The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Baswold on October 30, 2011, 09:02:38 pm
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I have a container lined out and insulated also has electricity to use as a farrowing shaed but it is only 7' x 9' would this be large enough for my sow to farrow in. As she will be farrowing the first week in December will it be too small to keep them in for 3 weeks or would they be ok to go out into a small enclosure attached for small periods of time from 2 weeks.
Thanks
Bas
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It depends really :-\
How big is your sow ?
If she has a huge litter of chunky piglets space could become quite tight, but if she's a fairly young pig and doesn't have a huge litter you might be okay.
8x8 would be about the minimum in terms of space I'd have thought, so 7x9 is close enough ;) If it's a shipping container then either use a heat light or put in a false ceiling lower down to keep the heat in.
I think you'll find they'll need out into a run after a week to 10 days, depending on the weather and their condition.
HTH
Karen :wave:
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Well, Meg's just recently farrowed in her 9' x 7' ark. She had 5 piglets (little bruisers they are!) and kept them in for the first 7 days. All are still sleeping comfortably in the ark, the piglets now being 5 weeks old.
BUT... I didn't put up farrowing rails as I was concerned about restricting Meg's space for turning around. I got away with this with such a small litter and Meg turning out to be a brilliant mum, but if you want farrowing rails you may have to put them across the narrow width (ie, 7' rails) or, better, across a corner - if your sow has a big litter you may be thankful you did make them a safe area.
The piglets will be fine kept in for 7-10 days as HH says, but were you planning on letting mum out for a stretch and forage? If mum isn't free to come and go to pasture, remember to put in a sod of turf for the little ones and/or to give them iron injections. (Meg brought clumps of earth in to her babies.) Also, if mum is being kept in too, you'll need to have some spillproof way of providing quantities of water to her; she'll need lots of water to produce enough milk for her litter.
You will need to muck out their toilet corner regularly and make sure the bedding is dry and warm - I got caught out not realising the straw which looked dry and warm was in fact wet and cold.
Meg is an OSB gilt, 15 months old at farrowing - not a huge breed and she's not as big yet as she will grow. I'm not sure how much larger she'll need to be before I think the ark isn't big enough for her to farrow in. I also don't know how many growing piglets plus sow the ark would comfortably sleep - if she had 12 or 14 piglets the size these are now, it would certainly be very overcrowded in there by now. (But I guess a litter with two to three times as many piglets wouldn't grow so fast as these 5; these seem as big at 5 weeks as Meg was at 8 weeks.)
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I have 8' x8' farrowing arks and they are large enough for farrowing, but they do have access to the pen all the time.
Watch out that you have enough ventilation in your container. Being lined and insulated I would have thought you will need to leave the door open anyway. And depending on how tall it is you might need some way of creating a grille or holes in the top at the back to get some air flow through.
Hope everything goes well. Don't forget to let us see some pictures :)
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Echo all above especially julie's comments, a steel container without air flow thro will become damp with condensation a haven for pneumonia, i would be tempted to drill some holes in the back near the roof and always leave a door open on most containers they have two doors, shut one side and put a suitable grille/gate/pallets across the opening, you will need to let your sow out 3 or 4 times a day initially to do her business, feed etc and have a little break from her babies. If you can make a secure coralle around the front of the container then once they're a week old and if the weathers not too bad you can let them all out for short bursts.
Farrowing itself will hopefully be straight forward but the aftercare is all important to make the most of your litter. its time consuming & tiring (says she who has been sat out at 10pm waiting for sows to have supper and do their stuff in minus 14 temps!!) but satisfying.
Good luck
Mandy :pig:
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Very helpful thank you all who replied.