No.Three's Fourth Farrowing:

-October 2018



Image of tropical backyard pigs
        mating
June 2018



-------------------------------------------------

June  03:

No.Three is Moved to a New Pen -Leaving Junior Alone -for Fattening

Images of tropical backyard sow being moved to a
          new pen

Images of tropical backyard piglet just
                  separated from his mother

June 29:

Pinkie Visits No.Three

Images of tropical backyard boar with
        sow
'..and No.Three Visits Pinkie
Images of tropical backyard boar and
        sow mating


...but They Get Separated for the Night

Images of tropical backyard Boar and Sow split up,for
        the night

June 30:

Pinkie and No.Three Get Together Again

Images of tropical boar and sow
          mating

and then Separated Later

Images of tropical boar and sow
          separated after mating

July  25:

No.Three has an Infected Backside

Imagesmof tropical backyardmsow with
        infected backside

July  26:

No.Three Improving After Treatment

Images of ntropical backyard sow being
        treated for infected backside

July  29:

No.Three is Still Responding To Treatment

Images of tropical backyard sow
            with an infected backseide

September  14:

No.Three has Problems Again

Images of tropical backyard sow being
        treated for an infected backside

Images of tropical backyard sown being treated for
        infected backside

September  15:

No.Three gets Treated Again

Images of tropical backyard sow
          being treated fro infected vagina

September  16:

No.Three still under Treatment

Images of tropical backyard sow
          being treated for infection

September  18:

No.Three is still being Treated -but is improving

Images of tropical backyard sow
          being treated for an infected vagina

A Start is made with Cleaning Up the Maternity Suite and Collecting Compost

Images of cleaning up a tropical
            backyard pig pen after so has been removed and the piglets
            have been sold

Images of omen cleaning up a tropical
              backyard pig pen after use

September  19:

No.Three Continues her Treatment

Tropical backyard sow being
            treated for infected vagina

September  20:

No.Three's Treatment Continues

Images of tropical backyard sow
            being treated for infected vagina

Preparing and Repairing the Empty Pen

Images of empty tropical backyard
            pig pen being prepared for reuse

Images of repairing a tropical backyard pig pen
            fence chewed by sow

September  21:

No.Three Now Back to Normal

Images of tropical backyard sow
              being treated for an infection

September  24:

No.Three is Moved to the Maternity Suite

Images of a tropical backyard
                sow moving to a new pen

No.Three Seems Happy -but Pinkie Looks Lonely

Images of tropical backyard pigs



-------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, October 23:

IMagws of a tropical backyard sow
          building a nest before farrowing

Imagws of tropical backyard sow getting ready to
          farrow

Around 5.15 pm, No.Three started nesting (in the dusk) when Fatima gave her some dry banana leaves.
By 7.30 she was still nesting (with periods of rest in between). However, she stopped around 7.45, after a restless period.

Imags of tropical backyard sow preparing to farrow

Images of a tropical backyard sow just before
          farrowing

Images of tropical backyard pig pen while sow is
          farrowing

By 10.45 PM she was sleeping -hidden from view from our balcony by the creep space (and the darkness).
After midnight we were  (literally) in the dark.

Approximately 3 am, Fatima thought she heard movements -and by 3.15 we heard the first squeals of piglets fighting.

Around 4.15 Fatima put on the heat lamp for the piglets -but it was still too dark to see anything.



Wednesday, October 24:

Images of newly farrowd tropical
          backyard sow

By the 6 am feeding -No.Three was suckling a whole bunch of piglets -but was too tired to get up and eat.
So we didn't bother her by trying to count them.
One piglet seems to be already dead -but we left it in, so as not to disturb the mother.

Images of tropical backyard sow with
          newly born piglets

Imags of tropical backyard sow with piglets

8.30 am She was still lying down in nest suckling her piglets.
So we fed her (high protein) Tricanthera leaves at the nest. 

While I was thinking about taking her some water -she got up and went to the trough
where she was given water with a mild antibiotic and a bowl of food prepared by Fatima.

We also gave her some of the usual green forage freshly collected from the garden.
She seemed very hungry. After eating she went back to the nest.

Around 9.00 AM, there were squeals from fighting piglets -but order was soon restored.

Images of tropical backyard sow with
          newly born piglets

11 AM Fatima fed her with lactating feeds.

4 PM feeding: No,Three was waiting to be fed.
While she was eating, Fatima went in and retrieved the dead piglet she had seen at 6 AM this morning
 (it had become buried underneath the nesting material). I buried it in the garden.

No.Three seems to be suckling about once every hour -as is normal for her.

Images of collecting a dead piglet
          from the pen of a newly farrowed tropical backyard sow

Images of woman putting soil and grass into tropical
          backyard pig pen with sow and piglets

Fatima put soil and grass into the creep space for the piglets -so they could ingest iron from the soil.

Images of dead tropical backyard
          piglet being buried



Thursday, October 25:

Images of tropical backyard sow
          suckling newborn piglets

6.am: No interest in food or water. Just lying down suckling.

Inages of of oredely and disorderly
          suckling by tropical backyard piglets

Some piglets suckle quietly -but others are very unruly and move around from teat to teat and get into fights.

The (larger?) brown piglets seem to be the most aggressive -and some piglets will fight over a teat
 -even though there are some still free.

