My pig is farrowing - what do I do?

One of the consequences of keeping pigs for breeding in a highly visible location, blogging about it on the web, and posting on forums is that I’m often asked questions about livestock handling, husbandry and management.

Many of the questions that have come up of late are variations on the theme of “My pig is farrowing - what do I do?”

I’m afraid I have to put on my sensible, scolding voice at this point and say “if your gilt or sow is farrowing, then it’s a bit bloody late to be asking what to do!”

The time to think about farrowing is well before you even buy a gilt (or sow) for breeding purposes as you need to think about what is required of you, what may be required of you, what help will be available to you, and how you can handle all of those, plus major complications.

Old-hands at pig-keeping, particularly of the outdoor, traditional type, will often tell newcomers that they just leave their sows to get on with it.

Failed pig keepers, particular failed new pig keepers, will often tell hair-rising stories about how it all went wrong with blood and dead piglets everywhere while the vet was unavailable.

The truth actually lies at many points between those extremes - old hands do check their farrowing sows while many newcomers see their animals through farrowing with only one or two heart-stopping moments (events that soon become accustomed to as they realise the differences between normal birth events and dangerous ones).

So, where to start?

I’d advise all aspiring pig keepers to buy Carol Harris’ book A Guide to Traditional Pig Keeping, and say it’s absolute must to people breeding pigs for the first time. It really is that good.

The next step would be to see if there are any pig keepers who are local to you who wouldn’t mind you being present at a farrowing. If you do get the opportunity, do as you’re told, pay close attention to the farrowing itself, if they asked for help give it, and don’t criticise.

Remember that you’re there not to find out the way to handle farrowing (or the way not to, for that matter), but see how one pig keeper out of hundreds handles things while paying close attention to the actual physiological processes.

If you then decide that you can handle farrowing - especially if you’re going to be on your own - you can then go through the usual processes of deciding which breed of pig; how many many; where to house them; whether to keep a boar, use a stud boar, or go for AI; and so on.

Assuming that all has gone well,I’ll now jump ahead to the point where the sow is within a week or so of her due date (three months, three weeks and three days from the date of service).

By this point she should be noticeably wider than usual, slighly swaybacked and with an abdomen that has dropped markedly and is visible between her back legs (which is known as bagging up).

This is the point at which newcomers to pig keeping should be aware that every gilt and sow is different and every farrowing is different, so the standard advice may - or may not - apply.

The usual advice is that farrowing is imminent when:

• The vulva is swollen and becomes pink or red
• The udders enlarge and fill out as the sow comes into milk (which may be ooze out of the nipples)
• The sow goes through a last-minute nest building phase
• The sow starts to breathe heavily and contractions will begin.

However, you may get all of these indications, a mixture of them, none of them, or you may get some indications only to find nothing happens for days.

Delilah, our most recent Berkshire sow to farrow, does not go into nest building mode. She likes a large bed of straw whether she’s farrowing or not, and is always adding to it or re-arrnaging it.

Doris, another of our sows, is a definite nest builder and mounds up a huge pile of straw a few days before she’s due.

Delilah bags up weeks in advance of farrowing but her udders only begin to fill out once she  has piglets suckling on her.

Doris on the other hand bags up about a week before farrowing, but her udders clearly fill out out about 48 hours before farrowing starts.

Neither sow showed any sign of their vulva swelling or changing colour right up to the lat hour or two, while both were breathing heavily (panting) and having erratic contractions for up to a fortnight ahead of farrowing.

Before I move on to farrowing itself, I can’t reiterate often enough that you must know your sows individually and well.

Get your sows used to you (and your helper if you’re lucky enough to have one) well in advance of farrowing.

Get them used to having their bellies and hindquarters touched when they’re lying down and standing (feed times area good place to start).

And get to know the cues that they’re becoming annoyed and stroppy, so you know when to back off - or even escape fast.

But I’m still not going to let you run off and help your sow yet.

You need to consider where the sow is going to farrow.

The farrowing area needs to be dry and comfortable, with space for the sow to move (some like to walk between births), with a non-slip floor and possibly farrowing rails (although old tyres hung on walls work well - hang the tyre so there’s enough room for a piglet to stand just under the tread),

It’s also absolutely essential that there are a couple of escape routes for the pig-keeper and assistant - either through easily opened gates or by leaping over rails and walls.

If the protective maternal instinct kicks in and the sow decides you’re a threat to her off-spring, you need to get out fast and not find yourself block into a corner or up against a wall. A large, angry pig can do serious injury - or even kill - the unwary.

And I’ve run out of time. More later!