The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: The_Hawthorne_Pack on July 11, 2018, 03:35:35 pm
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:pig: We have an in-pig sow in a large free range pen with other pigs (two other sows and a boar). Should I separate her and when? :pig:
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I am not an expert by any means but I let my girls free-range and there are enough houses so that I do not need to separate them I just close the ark off when one girl starts to farrow. My girls are in sync naturally so they tend to farrow within a few days of each other and after the first few days of lockdown they end up creching their piglets and sharing mothering duties. So far this has worked well! I read a lot about natural pig keeping and its worked for me. My pigs were raised together though so they have their hierarchy well sorted and they do not fight so its all fairly simple. when I did try to separate them first time round they got stressed so I let them in together and everyone was much happier. I guess you just have to do what works for you and your pigs. I have had pigs for only 5 years and this is just my own experience, hope it helps!
I would personally never have the boar in with the girls until after weaning and then they all hang out together quite happily but the piglets at this stage have been moved to other quarters for fattening!
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Due to circumstances i often have a sow farrow in a pen of multiple sows with the boar and multiple arks.
I'm trying to move away from this situation however as we lost a lot over winter and not entirely due to the conditions.
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Thanks to both of you for your replies. I will leave my pregnant girl in with the others, then, unless I find there are any problems. I am wondering, greenbeast, if you mean that the little ones get squashed, bullied or eaten by the adults? I only have the three sows and a boar together and there is plenty of space for them, so I will maybe put up some more arks in the far corners so that when she farrows, it might be farther away from the others until the piglets are big enough. I could always temporarily fence off an area also, so thanks for sharing your experiences.
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I have seen other sows and the boar going in the ark to have a nosey, or looking for a bed, obviosuly the incumbent new mother does not appreciate this and 2 or more adults in an ark with piglets is a recipe for disaster. Never strictly witnessed fatality due to this but i can't believe it hasn't happened.
An additional problem i had was piglets from one sow a month old already, pushing new piglets aside to get to the new mother's teats
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Get your self some pig hurdles and when they farrow just section off the ark with mother and piglets in for 7 to 10 days then remove the hurdles and everything will be fine.
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Get your self some pig hurdles and when they farrow just section off the ark with mother and piglets in for 7 to 10 days then remove the hurdles and everything will be fine.
You look like you have wild boar Jimmy 84 which tend to get on with farrowing like they would if left to roam wild. My pigs would not be contained with pig hurdles.
I know people manage the farrow in groups and successfully, even on quite a large commercial scale but generally speaking farrowing a sow in a group of dry sows and a boar isn't the best option. It could be a very stressful time for the pig, piglets and the owner. Equally, it might be OK.
The biggest problem I see is trying to increase the sows ration without the other pigs pinching it.