Sows, Piglets & Hut
Out in the brushier fields the pigs don’t need any shelters, instead preferring to use the shade of the regen and trees. In the more open fields, especially where piglets are concerned, we have huts that are varied in design such as these ones which are quarters of an old whey tank.
The electric wires tell the sows not to flip the huts over. Inside the huts we can creep feed the piglets some extras such as whey, eggs, bread and such. The huts also provide some shelter during the rain storms like the recent deluges.
Outdoors: 77°F/56°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 72°F/65°F
Daily Spark: The odds are 1 in 512 that Schrödinger’s Cat is dead.
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
I am just wondering if you let your piglets be born around the other pigs. I am quite new to pig farming, only having had pigs since February. We had an ‘accidental’ two piglets born a mere 3 days after we bought our first pig and we are now expecting our first real litter in August. I have one 1.5 year old Berkshire sow, a 10 month old large black gilt and 4 year old large black castrated males. I would love to have the babies with the other ones but I am concerned about a lot of posts saying that the other pigs would kill the babies. Thoughts??
There are about sixty sows and a boar in the north field where the piglets are being born. In a small pen I would be concerned. In the fields the animals have space to seek privacy and separation as they need it. Typically a sow builds a nest off away from the herd, farrows the piglets and then in about four to ten days she’ll rejoin the herd with piglets in tow. We do not have a problem with other pigs killing piglets. If we did I would cull those pigs. Temperament is highly genetic. I eat mean people. In time that results in improvement of the species.
Hello Walter and crew
Where do you get piglet huts from? I have been trying to find something like that in my area and nothing is to be found. And how do you use them to creep fed.
Thank you again you are always so helpful
Linda
Those are an old water tank we quartered. A pickup truck bed would work. Lots of possibilities. Some shade, some wind block and then an electric line around it to keep the sows out so it becomes a creep for just the piglets.