two important things to know before your sow gives birth

The story of piglets on our homestead is one with a sad beginning and a happy ending. If you do not want the whole saga, scroll down to the second heading entitled “Time of year + bedding”. Either way, read on to discover two important things to know before your sow gives birth.

The story of our piglets

Our sow gave birth October two years ago. She had nine piglets. They were adorable, of course. “Like over-stuffed black burritos” as my son says.

However, after about a week after they were born, we found one dead.

It was heartbreaking. This seemingly perfect little piglet, just dead in the hay where it slept and nursed from its mother. There were no marks on the piglet to show us what had happened. We assumed it was a fluke and disposed of the poor little carcass. (Around the same time, we noticed the runt was not getting milk from his mother. We named him Wilbur and started feeding him raw cow’s milk with a baby doll bottle.)

Sadly, the next week we found another dead piglet. Then another a few days later.

All we could determine was that the mother pig was laying on her piglets and smothering them. So we moved the piglets into a pen of their own next to their mother. The process was a bit scary and dramatic because the sow would charge us if she heard her piglets squealing. But we accomplished it. We assumed that all would be well and the remaining piglets would grow strong and healthy.

We were wrong.

A week or so later we discovered yet another dead piglet in the hay where they slept. We thought that perhaps they were cold at night and had piled up for warmth, squishing the unfortunate sibling at the bottom of the pile-up. Our conclusion was to add more hay to the pen so they would be warm and wouldn’t have to lay stacked together for warmth.

However, we continued to find dead piglets. One after another until we were left with just one. (Side note- Wilbur got out of the pen somehow and was never seen again. We still joke that he is perhaps living his best pig life somewhere in the woods.)

The one piglet that remained was the largest, Porkchop, who is still with us today.

After all the trauma of so many dead piglets, we consulted guinea hog experts, talked with friends who have pigs, and did more research to figure out what we did wrong. Our second batch of piglets has been a success and we have not had one piglet casualty.

Time of year + bedding

When we had the opportunity to meet with local guinea hog farmers, they assured us that piglets do die sometimes. Part of farm life includes death, even when we don’t intend it. They also told us that it is harder on the piglets when they are born in the fall. Because it gets increasingly cold, the piglets will pile up for warmth and smother one another.

It is good to give pigs hay or straw for bedding. This is especially true here in the Pacific Northwest where we have lots of rain and mud. However, giving too much bedding will cause the piglets to suffocate easier because they can create a hole in the hay and then pile in, killing the piglet at the bottom.

With our second batch of piglets, we only provided the sow and piglets with a thin layer of straw rather than heaps of it. The conclusion: regardless of the time of year, do not give your piglets too much bedding.

The easy fix that will save piglet lives

Although we had talked with friends who had sows that had given birth before, it was not until after our piglet fatalities that we learned the most important thing. You must provide a place in the pen where the piglets can escape from the sow.

I know this seems strange. You assume that the piglets ought to be with their mother all the time- nursing and cuddling up for warmth. But the truth is, the sow will lay on her piglets and often suffocate them if they cannot get to a place of their own.

Some people build small, short shelters that the sow cannot fit into. We simply connected a piece of wood across one side of the pigs shelter. We made it low enough that the mama pig cannot get in.

Another important use for this area is to feed the piglets their own feed. Piglets become interested in the pig feed very early. However, the sow will eat the piglet’s feed along with her own. But if there is an area that the sow cannot get to, you can put some feed in there for the piglets to access without the worry that their mom will eat it all before they can get to it.

I hope these important things to know before your sow gives birth will help you to have a successful, healthy batch of piglets…

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