PIGLETS!!!

[Pamela]

Today was the big day. I went out and checked on our mama pig at 9:30 this morning and could tell that she was not well. She tried to get up to greet me and then just laid down with a "it's just too much work" look about her. She was breathing funny, kind of like she would inhale, hold her breath, and then groan it out. Labor was upon us! So I waited. . . and waited. . . 1:00 pm, nothing, 3:00 pm, nothing. I could see her contracting and trying to push, but I am a chicken and wasn't about to get in the pen with her! By 3:30, I was really nervous and told my son that I expected the worst. It just felt like this was all taking too long. He and I walked out to check, and BAM! 2 piglets, on the ground! They looked great and were already trying to nurse. Then we waited, and waited some more. 5:30 no more piglets and my husband gets home and walks out to check. BAM! there are 2 more! Crazy! Anyhow, we get busy drying them off, which was good because before we knew it we had 4 more. Holy Cow! Then, sadly we had 2 stillborns. The second stillbirth was quite nasty so I figured if there were more behind it, they would be dead too. But NO! She surprised us again with 2 more live wriggly piggies! So in total we have 10 out of 12 currently healthy, happily suckling piggies. Mama pig is talking to them and chilling out. The first 2 have claimed their tit and won't budge off of them! This is going to be some adventure!

 

[Ferguson K]

Oh my goodness I just want to squeeze them!!

Ahem. I am an adult.

Adorable little piglets. Congratulations on ten live births! Big litter!

 

[Latestarter]

Congrats on the 10! That's great! What are you going to do with them? It's kind of late in the year to start raising young pigs, isn't it? I always thought that was something one did in the spring... Like look great.

 

[babsbag]

Cute little things. Are they born with eyes open and up and running around or are they like pups and kittens...totally helpless?

I know nothing about raising pigs but if she were a goat I would give her some antibiotics since she had some still births and one was "nasty. But she isn't a goat, obviously, so will she be ok without meds?

 

[Pamela]

I think you can raise pigs year round. Pigs are not seasonal breeders, they cycle every 3 weeks. We have another pig that should farrow in about a month, then we will have both mamas in with the boar. Then the boar will be turned into sausage (current plan) and we will wait on another batch of piglets.
Around here, weiner pigs (6 weeks oldish) sell for about $100 a piece. These are meat pigs and will go to the sale between 6-8 weeks, unless the auction price is down, if that is the case, we will craigslist them. There are already 3-4 people wanting one.
Piglets are pretty amazing. These ones were looking for teats within minutes of being born. Their eyes are open and they move pretty well.
I have wondered about a shot of penicillin for mama. The piglet that was nasty was what is considered a 'lepto' pig. Unfortunately, many gilts and sows in our region have leptospirosis. This is taken care of by vaccinating 2-4 weeks before breeding. However, we are new to breeding pigs and didn't get her vaccinated until about half way through the pregnancy. My s-i-l, who is also our breeder, lost 30 piglets to lepto the first year they had it. YUCK. It was a heavy loss both financially, and emotionally for her. I am grateful we only had 1 out of 12 that were affected. In the future all of our gilts and sows will be vaccinated BEFORE exposure.
The other piglet who was stillborn was completely normal looking. My husband thought he heard a heartbeat right after birth, but despite his best efforts, he was unable to revive it. This piglet came right before the lepto piglet. The 2 after were good, a little slow to get started, but vigorous this morning.
Our remaining gilt is a month behind mama pig. So she had the vaccine earlier, but still not before exposure. Hopefully she will do as well.

 

[babsbag]

Thanks for answering my questions. I had no idea that pigs could get lepto, especially in utero. I have raised a few that we bought at about 7 weeks, but other than that I am clueless about breeding pigs. I am pretty sure it is not a hobby I will ever undertake but always curious.

Hope the next sow does well too.

 

[secuono]

All piglets choose their teat and defend it. Normal.
Don't try to force them to use other teats, may not end well.

Even when you wean and sell some piglets, you will notice that the remainder of the piglets will use their individual/personal teats while the rest dry up. They never change teats.

 

[goatgurl]

wow, @secuono you taught me something about pigs choosing teats. guess that's why is isn't good to be sucking the hind teat. I'm kind of like babsbag, I've raised a lot of pigs from weaning on but frankly I'm afraid of full grown pigs and would be scared to death of a new mama so I've never ventured into that part of animal husbandry.

 

[Pamela]

I'm pretty afraid of full grown pigs too. This mama is about 400 lbs, and she is the smaller of the 2 gilts! She has been so good though. She did step on 2 of them yesterday. I think 1 will make it, but the other died a few hours later. She was very unsettled after that, and very concerned about that baby. I kept moving him away from her and under the heat lamp and she kept moving him back to her side. Once he died, she pushed him up in front of her (she is in a farrowing crate) and stood up and waited until I came out and removed him. Then she relaxed and laid back down to continue mothering her little family. So interesting.

I didn't know that about the tits either. So many fun things to learn!

 

[Baymule]

Piggies! They are so darn cute! We are getting 3 weaner pigs next week. They are blue butts, one for us, one for a neighbor that helps us tremendously here and one for another friend. We will split the costs, then butcher in the spring. So excited! You have a fine litter there!