[mowhaugh]

Doreen, our Large Black Sow had her piglets in the early hours of this morning  .  She had 11, 3 were born dead, 2 of these were teeny tiny, the other had no visible problems, but we have 8 delightful wiggly little creatures.

I am surprised to find I am finding it REALLY stressful, I am so anxious about it all, not helped by the fact that Doreen doesn't want us any where near them and I just want to check they all have full tums, but am resisting and letting her get on with it (she did let me do the initial iodine and so on OK).  This is quite bizarre for me as I am used to feeling confident with animals and their young, but not in this case - thank goodness for HappyHippy on the phone!

I thought I had taken hundreds of photos of them, but for some reason they won't load from my camera  , will try again tomorrow.

[Daisys Mum]

 

[Sudanpan]

Way to go    hours of fun 
 
 

[Fowgill Farm]

Many congratulations, so long as they have full tums and she & they all seem happy don't worry.
I sometimes think farowing IS more stressful for us owners thanits is for the pigs but it just means we care
Enjoy!
Mandy

[Rosemary]

Fabulous - congratulations to you and Doreen  and a big  for supporting Large Black pigs.

[pin]

How wonderful! So sorry you lost a few, she lost two last year, stillborn. They have such a long way to go down the birth canal and if the cord stretches they don't get enough oxygen. Still 8 is great, we found 11 to be a handful.
Doreen is a fab mum and you can safely leave her to get on with it. We did find her very protective but separating her while she eats gave plenty of time for checking on babies. Especially later when she had to eat so much food we had loads of time!
Looking forward to seeing pics, beautiful little elephant piggies!

[mowhaugh]

and a big  for supporting Large Black pigs.

That's the easy bit, they are an absolute delight!

Photos now on a separate thread.

I am feeling a bit more relaxed about it now, (just a little!) and Lynne, visitors are most welcome!

[pin]

Yay! Thanks, will make plans. X

[waterbuffalofarmer]

When our large black had piglets she tried having a go at me, so I had to go into the building with a board.
Since then she has become very docile. The thing is we bought her whilst she was in pig.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I had a large black pig many years ago, a gilt in fact, and she gave birth to 11, one died, I don't know how, it was fine and I never found the dead piglet either,very suspicious , she reared the other ten piglets very well. The last sow we had gave birth to gave 8 and reared them all.