Saturday, March 13, 2010

Farrowing crate update -- 6 live

Big mamma had her piglets in the crate this morning, I think around 7am. I checked her last at 10pm on friday, and then again at 8am on saturday morning, to find her in labor. She delivered 11 total, 6 alive and 5 dead. The dead ones were stillborn; I was there when she delivered them and picked them up and tried to get any sign of life immediately, but no joy.

The 6 alive are good as of 7pm today, and I'll post updates as we progress.

Recall that the farrowing crates are an attempt to lose fewer piglets in the first 48 hours of their life, so the next day or so is really the crucial time. Once they're past 48 hours old they are much more agile, and can get out of the way of mom when she lays down or moves.

Sorry about no picture; today was a long day. Slaughtered 2 pigs in the morning, sold another 3 in the afternoon/evening, and did a variety of other chores today that didn't get done until around now.

3 comments:

Craig said...

I guess that sow is going for sausage.

Bruce King said...

Pretty good guess. I'll write up a summary of my experience with this sow in a post.

Jon said...

Well let's hope the five stay alive!
Great info btw!