There’s truly never a dull moment on our farm. This week, we’re waiting on one of our sows to deliver her piglets. As I write this, her due date was a couple of days ago and usually our pigs are quite punctual in this regard. But she has surprised us this time.
She sure looks like she’s ready to go. Her teets are engorged and her vulva swollen. The thing we’re looking for now is called nesting – a sure sign that we’re just hours, instead of days, away.
Watching a pig nest is fascinating. We’ll know she’s started when it looks like she’s suddenly developed an actual, certifiable obsession, with collecting bits of straw, grass, and sticks.
She’ll open up her mouth as wide as it will go, and collect as much bedding material in her mouth as she can. And then she’ll make the trip back and forth to her chosen spot to drop off the scavenged materials and arrange it all just so.
Nothing will distract her for a few hours. And then, at some point, she’ll be ready (or maybe the piglets are finally ready?) and she’ll lay down, roll to her side, and enter the trance of labor.
We always hope for litters of about 8, though we’ve had litters as large as 17 and as small as 5 before. We won’t know how many piglets there are until she’s done. And even then, some loss in the first 24-48 hours is not uncommon.
It’s cold and wet with blowing snow as I’m writing this morning. Having already checked on her 3 times already, these are the exact conditions that make delivery a little more complicated and farmers like us a little twitchy.
But, you know us. We’re prepared. We moved her into the high tunnel (unheated greenhouse) where she’ll be a lot more cozy than if she were in a hut in the open air. And we’ve made sure the heat lamps and the new heading pads are on. Now, we wait….
PS – About 24 hours after I wrote this newsletter, we watched this happen (PLEASE DON’T CLICK if you’re at all squeamish about birth or nature and/or aren’t interested in watching piglets be born)
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