[P6te]

We have just purchased a 3 year old Oxford Sandy and Black sow who is in pig and due to farrow on (we believe) 21st May.  As far as we know she is in good health but in the 36+ hours she has been here with us the only water she has drunk is that which I have directly offered her.  Water is of course available all the time in her run but she is not venturing far from the ark.
Should we be worrying or is she just settling in and normal behaviour will soon resume??

[SallyintNorth]

Silly question - could you put a bucket of water right by her ark?

[robert waddell]

is she the only pig you have         pigs have fealings as well  how would you like taken from home and dumped in a strange place

[P6te]

Many thanks for the replies ....

Sally - yes I'd thought of that and as you'll see below I have put water right outside (the feed was placed in a trough outside too)



Robert - in adjacent runs are 5 OSB's in one and 3 GOS cross in another.  Regarding her (Elsie) having feelings, that is what I am hoping and its just the move that has unsettled her. Is that what you think is likely?  She is not eating particularly well but hopefully her appetite will return quickly??

[robert waddell]

change of feed and type pellets to nuts   big cubes to smaller nuts      some pigs just don't like travelling
have you checked her temp

[P6te]

Thanks Robert ..... I'll check exactly what type of food she was on previously and regarding her temperature, no I haven't and to be honest its not something I have done for a pig!! Advice welcome ....

She is the first sow in pig / farrowing for us so I'm sure in the next few weeks I'll be posting lots more questions  regarding that ... and then photos!

[robert waddell]

you will need a rectal thermometer     39 degrees and if it is 41.5 you are lucky you still have her

[chickenfeed]

did you buy her in from a different area to where you are may seem a strange question but we brought in a in pig gilt from up north she did not like the water down here at first so we put her on water from the tanks rather than the mains. and feed we dry feed the guy we brought her from wet fed so we had to wet feed her until she farrowed then dried it up during the weaning stage.

[P6te]

Robert - Thank you .... I look forward to checking!! 

Chickenfeed - Yes we did, we are close to M1 J24 and we bought her North Notts / Newark way.  However, the pigs are all given Well water so its not going to be our mains water giving the problem but we could give her mains and see what she makes of that.

As previously mentioned, we will check on exactly what she was being fed on before and see if we need to change for a while at least.

[JulieS]

The change of home so close to farrowing will be unsettling for her. 

As mentioned before do check her temperature, if all OK then just keep doing what you are doing and hopefully she will settle in very soon.

Good luck with everything and let us know how you get on. 

[Fowgill Farm]

I have a raging toothache this morning (dentist later aggh) so forgive me if i come across brusque!
I am tired to death of telling people not to move sows within a month of farrowing! How would you like to be 8mths pregnant and dumped in strange surroundings with strange people, i don't think so!
I would suggest you spend as much time as you can with her building up her confidence with you so she will allow you somewhere near at farrowing time also try some treats bananas, apples anything that will tempt her, milk is good if she won't drink water.
Be prepeared for her to go into protective mode when she farrows she may be nasty and she may eat her piglets as she sees you and other pigs as strangers/predators so you really need to build up that relationship with her and keep your fingers crossed that she's really a nice natured girl thrown by her current circumstances.
You also need to get ready for farrowing so have a look at the GOS website getting started article on farrowing.
Good luck hope she comes round soon.
Mandy 

[P6te]

Thank you for your replies .... appreciate what you are saying Mandy!

Now we have her we will do our best for her .... we were told, and she certainly appears to be good natured but we will invest time with her and give her treats!

[LOCHBYRE]

I have never tried this as I have never had this problem, but could you maybe add some apple juice to her water to make it more appealing 
I am sure those with more experience with this type of prob will know best but on a common sense principle I can't see it would be a prob to add some to see if that cheers her up, if she's not drinking shes prob feeling rather ......yuk and not herself anyway, I know how I feel if I don't drink enough. Make sure you disguard the water though after a day or so so it doesn't go off !!
Good luck 

[dixie]

I see you have feed outside the door for her, personally if she doesn't eat it then I would remove it and offer again later, I have a sow who is easily over faced by food, particularly late pregnancy and once piglets are older and her rations have increased greatly, little and often with tempting treats like apples or bananas. Good luck with her.

[P6te]

Thank you for the replies .... food and water is not normally right outside the ark, water was placed there last night just looking to tempt her back to drinking and food placed there this morning before the photo was taken and then put in a trough.

I have some fruit that we plan on mixing with her ration of pellets tonight mixed with warm water to make a mash that I am informed she likes!

I'll give you an update later on ......

Many thanks to all again.

ps. Mandy ... the article on farrowing at http://www.oldspots.org.uk/getting_started6.asp is excellent. Thank you.