Update on the expectant mum
27 11 2006Delilah, the expectant Berkshire gilt, is now vast and bagging up, which usually happens only a day or two before the piglets are due.
Bagging up is the term used to describe when the pig’s udders drop and can be seen hanging between its back legs.
Delilah is not producing milk yet, but her udders are bigger and her nipples leak clear pre-colostrum when squeezed.
As she’s been like this for a couple of days already, we suspect she’s just making the most of having a pen and huge straw nest to herself, getting back rubs with a curry comb, and several apples a day.
She’s a very happy pig at the moment!
While piglets generally take 116 days from conception to birth (plus or minus a couple of days), it’s impossible to know the exact date of conception.
We know the boar serviced her on her first day in with him, but that doesn’t mean she conceived.
So all we can do is work on 116 days from that date, which gave a date of last Monday, and then wait and see…
Well it is definitely not a “boaring” time Stoney….. we will just have to wait until the PIGLETS them arrive.
Make the most of it Delilah,rest whilst you can, you’ll soon be a milkbar for lots of itty-bitty piggies!
My S.O. and I were much admiring Delilah and being the architect-types that we are, our minds went right to wondering what size Delilah could possibly be, since the scale is questionable in the photos. We estimated based on the cmu’s in the background of the first pic that she might be 48″ or (3) 16″ cmu’s in length. Might you oblige us and settle our guestimations? Answers in metric will suffice, since I have a handy-dandy conversion calculator. I know what you’re thinking, “silly Americans”. One day, we’ll learn. They threatened us since grammar school with the universal metric system, but it never came to fruition.
Delilah is 59 inches (1.49m) long , 28 inches (0.71m) high at the shoulder and 31 inches (0.79m) high at the hams. I can’t tell you her circumference as she decided to lie down halfway through the measuring session!
I switch back and forth between metric and imperial without thinking about it - much to other people’s confusion! When I started school in Australia everything was imperial, then Australia switched to metric while I was still at school. Then I moved to the UK more than 10 years ago and discovered no one can decide whether it’s metric or imperial, so some things are one, some things another and some are a mix. Plus things get changed.
It makes finding plumbing fittings that fit existing pipework a right pain in the a***!
Oh, and nearly forgot my old Land Rover. It was built when Land Rover was changing from imperial to metric, so the left-hand side is largely held together with imperial bolts and the right-hand side with metric! Yes, true and infuriating although as I replace bits I replace everything with metric where I can (captive bolts are also a pain in the proverbial).
Thank you kindly! I’ll share with the S.O. He loves pigs (to look at and eat), but is quite unsure about my recent yearnings for a farm. Your place sounds down right fabulous. I’m sure the trials and tribulations are well worth the effort. Interesting note on the Land Rover.
What news on Delilah? have i missed the Birth, i was so looking forward to it, you’ve not mentioned her for a few days now?
She’s keeping her trotters crossed!