FURTHER LIFE OF PIG KEEEPING
New arrivalsMonday 3rd September 2012 saw the arrival of a brand new litter of beautiful Tamworth piglets, all 11 of them “Bonkers” surely had done a great job. Mrs Pig helped as well.
The downside was 4 fatalities Mrs Pig was a new mum and a bit clumsy.
I’d noticed her rather rotund figure during the week and had taken the precaution of moving her on the Saturday to the “Farrowing Shed” to give her some space & privacy; she duly started to produce early on Monday morning. I checked before work at 0600hrs and found to my surprise 2 new arrivals only! Help what I do, the only thing possible. Go to work and let her get on with it.
After work, big rush home, down to the field look in the shed to find 7 healthy piglets, well done mum. Then on further examination I discovered 4 squashed corpses.
New mums are clumsy; fatalities are often inevetivable when not you’re not in attendance. Not that Mrs Pig would countenance my presence which would put the new born at risk. So I think the best course of action would be to let her get on with it, making sure the accommodation is dry, large, clean, little straw at this stage, plenty of water, food and very importantly secure from other pigs. I’ve found this out to my cost!
So 3 days later the newly arrived piglets are thriving, loads of grunting when they are feeding, she’s feeding like it’s going out of fashion, still banged up due to the presence of the other pigs in the shared paddock, which I’m now in the process of dividing up by fencing off one half. Should be done by this afternoon, freedom for Mrs Pig.
Topic: New Arrivals (Read 1250 times)
