This blog was written in direct response to one of your questions, "How do they keep little pigs warm when they are born during really cold weather?" It’s a great question, and there is a very simple answer: all of our hogs are raised inside heated buildings, so they are protected from the weather.
That would be a pretty short blog, so here’s some more background information. On our hog farm, we specialize in one certain phase of pork production. We breed the moms (sows), assist with birthing (farrowing), and care for the piglets only until weaning age, about three weeks. At that time, the piglets are moved to a different location. The sows are then bred again and the cycle continues.
Back to the pigs’ living conditions and comfort level: during most of the sows’ time on our farm, they’re pregnant. After all, they’re pregnant for almost four months, nurse for three weeks, are weaned, and usually are ready to be bred again about one week after weaning. During the time they are gestating, or pregnant, they stay in a large building that has a slotted concrete floor. This allows waste to fall through to the pit, or basement, and allows the sows to stay dry, warm, and clean. The barn is heated to 72 degrees in the winter, and cooled as much as possible during the summer. Using various techniques, we can usually keep it 8-10 degrees below the outside air temperature, so if it does get to 90 degrees, it’s still 80 inside. The sows definitely don’t like it that hot, but it’s better than 90.
When the sows are due to farrow we move them to appropriately-named “farrowing rooms.” They’re our version of Labor & Delivery. These rooms have the same basic design, although the floor is woven stainless steel with much smaller gaps so the newborn piglets’ tiny hooves don’t fall through. The sows are held within crates which allow them to stand up, lie down, eat, drink, and take care of personal business, but otherwise confine them in a fairly small space. This minimizes the sows lying on the baby pigs, which have additional space to move around mama.
Because the sows like it cool and the piglets like it much warmer, we use rubber mats under and heat lamps over the piglets to help keep them warm and comfortable while maintaining room temperature at 72-74 degrees. When it’s time to move the piglets to the next farm, we use a converted Jewel grocery store trailer. Because the trailer is insulated, we can heat it and keep the piglets warm until they arrive at their destination, about 20 minutes away.
This system is fairly typical of a modern hog farm. We can compare this to the good old days of sows farrowing in uninsulated huts in pastures, carrying straw through the snow drifts to bed the huts, breaking ice in frozen water troughs, and picking up frozen or laid on baby piglets. Sows, piglets, and caretakers are all much happier with the current system.
Chris Gould
Gould Farm
Maple Park, Illinois
Comments
then it might be time to get rid of these. Sows, piglets, or any other animal would be much happier with being able to live freely without being impregnated several times each year and being able to develop close bonds with their offspring.
the piglets are able to thrive without their mother, as long as they are protected from predators and inclement weather; which is why the piglets are moved to a temperature-controlled nursery.
both the caretaker and the pregnant female. A farrowing crate is designed to protect the piglets from being laid on or injured in any way, by their mother or another mother. They also facilitate ease of care and monitoring for the piglets and the sow to be
sure all are as healthy as possible. The gestation period for swine is approximately 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. When time is allowed for the pigs to be weaned, and recovery time for the sow, on average they are only impregnated a couple times a year. Sows
and cows wean their young on their own at the proper time, which pretty much ends the bonding time.
to get up and eat. They are just to timid to survive this kind of system however when they are moved to a gestation stall they thrive. They need to have the security the gestation stall provides and at the same time allows them to be next to and interact with
other sows. Without the gestation stall she would have to be removed from the herd. There is not one system that fits for every sow. It is the person caring for the animals that recognizes what is best for the animals. That is my job. I see them everyday and
know what their needs are.
stillborn and the dominate sow has pigs that are too big to pass through the birth canal. These stalls protect the sows from fighting and injury but also allow humans to give each so better hands on care. The farmers who work with these sows can read their
body language, they know if a sow is comfortable. By using stalls, if a sow stops eating they farmer knows it immediately and can assess the health of the sow and prevent many problems from ocurring. IN a group system, it might be days before you can tell
a sow isn't eating, and by that time, they are showing physical signs and the problem has escalated. Stalls prevent many problems from surfacing. It's all about preventing problems before they start to protect and improve the health of the animal.
they should be able to, they can't perform natural behaviors like foraging, their diet is completely different, they suffer from stress due to confinement and their environment, they're sent to be slaughtered, and all of it is because humans view them as a
commodity and not as a fellow animal.