Well, my lovely gilt had 14!!!, one was stillborn but still it is a pretty amazing outcome for a pig that wasn't in-pig a couple of weeks ago (yep, I've let the vets know
).
Mum is just being so careful it is unbelievable. She seems to be fully aware of where they are and tends to plonk herself down just away from where they are. I can't get over how huge she is and how tiny they are. I have been waking up early just dreading going down to the farm to see how many are left. I just can't believe that they haven't been squashed.
I left her at about 1.30 on sun am, went back a couple of hours later and she had already given birth to 7. Russled the troops and we saw all the others. I am truly thankful we were there. One piglet got lost in the straw, one was rolled on when she changed position to pop another out, and one had a very thick sack around it. 3 piggies saved!
I'm definitely going to let all the others farrow indoors and watch them.
We have made her food very watery, to make sure she gets plenty of liquid to feed all those hungry piglets. They are in a good feed, sleep, feed routine and seem very content, so the the milk must be coming through nicely. We are playing safe with the smaller piglets and giving them some sort of colostrum boost anyway. They have yet to discover the mounds of earth properly nor are making use of the the creep area
but
fingers crossed that will come soon. 2 piglets had a good scrap today. One was pulling the other by the ear and leading it around in a merry dance.
Happy happy days
