← Pigs H28-05 · Module 5 of 7 · Pages: 20 · Worksheets: 6

Farrowing and piglets

From heat and service through 114 days of pregnancy to farrowing, the first 24 hours, iron, weaning and clear signs for when to call the vet

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Farrowing and piglets

In short

  • Heat lasts 2–3 days and comes back every 21 days. Serve when the sow stands still under pressure on her back, and again 12–24 hours later.
  • Pregnancy lasts 114 days. Into the farrowing pen 5–7 days before.
  • A piglet arrives roughly every 15–20 minutes. If the sow strains for 30–45 minutes with no piglet, call the vet.
  • Colostrum within the first 6 hours, warmth of 30–34 °C (86–93 °F) in the creep, and farrowing rails against crushing.
  • Piglets need iron in the first days: an injection from the vet, or a turf of clean soil.
  • Castration, teeth and tails only by the rules: castration by a vet or a trained person.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. A sow's year
  2. Gilt and sow: choosing and preparing
  3. Heat and service
  4. Pregnancy: 114 days
  5. The farrowing pen
  6. Signs of farrowing
  7. Farrowing step by step
  8. The first 24 hours
  9. Piglets day by day
  10. Weaning
  11. Feeding a lactating sow
  12. Common mistakes
  13. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Service and farrowing table
  • Sow card
  • Farrowing log
  • Piglet log
  • Feed calculator for the sow and piglets
  • Farrowing calendar

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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