Saturday, December 19, 2009


Three sows farrowed today in the front pasture.  These little pigs are about 6 hours old.  They're sleeping in a pigpile on top of a pile of compost.  The compost is warm, keeping the floor at about 90 degrees under this shelter, which works well to keep the piglets warm and cozy. 

Busy day today. 
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6 comments:

StefRobrts said...

Did you plan the births to happen all around the same time? I've heard some people plan their pig's litters to be ready to sell to 4H'ers in the spring.

December 19, 2009 at 7:39 PM
damae said...

So cool, what do you have in your pile of compost so that it successfully heats up.
I'm not always so good at getting the pile going, even though I often have lots of resources. Sometimes I wonder if the pile is too shallow?
thanks

December 19, 2009 at 9:11 PM
Bruce King said...

The wood chips i get get very hot the day or two after they're delivered, but then the heat dries out the compost, and i'm guessing it kills the stuff actually doing the compost, or maybe it can't get enough oxygen. So two things make it continue to cook; I take a shovefull of previous compost and dig a hole to "seed" the pile, and then i soak it with water, and then use the tractor to push it into a pile. if the pile is too small cold air will chill it and it won't compost any more until it warms up.

So i'll put down a pad 3-4' deep, about 10' in diameter, and the pigs sleep on it. Every night the pigs will root themselves a place to sleep, turning over the top 18", and this helps to keep it cooking, allowing air and water to get into the lower levels.

December 19, 2009 at 10:32 PM
Theresa said...

awwwwww ;) sooo adorable! I cant wait for my first piglets to arrive. oh, they are so darn cute. I just want to give one a kiss on its little snout ;) You are so lucky.

December 20, 2009 at 7:11 PM
goldforestfarms.blogspot.ca said...

What a great idea for winter farrowing! Good call Bruce! How many did she have?

December 21, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Unknown said...

Bruce do you ever have two sows farrow together in the same shed? We have met some people locally who say that they do but when we have tried it we ended up with a lot of squashed babies

August 9, 2014 at 6:42 PM

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