What have I gotten myself into?

[jade_softtail]

Sorry but I don't know how to delete these posts so I'm just changing them. I don't have the pregnant pig no more so I won't be asking anymore questions, but I do want to thank yall for helping with the questions I had. I'm not leaving this site because I WILL get my little slice of heaven back and start over again

 

[jhm47]

Just give her a good amount of straw, and make sure that it's reasonably warm in the birthing pen. You don't need to do anything to "clean" the pigs. They clean up quickly after they are born. They will immediately start to look for her udder, and when they find it, they will begin to nurse and usually fall asleep right after they get their tummies full. Each little pig usually will stake a claim to one or two teats, and will nurse on them exclusively. Baby pigs have what is called "needle teeth", and it's best to clip them within the first few hours of birth. You can use a side-cutting pliers, and just snip them off. If you don't, the babies often cut each other's cheeks, and allow infections to start. The cutting of teeth seems to be painless to the babies. You can also place a heat lamp in a corner of the pen with a barrier to keep the mom away. The babies quickly learn to go towards the light, and stay warm.

 

[jade_softtail]

Thank you so much! We are really excited for the new piglets to arrive.

 

[Royd Wood]

Wow what a Christmas pressy that would be - 15 piglets
The heat lamp and barrier is a good idea and may save a piggy from getting squashed by mum
Good luck and please keep us posted with any news

 

[debtrag]

I suggest watching and waiting until the afterbirth is passed. We lost 2 because the sow got up after she birthed 9 and moved to a new spot. We thought she was done and went into the house. In the morning we found the last 2 more had been born and did not make it.

My sig other bonded with our sows while he cared for them. They would lay down and let him rub their bellies when he messed with them in the pasture. When our first delivered he sat quietly at her backside and gently moved each one to a teat after they appeared. A sow can be deadly during and after she births so trust and companionship before the litter is born is a necessary bond to build with her.

One thing we didn't do was coat the naval (umbilical area) on the piglets with iodine/betadine when they were born and we ended up with one of the 9 getting "navel disease", a staph infection entered through the navel area when they are born. Iodine/betadine on the navel is something that the oldtimers told us later would have been a good thing to do to them at birth.

Our staph infection piglet did live with a risky treatment of nuflor (a very stong cattle antibiotic). I think my vet was on to something and I have yet to tell him that it worked, he fell ill after my kids and I took Willy to see him.

From the info I have gathered Nuflor turns an animals blood to the consistancey of syrup, so it is very dangerous especially to a young pig (he was about 3 weeks old when we noticed the problem). We gave Willy 1/2 cc every 48 hours in the side of the neck (2 cc's worth). Then we waited a week and his joint swelling in one leg came back with a vengence and we gave him 1/2 cc every 3 days (1 cc worth). He is healed now, no staph.

Hope your farrowing experience goes well. Baby pigs are great entertainment in the pasture when they start wrestling around.

 

[chunkydunk]

Id just make sure the starw or hay is clean and watch her. Now I have had 1 that I went check on and she fine showin no signs of anything the 20 minutes later my daughter comes running in saying she had her babies. And yeah if you havent had her for years and this is her 4th litter you will want to be careful extremely careful arround her when she does have them. Ive been chased out of a pen more than once by a couple of our pet pigs. They are not a safe animal when babies are there and a 300-550 plus lb sow aint no pushover either.