number two. I am a firm believer in making sure everyone has a friend so we may move one of the castrated piglets with the boar when his current friend is sent to freezer camp and the gilt can keep the others we raise to sell.

 

[PattySh]

Congrats on your piglets. Our sow is in a 11 x 12 foot horse stall right now. She has a nest made of hay like last time. Our property is so wet this year that the piglets will stay inside until they are a bit bigger. She has a nice open window in her stall and the barn is pretty cool. She raised her last litter of 9 piglets without swishing any so hoping all 11 make it this time.

 

[Hillsvale]

Ive been stalking her snce we got home from work.... she has trenches dug all over her run to cool down.... I checked the babies, all A'OK. Willk she ever go in, peeking around the corner (I have boards across the door so the babies don't escape... well for a couple of days) ahhh, she's in... sneek up to go into pen, darn it all mommy comes out!... look 10 minutes later, mommy back in..... lesson learned, leavew her alone. I have ordered 250' netting 2' tall to run the parimeter of the run attaching it to the feild fencing so the babies don't get out and drive mommy nuts.... they will have it ready in a couple of days, here's hoping the babies don't get too ambitious before then!