Young gilt pregnant

I haven't posted here in awhile due to business but I've been around... and now I have a question. Our young mulefoot/tamworth cross, one of Ginger's piglets, is pregnant! She is showing in her belly and teats already... the problem?

We didn't breed her. She was in an enclosure with her non-castrated brothers until they were 5 months old and the brothers were removed after. I didn't think pigs could get pregnant that young... but alas, she is 8 months old now and ready to give birth in another month or less... most of what I read about pigs said they don't really take to pregnancy until usually 9 months old so we didn't remove the boars since we didn't expect anyone to get pregnant.

So problem 1: One of her brothers impregnated her... is inbreeding dangerous for piglets (i.e. birth defects or other problems)?

Problem 2: I'll get a picture later, but is it dangerous for an 8-month (will be 9 months when she gives birth) to give birth? Her mother and our other two sows were much older when they had their first piglets.

Was really surprised this morning when we saw her suddenly showing signs of pregnancy.

I am not sure
@Ferguson K @misfitmorgan

Ok so I don't know if this is true for all pigs breeds. But the breeder we got our gilt from said she will be able to carry between 6-9 months but it is better to wait. She also said sibling breeding is ok, but linebreeding is not which I found very interesting. How big is she compared to her mother? Size is a big component when a young animal gets pregnant. If you are unsure you can call your local vet and ask for advice. I hope she farrows without difficulty. Good Luck and keep us updated!

Thanks for that info.

I can't remember the size of our other three pigs when they had their first litters, so I'm not sure I can compare, but when I get the picture maybe other people will have an idea.

When domestic pigs go ferral, they females get pregnant at the first oportunity being by their father , brother or whoever happens to be there. Now there are millions of them running around all over the country. As to the inbreeding or linebreeding ... just how do you think purebred animals of any species ( dog, cat, horse, pig, etc. ) are produced ? That is how creation of a new line or species is created in the wild . : idunno

Pigs can and will breed as young as 4 months old. Commercially most pigs are bred at 6 months by AI and do fine. It really depends on size most full size pigs can safely be bred at 200lbs+ as they will be 250lbs+ when farrowing which is generally a good size for a first farrow. The only big concern for her would be if her bone structured developed enough to carry the piglets. Most non-commercial pig farmers go by weight and skeletal size.

As far as linebreeding or inbreeding that's typically personal preference, truely unless you are breeding registered show pigs for development of your own breeder stock it makes no difference. Until you get to the 3rd inbreed/linebreed there is no noticable difference in litter mortality/size/number/fertiility...etc.

I would say she is likely to farrow in 3 weeks or less. If brothers were removed at 5 months and she is 8 month thats the first 3 months min done...so leaves 3 weeks or less for the latest possible settle date.

Yep! Still trying to find that camera. I misplaced it a few months ago.

I believe she is in that 200+ pound range, at least... she is now anyway! We're checking her sister for any signs of pregnancy as well just in case.

you can do the heart/length measurement to get an estimate on her weight.

http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/541/weighing-a-pig-without-a-scale/

Okay so... she had her piglets today.

Completely unexpected. This morning she ate and laid down in the dirt and hay outside... I checked her for milk this morning and there was nothing... We left for 3 hours and came back to 4 baby piglets! They were already dried off and were nursing. Three blacks, 1 orange (our first non-black piglet in all of our litters!!), two males and two females. They are adorable, but tiny. Likely because their mother is small. She seems to be done having contraction and already passed the afterbirth before we came back. Her brother and sister were with her and were lying down next to the piglets and leaving them alone (fortunately).

These piglets are only a few hours old but seem very strong for their small size! They're walking around and climbing over mommy and just being generally adventurous!

We had to move them because we had a storm moving in and didn't want them to get soaked (it's only 70 degrees out as it is which isn't quite the temperature newborn piglets need). That was an adventure in and of itself. Mama pig is VERY hungry and couldn't decide between chasing after us while we moved her piglets and chowing down on food. Eventually we got her in and she finished eating, laid down, and began to nurse.

She has milk in only a few of her teats but with only four piglets she has more than enough!

I'll get pictures soon!

Ahhhh, how exciting! Congrats on the new little ones!