[Yberllan]

Hi everyone,

Wanted to post here, to perhaps gain some clarity and generally have a bit of a vent - if that's ok, the events of this previous week have shaken me.

If you find sad stories very distressing, then maybe this is not something you need to read.

A good few weeks ago we got, a British Lop sow from another local smallholder, his wife wanted to focus on her goats so we became owners of Catrin a four year old sow.  She had reportedly had good size litters and was an excellent mother.

Catrin was due to farrow towards the end of this month, the previous owner had no specific date as she was kept with the boar.

We check the animals twice a day and thought she may be getting close - on Tuesday afternoon we arrive at the holding. Being excited I hop out and shoot in to say hello to my girls, Catrin was in a lovely farrowing pen next to one of my other girls.

I went in and was greeted with a sight I don't think I will ever forget - Catrin had farrowed, and the pen was full of bodies, and what I thought first off was lots of innards.  I must admit I ran out and vomited.

I went back in and noticed a small pinkish bundle at the back, one was alive! We moved the sow as she was very understandably distressed, she was paying no attention to the little bundle. I shot in and grabbed the piglet, was Ice cold and very floppy.

I shoved him straight in my top, and raced back to the van and cranked the heating up. To be honest I didn't think he would make it home. We got some lamb colostrum and milk replacer - it was the only option other than cows milk - right or wrong I had to try.

Over the course of the evening I kept him warm and hydrated with the milk. My husband went to sort out at the holding - he later phoned me and told me there were 19 perfectly formed piglets, plus the one curled up in my jumper!

I spent the night on the sofa with him, and by the next morning he was perking up. 

I got a playpen and he has been set up in front of the radiator.

I don't know if I have done the right thing? Wrong thing? But he deserved a chance.

We are busy researching what when wrong, whether we put her back in pig etc

We are in shock I think

[pharnorth]

Sorry to hear it. Not enough experience to help I'm afraid but I am sure others are.   

[3county farm boy]

I took a gos  piglet in once it was the runt and stood no chance after being left out in the cold but after weaning she grew just as well as the others and went on to have 5 litters
Of her own

[landroverroy]

That must have been so traumatic - what an awful thing to find.
But have you managed to piece together what happened?
Have you spoken to Catrin's previous owners and asked them if anything like that has happened before? Would you trust their answer if they say "No"?
Did you work out what had caused the deaths of the other piglets?
Could something totally unexpected have stressed Catrin to the extent that she killed her offspring?

If it's probably a once off and seems not to be Catrin's fault I'd give her another go. But obviously it's a decision only you can make.
 

[kja]

Is she registered ? has she got a tattoo in her ears ? If you have got her pedigree or can read her ear tattoo you can contact the Lop society secretary and ask for the sows breeding history it will tell you how many litters she has and and how many born in each litter and how many she raised in each litter.

[Marches Farmer]

That's a sensible suggestion.  We put our GOS sows in their farrowing pen at least three weeks before the date and keep to their usual routine.  We've never had a sow kill offspring or lay on one, but the previous owner of the farm kept 65 commercial breed pigs (Large White X Landrace) and used to move them into a purpose-built 10-bay farrowing shed a few days before they were due and would find a litter killed several times a year.

[harmony]

Do you think the sow killed the litter? You say "there were 19 perfectly formed piglets plus the one in your jumper" so I am thinking the sow didn't attack them. How long was it between your last check and her farrowing? You say you check twice a day and you found her farrowed in the afternoon.


If my assumption that the sow didn't attack them is correct then one of two things has happened. Apart from your little fella the litter was born dead or they were alive and died. Did the sow have milk? You say the one you found was cold and that could be because he was laid in the after birth ( I assume that was what you mistook for innards?)


A check on the lungs of a dead piglet would show of they had taken a breathe.


Was she distressed before you moved her. Moving her would have stressed her.


20 is a big litter even for a Lop who can have large litter numbers. Were the piglets even sized, a good size or small?




 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Very sorry to hear about this... It was the best thing you could have done for him and he is looking very well from the picture, well done! It must have been awful for you both...

[Yberllan]

Hi,

A Little update - We have been bottle feeding the little survivor.  He is now nearly three weeks old and doing rather well.  As we do not live at our land we have had him at home.  We have been feeding him the Lamlac and he is now starting to nibble a few pig nuts and some chopped up fruit.

He went down with a terrible stomach bug when he was 1 weeks old and we thought that we might lose him, but with lots of gentle nursing he has pulled through.

Its not what we saw ourselves doing, but he deserves a chance.

I have attached a picture of him. 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

He is very beautiful! Youre doing a fantastic job, well done!