Dinner time

[jon f mn]

Went out to do chores and found it was dinner time.

This one was this morning.

33 left from 36 pigs from 3 first litter gilts. The white ones had 16 and 13 each and the black and white one had 7. I moved 4 from the 16 litter to the black and white one which she took fine, but then laid on 3 of the 4. Guess I won't try that again. I have 2 crates set up, but the floor of one was not sloped right and water sat in it so I couldn't use it for this batch. The one with 16 had the use of the other crate and lost none. The other white one also lost none in a pen. The black and white one was also in a pen. I fixed the floor now so will have both crates ready for the next ones. After a week or so when the pigs are big enough to get out from under the sows they get moved to the pen like this. They seem to be doing real well and getting along fine.

 

[37chief]

Went out to do chores and found it was dinner time.

View attachment 83130


This one was this morning.

View attachment 83132

33 left from 36 pigs from 3 first litter gilts. The white ones had 16 and 13 each and the black and white one had 7. I moved 4 from the 16 litter to the black and white one which she took fine, but then laid on 3 of the 4. Guess I won't try that again. I have 2 crates set up, but the floor of one was not sloped right and water sat in it so I couldn't use it for this batch. The one with 16 had the use of the other crate and lost none. The other white one also lost none in a pen. The black and white one was also in a pen. I fixed the floor now so will have both crates ready for the next ones. After a week or so when the pigs are big enough to get out from under the sows they get moved to the pen like this. They seem to be doing real well and getting along fine.

 

[37chief]

That's a bunch of pigs. Do the little pigs go to any mother to nurse? Stan

 

[used red MN]

That's a bunch of pigs. Do the little pigs go to any mother to nurse? Stan

Not in general, mom is mom for the most part. If mom has more piglets than teats the “orphan” piglet will seek a food source at another mother. Then it depends if that sows piglets allow the orphan piglet to suck. Also the sow can reject it and harm the orphan. We farrowed in a 17 sow confinement house with individual crates the isolate the sow. It had an area around the sow that the piglets could roam in and gave them a get away area from an upset mother. Occasionally things would happen or a litter would be too large for an individual sow so we would “adopt” some piglets into another sows litter. More often than not the sows own piglets would eventually give up fighting off the orphan piglet at dinner time and all would be good. The sow was contained so it could not get to the orphan as long as it stayed out of biting range. Eventually the mother would also adopt it. I guess they just became used to the scent and went with it.

 

[john in la]

My cousin had a row of wire floor sow crates built over a concrete gully. At the end was a bucket that looked like a front end loader bucket. It had water dripping in the bucket from a hose. Every 12 hours the bucket would get full of water and automatically bump sending a gush of water down the gully under the pens washing all waste into a pond next to the building.
Was a pretty neat setup.

 

[used red MN]

My cousin had a row of wire floor sow crates built over a concrete gully. At the end was a bucket that looked like a front end loader bucket. It had water dripping in the bucket from a hose. Every 12 hours the bucket would get full of water and automatically bump sending a gush of water down the gully under the pens washing all waste into a pond next to the building.
Was a pretty neat setup.

Ours was built over pits. The crate areas had metal slat section on each end 3 plus foot front to back as the sow stood. In the center was about a 4 foot section of wood slats so when the sow laid to nurse the piglets would be on the wood. Gas brooders on each side between the sows.

 

[ADB-Ia]

Went out to do chores and found it was dinner time.

View attachment 83130


This one was this morning.

View attachment 83132

33 left from 36 pigs from 3 first litter gilts. The white ones had 16 and 13 each and the black and white one had 7. I moved 4 from the 16 litter to the black and white one which she took fine, but then laid on 3 of the 4. Guess I won't try that again. I have 2 crates set up, but the floor of one was not sloped right and water sat in it so I couldn't use it for this batch. The one with 16 had the use of the other crate and lost none. The other white one also lost none in a pen. The black and white one was also in a pen. I fixed the floor now so will have both crates ready for the next ones. After a week or so when the pigs are big enough to get out from under the sows they get moved to the pen like this. They seem to be doing real well and getting along fine.

Pictures like that bring back memories of the sounds and smells of the farrowing house. I always liked cattle over hogs but scenes like that make me miss it in hindsight. I mostly farrowed in a 20 stall shed. One time I miscalculated farrowing date by a week, and wasn't paying close enough attention. I walked into the alleyway of the shed in the morning to see about 100 pigs among the 20 sows. 9 of them had farrowed during the night. I was busy that morning!

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

That's a big pile of noisy bacon!

Looks great!!

Mike

 

[teddy52food]

Not in general, mom is mom for the most part. If mom has more piglets than teats the “orphan” piglet will seek a food source at another mother. Then it depends if that sows piglets allow the orphan piglet to suck. Also the sow can reject it and harm the orphan. We farrowed in a 17 sow confinement house with individual crates the isolate the sow. It had an area around the sow that the piglets could roam in and gave them a get away area from an upset mother. Occasionally things would happen or a litter would be too large for an individual sow so we would “adopt” some piglets into another sows litter. More often than not the sows own piglets would eventually give up fighting off the orphan piglet at dinner time and all would be good. The sow was contained so it could not get to the orphan as long as it stayed out of biting range. Eventually the mother would also adopt it. I guess they just became used to the scent and went with it.

A puff of hair spray on the orphan & sow's nose & they get along better!