Getting the right balance
Hi everyone thanks for your kind welcomes in the introduction section on this site. Well over the Christmas period my sows gave birth, average litter is 8 / 9 which I am pleased with. My only concern now is crushing and the cold.
In each of the pens I have installed a mini pen with roof and heat lamp and straw for the piglets. I also have bars going around the perimeter of each pen to stop crushing against walls. The pens measure 2.5m x 2.5m so I think there is plenty of room. The pig house is basically a converted barn in which I have built 26 pens (solid floors) (1 per Sow), due to the large space however the heat from the pigs does little to heat the space (being in Northern Spain this is a good thing in the summer) and so when its cold outside its cold inside. During farrowing I have a lamp on the mother and in the mini pen however as my lamps are run from a generator (there is no mains power) they are very costly to run (approx 12 euros a night in fuel). I have measured the temp inside the mini pens with no lamp on and they are around 10c. For the first 2 nights I have kept the lamps on all night however 4 piglets were crushed in the first night and 2 in the second. I have been visiting throughout the night and it would appear that the piglets like to sleep next to the mother (even when the lamp is on !!!!) I have put down a good layer of straw for the mothers and I am thinking that the piglets would rather this than their place
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So my questions are
1 – Shall I remove the hay from the mothers area so as the piglets prefer to remain in their area thus reduce crushing risk?
2 – Will the piglets die if I leave the generator off (temp 10c)
Many thanks