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- #1,841
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Thank you
Sure sorry about the rest of the litter misfitI guess I don't know much about pigs to understand how that happens.
Combination of things.
Problems:
We didnt have a heat lamp up
We over bedded the new stall(weren't expecting piglets and our pigs eat hay so normally not a problem)
We moved a pig less then 24hrs before farrow
First time mom
New stall with new bedding means we had no composting heat just cold cement under the bedding
Heat lamp obviously is a problem because its cold here like in the 20-30s at night and 50s daytime, piglets need 85-95F for the first few days.
Over bedding and a new momma with crazy hormones often means over nesting. Over nesting is an issue because the piglets will get lost in the bedding or trapped in it and get laid on or against or not be able to get to the teat to nurse.
Moving a pig so close to farrowing causes a huge stress load on the mommas, they will often abort, eat their babies, freak out on anything within reach, show obvious signs of stress such as grinding teeth, pacing, barking, jumping, restless, darting eyes, lack of appetite, etc. You have to think they have spent several weeks preparing the area they will farrow in perfectly for their babies, let the other pigs know this is their nest, know their stall mates, know their routine....then suddenly they are jerked out of it to this alien new place and often seem to freak out not knowing the threats to their babies they might find.
Obviously any first time mother of anything generally only has instinct to go on and they do make mistakes. Spot is a excellent mother to any piglets even those she didnt have and she even makes mistakes sometimes. In her current litter she laid on two of them. Honestly she tries very hard to be careful but your talking a 400+lb sow trying to keep track of 7-14 piglets that are 2-3lbs who are all swarming under and around her to get to milk or warmth. All of our sows are very good at being careful, they will walk to a new spot and slowly lay down. Giving piglets enough time to move however newborns are not the smartest and often they just dont move. So the poor momma who just had X number of piglets an hour ago has to jump back up, walk to a new spot and try again. We have watched our sows do this up to a dozen times in a row before kind of giving up and laying down. Piglets squeal bloody murder so the momma will kind of wiggle hoping they move but sometimes they can't or don't. I dont really blame the sows, they are tired and trying to lay down so slow, standing up, trying again over and over its understandable. First time mommas also often don't know exactly what they are suppose to do, they can be confused like any other animal. This tiny alien trying to latch onto you to do who knows what.
Generally for winter we use a composting floor. Seeing as it was a brand new stall there was nothing to compost to make heat.
Mostly human failures lead to the loss. We have learned, we now have heat lamps a plenty and are putting up kushing boards in the farrow stalls.
