Piggie update!

So far three of four sows have had their babies.  I was up for two days straight waiting on the third one to have them.  However, Daisy and I seemed to be the only ones other than the one in labor that were up and concerned as you can see from the picture below.  This was at 7 am and they still hadn't moved from where they were at 9pm the night before. 

This is a hog pile!! 

So, as most people know we experienced the wettest year in history in 2011 followed by a hotter than average extreme drought year that covered most of the US.  These hot temperatures coupled with the drought made it hard to keep a good mud hole for the sows to cool off in during their breeding time and the balance of the summer.  The first three are all first time mothers as well.  So, when you put all this together you get small litters as instincts cause the pigs body to prepare for the lack of water and food that follows a hot dry summer.  My first litter was pretty good at 8 of 9 alive.  We lost two to crushing and immediately instituted the hot box we have discussed for a while now. 

Berky 1 in labor and daisy playing midwife to the new piglets.

 My second litter was from Berky 2 and she only had three babies.  Quite disappointing.  My third litter started at 2am this morning and was Berky 1.  She started off good with the first two coming on their own.  Then after watching her push unbelievably hard for over an hour I realized we were having farrowing problems so I got my wife up and asked her to come help.  We needed to check for a pig stuck in the birth canal and being her first time I knew I would not be able to reach in without causing other problems.  

Daisy in the hot box cleaning up the new babies.

So, at 3:30am my wife came out and helped.  The third and fourth piglets were so big we had to pull them to get them out.  We waited quite a while and she had a break in her contractions and got up to move around so we went in the house for coffee.  We came back out at 6am to find she had a fifth one and cleaned (passed all the afterbirth, or placenta) and was feeding all the little ones.   So, this puts our total so far at 14 piglets for 3 sows.  Normally, even with all first timers I would have at least 20-25 and with seasoned sows I would have about 30.

Alex helping mom check the babies in the hot box.

 After cleaning up and getting Lisa on the bus we took Alex down to see the new piglets.  He was thrilled.  He actually helped me do it again twice later on in the day.  

Berkshire sow looking into hot box for piglets.

You can see momma looking in the hole of the hot box checking out her little ones.  Then she sat up to see what my son was up to!

 Alex wanted to check the piglets and pet a couple in the afternoon.  He had a blast.

Tamworth boar x Berkshire sow cross piglets.

 The hot box we made for the piglets has worked awesome.  We haven't lost or had another piglet injured since I finished it.  The piglets also pick up on it immediately once they realize it is really warm and there are others in there already.  The only good thing to the small litter numbers is that they can all eat on one momma so every time one of them lays down to feed they all come running and eat so they are gaining weight fast!

Tamworth boar x Berkshire sow cross piglets in the hot box.

I absolutely love the color pattern on the Tamworth x Berkshire piglets.  Most of them look as though they were in a diesel garage and got splattered with used diesel oil!  The two by my glove below were the two that my wife had to pull out by hand.  They are bigger than any of the others and two of the biggest I have seen since we started having piglets here on the farm.

Tamworth boar x Berkshire sow piglets. 

My son wanted in the hot box as soon as we got to the barn.  Him and Daisy both went in to check the piglets.  He then climbed up to sit on the edge and wanted a picture!

Alex sitting on the edge of the hot box for the piglets.

If anyone is reading this and wants some details on the barn setup and the hot box we built into the pens leave a message and I will get some more detail posted.  It works so well it is amazing.  The only disappointing part is that we didn't do it a lot sooner.  However, till I got the gates figured out we didn't really have room for it anyway.  With the gates in place I am able to double the pen size allowing for more room for the sow during birthing.  As soon as Daisy pigs piglets are a day old I will open the gates back up and let them out on the pasture again.  The piglets will explore but do not stray very far from the hot box when it is cold.  It is so cool to watch them all run out and eat and then immediately run back in to the warm spot!!


Goodnight everyone.  I will post pics as soon as the last litter is born!

Kenny