Update on pig litter

jon f mn

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #1

Turns out I was wrong about the gilt having 19 pigs, we found 2 more dead pigs buried in the straw so she had a total of 21. Certainly way more than any other litter I've had. So that means that of the 21, 5 were born dead or got laid on and 4 were killed by the other gilt in the pen. I had to separate them to stop it. I think she thought they were competition, but we will see how she handles her litter in a couple weeks. That leaves 12 living pigs so far. Not happy to lose so many, but 12 is a good size litter for a gilt anyway and if they all grow I will be pleased. I did get time to fence off a couple corners in the pen to give the pigs a couple safe places.

I didn't remember to take a pic of the pen changes, but I closed off the corner behind the post in the second pic giving the about a 5ft by 4ft little pen and put a heat lamp in there.

 

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Hoofer B

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #2

I never heard of that many in one litter. That Case equipment must have something to do with it. Bill

 

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gene bender

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #3

THATS WHY WE USE FARROWING STALLS AND HEAT LAMPS

 

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paul

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #4

Farming is always something new to learn or see no matter what age you are!

Paul

 

EUG560

Member

Location

Scandia, Minnesota

• Jan 30, 2023

• #5

Kind of a disgusting story. Seems like an excessive amount of loss that should have been, could have been avoided with better attention to detail.

 

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Kelly in tx

Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #6

EUG560, a huge litter like that is incredible. If the sow had given birth at the best animal hospital in the world with attendants round the clock, I think several would not have made it. Further, altho harsh sometimes, mother nature seems to have a way to make sure some survive by allowing some to die. In my opinion, no sow could feed 21 pigs. There wouldn't have been enough milk and not enough feeding stations. It seems to me that sow had a Guiness World Record litter. John's pictures show he has lots of nice clean, warm straw there and a heat lamp and that's a heckuva lot more than mother nature would ever have provided. Thanks John for the info on the litter. kelly

 

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dlbuck

Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #7

X2

 

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Mark Poss

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #8

Cute little buggers I miss the old days when we raised them. A lot of work!!

 

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Bonnan

Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #9

This is an example of why many don't post on this forum........

 

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Stuart

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #10

Tell us about your farming experience

 

Tgrasher

Well-known Member

Location

South Southern illinois

• Jan 30, 2023

• #11

Never had much luck with pigs, for such a supposedly smart animal, they are really stupid. A guy tries to make them comfortable and they will do their best to thwart it.

 

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ss55

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #12

One of the advantages of farrowing groups of sows at one time is to move a few pigs from the bigger litters into the smaller litters.

Landrace was a breed to include in the breeding rotation to build up litter size, longer body length and good motherhood traits. Chester White has similar traits without the big floppy ears. Also good to mix in with meat and gain efficiency breeds.

https://www.ipic.iastate.edu/publications/410.crossbreedinghybridvigor.pdf

 

db4600

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #13

If we had a fiesty sow that wasnt keen on nursing pa would put a half shot of whiskey in her ear. Calmed her down so the piglets had an easier time.

 

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jon f mn

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #14

I'm sure that's it I'm sure! Feed raised and processed with case equipment has a better nutrient level than with other brands I'm almost certain.

 

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jon f mn

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #15

I'm always open to any advice on how to do things better.

 

SweetFeet

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #16

Awwww, cute!!

Dad always had individual pens for each hog, with room enough for them to walk around - only penned them up when they were near to giving birth. Across the back of each pen, he built a 3 ft wide partion that was the height of the pen walls... but it was raised off the floor about 7-8 inches so piglets could walk under it. Inside that partion is where he hung the heatlamps, so babies had a warm, safe place to go nap after nursing.

Sometimes a sow would still manage to lay on one, when the piglets were in the mama's part of the pen... but not too often.

 

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PJH

Well-known Member

• Jan 30, 2023

• #17

Have you ever raised hogs? No, it is evident that you have not. It is an oddity to have a litter of pigs like Jon had. Losses must be expected in a situation like this. I occasionally had a 12-pig litter, but the average was 6-8 live pigs at 40 pounds feeder pig weight.

 

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Stuart

Well-known Member

• Jan 31, 2023

• #18

What was used before that????

 

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gene bender

Well-known Member

• Jan 31, 2023

• #19

check with your protein dealer but you need lots of ground oats in her feed so she will have lots of milk for the pigs and give the pigs a shot of iron soon check with your vet that many pigs from a gilt is very unusual she must have been on a high corn ration when she was bred because the high volume of corn makes her have many eggs

 

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jon f mn

Well-known Member

• Jan 31, 2023

• #20

Their feed was about 1/3 barley 2/3 corn with soy meal for protein plus salt, minerals, and vitamins during breeding. Protein should be around 14%. I just ground again and there is some oats in this mix as well, but less barley so corn is about the same.