Farrowing sows and gilts

I often read on Facebook and bulletin boards of people having trouble with sows or gilts having pigs.  This blog is about some of the experiences and things I do to prevent this problem and if you have the problem what you might do.  I have had my share of other breeds (Not the Chester White) with having difficult farrowings.  With the Chesters I can not remember the last time I had to pull a pig, in fact I do not even attend the farrowings, they can have them on their own.  Several things have lead up to this.  First if we have a sow have trouble farrowing, the sow is taken to town and all of her offspring are sold as well. There are no second chances and this has left us with a group of sows that do not have this problems.  Second we look at the boars, while we all like these wide chested boars with big shoulders and short necks, I think this has led to some of the problems that we are seeing in the industry right now.  I do not know the answer to this dilemma, as the current fad is these wide chested, big shoulder boars but perhaps do not use these on your gilts. In selecting gilts I am very particular, no upturn vulvas, no small vulvas, and a gilt that is long bodied and has a deep body were she can carry a big litter of pigs.  I also feel a gilt needs to look feminine in their appearance.  If you have trouble getting the AI rod up into the gilt, she might be too tight.  Also the condition of the sow or gilt is of upmost importance, don't get them too fat.  I had a vet tell me once you ought to see the sows backbone to be in the right shape to farrow, I think this is going a little too far myself.  Supplies you need on hand is oxytocin injectable, lube, pencillin injectable, LA 200, and gloves.  A sow will generally have milk anywhere from 24 to 1 hour before farrowing.  Generally they will have a nesting behavior before farrowing, that is they will rake around with their front feet and if hay or wood chips are available they will make a nest out or these.  Watch for a bloody discharge or discharge in general.  Once they start having pigs they should have them about every 15 minutes as a rule of thumb.  Sometimes they will have two at once, this is not unusual (one right after the other).  Pigs can come head first or tail first.  Generally the pigs are walking or moving theirselves out of the sow.  You should notice two different bunches of pigs, one from each uterine horn (I think this is the proper way to describe this) so she may have 6-7 pigs then take a break and have 6-7 more.    If you have to go up in the sow or gilt because you think a pig is stuck follow the following procedure.  First put on your gloves, make sure your fingernails are trimmed and short and lube up your glove and the sow.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to place lube up into the sow take a syringe of lube and place this in the sow.  Gently go up into the sow or gilt and check for a pig, if none are present then give a small injection of oxytocin to help the sow along with labor.  Be careful pulling pigs not to tear the sows uterine wall and the less times you have to go up into the sow or the gilt the better, as swelling occurs and this makes it tougher for the sow or gilt to have pigs.  My first gilt killed her pigs.  I later learned this was because she was hurting and attributed the pigs with the pain.  If this happens tie the sow up, a front leg and perhaps tape her mouth shut like they do alligators.  Also keep the pigs away from the sow or gilt until she calms down.  I hope this helps and remember it is just my opinion on how to farrow sows.

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5:58:00 AM

by John K

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