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Spotted day-old piglets!


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Very cute! Is this a normal size litter? Somehow I was expecting to see more.

 

Normal litter size is between 8 and 14. Sows tend to have smaller litters their first time. This sow is a Gloucestershire Old Spot, which is a rare heritage breed. Heritage breeds tend to have smaller litters than commercial breeds. While it is hard to tell from the picture, she actually had 8, and it was her first time. I had another sow that delivered 15 this summer - her first time as well, although she is not a heritage breed!

 

Krista

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Normal litter size is between 8 and 14. Sows tend to have smaller litters their first time. This sow is a Gloucestershire Old Spot, which is a rare heritage breed. Heritage breeds tend to have smaller litters than commercial breeds. While it is hard to tell from the picture, she actually had 8, and it was her first time. I had another sow that delivered 15 this summer - her first time as well, although she is not a heritage breed!

 

Krista

:001_smile:Okay, I counted 6 or 7. How often do they breed? Do your kids get into the whole farm animal thing? I think it would be fascinating, but my kids would problably be "so what."

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:001_smile:Okay, I counted 6 or 7. How often do they breed? Do your kids get into the whole farm animal thing? I think it would be fascinating, but my kids would problably be "so what."

 

Our sows have 2-litters each per year. Our kids LOVE the "whole farm animal thing." My youngest has wanted to be a large animal vet forever. They especially love it after the piglets are weaned from the sow, and she is returned to the main pasture with the rest of the herd. They are then allowed to get in and play with the piglets, so long as I am in there with them. This quickly ends though, as I do not let them in with any pigs weighing more than them. I have two sows from our very first litter that I kept. The boys played with them nearly every day after they were weaned. The sows still love the boys and will run over to the fence when they see them coming. Unfortunately, they are too big for the boys to get in with now, but they do sometimes play chase along the fenceline!

 

Krista

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:iagree: We usually castrate at 14-days. IMO, this is the worst part of having the farm, period. What kind of pigs do you raise?

 

Krista

 

Big pink ones.;):lol:

 

Just your regular commercial pigs. We were really into the heritage breeds for poultry, but we hadn't gotten that far with the pigs. Now we raise guinea pigs (because they fit in a cage on top of the dresser!:lol:)

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