Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Sow drying up  (Read 2843 times)

welshlass181

  • Joined Jan 2011
Sow drying up
« on: September 11, 2011, 07:52:14 pm »
I've noticed a marked difference in my sows teats over the last few days :) looks like she is weaning the piglets off which is brilliant.  Not sure if it's right but i prefer the mom to wean them off rather than taking them away.  They're 7 weeks old this Thursday and i shall be looking for new homes for them when they're 8 week old.  They're all still out in the main field together and feeding well and i went past the other day and they were down the bottom grazing with Mattee (the miserable KK sow) which was nice to see.

Happy momma is weaning them off now as i can start to build her back up to a nice weight.  Even with all the feed she was having she was putting a lot into the babies, so now we can work on her properly. 

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Sow drying up
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2011, 08:18:57 pm »
Yup, my wee sow is the same  ;)
From around 6 weeks the piglets get less and less access to the 'milk bar', she sometimes lies on her belly to prevent access but other times we've seen her send them flying with a toss of her snout  :o It's completely understandable - especially with a bigger litter (I know what I'm like with the kids  ;) ;D) Providing they're all doing well on solids I wouldn't worry. Only thing I would say though is to have them completely seperate to her for at least a couple of days before they go off to their new homes, that way you can check that they are actually completely weaned and coping with it.
Karen  :wave:

welshlass181

  • Joined Jan 2011
Re: Sow drying up
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2011, 09:28:23 pm »
Would it be easier to take her away from the herd or to remove the babies?

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Sow drying up
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2011, 10:27:43 pm »
Move the babies - at least you can carry them  ;) :D
But in all seriousness, she's integrated back into the herd already so just move them away (preferably as far away as you can)
HTH
Karen x

welshlass181

  • Joined Jan 2011
Re: Sow drying up
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2011, 04:34:04 pm »
I've got a horsebox that i can put them in for a little while until she dries up fully.  This is the only thing that i can use to keep them far away.  It's an IW 505 so it'll be big enough for 10 lil piglets :) thanks

 

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