The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Cosmore on October 20, 2015, 10:26:15 am
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On Sunday morning at 0400hrs our gilt became a first time mum. 9 healthy piglets born completely without any problems and keen to find the milk bar! Excellent attentive mother, I couldn't be happier! :thumbsup: .
Sister Gilt farrowed at 0200 Sunday morning 25 Oct, also first time mum, 12 healthy piglets also born without any problems and quite lively! Another excellent attentive mother, I'm absolutely delighted to say the least! :) .
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Great news Cosmore! Are they GOS x Berkshire?
Good luck with them all! What are your plans with them?
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Oh lovely. That's a great result for a gilt. Enjoy them!
Martha
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Great news Cosmore! Are they GOS x Berkshire?
Good luck with them all! What are your plans with them?
Hi Sophie, mum (and her sister the other gilt) are Tamworth x British Saddleback, the boar we put them to is a Large Black (only because we didn't want to do AI first time and the boar was conveniently near). The sister gilt is due 24/25 Oct - next weekend. We will keep 4 to raise on for meat and sell the rest as weaners to bring on for meat or whatever.
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They look very cute. Well done mum :pig:
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Lovely pics- congrats!
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congratulations they look wonderful :pig:
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Congrats that's brilliant news! :thumbsup:
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Great having piglets isn't it. I guess from your precise timings that you stayed up all night watching your gilts farrow. Who else does this? We just let ours get on with it they don't need any interference from us. I actually think that fussing about a sow while she's giving birth could stress her more than just leaving her alone. What does anyone think?
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Mine used to Farrow early hrs of the morning or late afternoon, I would always stay with them when they were farrowing In case of any problems
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Great having piglets isn't it. I guess from your precise timings that you stayed up all night watching your gilts farrow. Who else does this? We just let ours get on with it they don't need any interference from us. I actually think that fussing about a sow while she's giving birth could stress her more than just leaving her alone. What does anyone think?
I usually check every 90-120 minutes when I'm expecting a sow/gilt to farrow, and once I've seen that the first one has made an appearance I stay with them for the rest of the farrowing. I stay until mum has been up, drunk, been to the toilet and laid back down.
When I say 'stay' this can be anything from waiting outside their 'delivery suite' (90% of the time) to kneeling with mum, to swinging weaners or being arm deep and fishing for pigs!
Everyone will do it differently, I keep 80+ sows and have experienced massive losses from crushing and cannibalism before, and have also lost sows, so it's worth it for me to stay with them.
Naturally the ideal is for each to farrow with no assistance/interference, but I believe that I don't add additional stress to their experience. I think each situation needs a different approach depending on both pig and keeper.
:pig:
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Our sows farrow in a sty they've been in for at least three weeks beforehand and I put the infrared lamp on at night several days before the litter is due, so they're used to it and it allows me to see what's happening from outside (the sties have wide doorways with cear warehouse strips. I like to be around if possible and we've never lost any piglets due to crushing or cannibalism but did have an interesting farrowing when a sow farrowed in the middle of the night when there was a bitter North wind blowing - she had a big litter and ended up with four of us in the sty with her - one fixing up another infra red lamp, two drying off piglets and me with a piglet that had managed to wander outside before we got there and got chilled - I wrapped it in a towel and stuffed it inside my jacket for half-an-hour and it was fine.
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I would always be close by with a good book, leaving well alone but ready if all was not well.
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Well, with all the livestock I've kept, I've never left anything to chance, especially with 'first timers'. I was fortunate many years ago to have a farm vet as a friend, he taught me how to deal with animal birthing problems, I am forever grateful to him! I note the change in behaviour patterns approaching the event and make sure all is prepared, you can tell when things are pretty imminent. Having had to deal with malpresentations in goats, malpresentations, retentions and stillbirths in sheep, I'm acutely aware that sadly things can go wrong, I would never forgive myself if I lost a mother through non attendance. I keep quietly in sight of the animal and observe how things progress, only intervening if and when really necessary. Most times things go quite naturally without any interference from me - but I'm there just in case. But also for me, when it all goes naturally and without problems, I have never tired of the wonder and joy of watching the newborn arrive and take their first feed with the mother 'talking' to them.
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1st lot now 2 weeks and 1 day old :) .