Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Pinky farrowing

Pinky had her first litter of piglets today. She got her name because she's a perfect pink pig. She's a little vocal, being the loudest gilt (now a sow).


She's in the other farrowing stall that I constructed in this post and has about a foot of hay underneath her, to absorb liquids and provide dry bedding for the little pigs.


She's dug quite a hole in the hay.
The piglets nurse, and sleep, and cuddle up to her belly. Every now and then they'll wander around a little -- which I always find amazing at an hour or two old. All is well.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are there only six live pigs?

Bruce King said...

She had 8, one born dead. So there's 7 remaining. She's not a very big pig; maybe 280 or so, and this is her first litter. I don't usually see large litters until the sow is north of 300lbs and on her second or third litter.

The advantage is that the piglets are bigger and she'll tend to wean a high percentage. I'm hoping she'll wean 7, but that's all up to her.