Images of recently farrowed tropical
          backyard sow with piglets

Images of recently farrowed tropical backyard sow
          being sponged down against post-natal fever

8.45 am -Sponged neck with cold water and gave a little fresh water to drink -directly into her mouth.
Still no interest in eating tricanthera leaves (given earlier -or new fresh ones).

After a while she got up, snuffled around for a few minutes and then lay down against the wall.

Images of one day old tropical
          backyard piglets

The piglets are starting to explore the pen -and a few have entered the creep space
-but have not yet discovered the hole in the wall...

Images of still weak tropical backyard
          sow suckling newborn piglets

11 am -not eating or drinking -but still suckling regularly.

Imags of weak, recently farrowed,
          tropical backyard sow being sponged and drinking water

Washed neck a little -but difficult due ti lying position against wall.
Gave two bottles of water -which she drunk from the bottle.

Some piglets are already starting to explore the "restaurant" outside the pen.

Suckling seems to be fairly orderly -although still the occasional squabble.

Images of tropical backyard sow with
          newly born piglets

Images of newly born tropical backyard piglets

Around 12.15 No.Three gets up to eat and drink from the trough. 

Later she lays down by the trough. 

Sometimes seems a bit irritated by the piglets suckling
Some normal discharge from her vagina.

Piglets are getting bolder with regards to the restaurant.

Images of tropical backyard sow
          being distracted by food while piglets teeth are cut

Fatima thought the piglets fighting was annoying No.Three.

So she called Nestor -the technician to come and cut the piglets teeth.

He arrived around 3 pm. Penny went as well, and so there were four people discussing how best to get the piglets without upsetting No.Three. Penny then noticed that one of the piglets was limping, apparently its leg had been stood on -but the loud noise of her comment was a bit disturbing and No.Three was starting to get a bit jumpy.

Eventually Fatima went in and picked up one of the biggest troublemakers --she quickly gave it to Nestor to put in a box while she collected the others -but it started squealing and upset No.Three who was quite agitated. Fatima decided to leave the pen. Nestor cut the piglets teeth and returned it to its mother -which quietened her down a bit. However, she was still a bit nervous.

As a result, we decided on another approach: I would try and attract No.Three with food and take her for a walk behind the pen -where she could be fed and distracted while Nestor did his work.

Images of tropical backyard sow
          loose in garden while newborn piglets teeth are cut

Getting her out of the pen was not too difficult.

However, she soon got distracted by a bucket of water -which she drank. Then she started to enjoy the feeling of freedom and started wandering off in the wrong direction. The excitement of being out was grater than the temptation of the deliciously  rattling food bucket -or the memory of her piglets.

IMagws of tropical backyard sow
          loose in garden while newly born piglets teeth are cut

Imags of tropical backyard sow roaming loose in
          garden

After a few twists and turns -she ended up in the piglets "restaurant" area.

Unfortunately, it only has one gate in it.

Getting a pig to move backwards appears to be almost impossible -and so we were stuck with the problem of getting her out. Eventually, she solved the problem by jumping over the fence.

By this time she was really enjoying her adventure and had lost interest in the food bucket. We thought that the sounds of the piglets would lure her back home -but when Nestor picked up a piglet it didn't squeal.

When he did pick one up that squealed, No.Three ignored it and wandered off to explore the garden further.

Images of tropical garden sow loose
          in garden

Eventually, Fatima got two irresistibly delicious coconut buds -and managed to lure her back to the pen.  

After eating them she had a good drink and lay down half in and half out of the trough.

Images of tropical backyard sow in
          pen with newly born piglets

It certainly seems as if her adventure did her a lot of good.

For the rest of the evening everything seemed much quieter.


Friday, October 26:

Imags of two day old tropical backyard
        piglets hidden in pen

6 am feeding -No.Three seemed back to normal. Eating and drinking as usual.

A bit of a cold night -and tat first glance the piglets were invisible:
But closer inspection revealed them all huddled together in a corner partly hidden by dry banana leaves.

Images of tropical backyard sow
        suckling two day old piglets

10,30 am -No three suckling, eating and drinking normally.
Piglets perhaps avoiding creep space area -perhaps because that is where their teeth were cut yesterday.

Imagws of tropical backyard piglet
        rescued after crushing incident

Around 2.30 PM Fatima saw No.Three lie down on a piglet, Its feet were sticking out from under her rump.
 Luckily, Fatima got No.Three to stand up using food as bait and she was able to retrieve and revive it.

Images of iron supplimant being
        applied to teats of suckling sow

As soon as No.Three started suckling,
Fatima dribbled an iron preparation onto the sow's teats to try and prevent iron deficiency.

Images of dead tropical backyard
        piglet

However, Fatima saw another dead piglet lying under the nesting material
 -unfortunately it had been dead too long and could not be revived.
I buried it in the garden.

Until this incident, it had been a very quiet and event-less day
 -with both mother, piglets, and humans apparently recovering from the adventures of yesterday.



Saturday, October 27:

Images of rotting piglet cadaver found
        several days after farrowing in a topical backyard pen

This morning Fatima found another piglet cadaver in the pen, buried under the nesting material.

From the advanced state of decay, we assumed it died either shortly before, or shortly after, birth.
It was buried in the garden.

Images of sow and three day old
            tropical backyard piglets

6 am -No.Three  hungry as usual. The piglets all huddled together in a corner of the pen.

Images of sow and three day
                old tropical backyard piglets

By Lunchtime, the piglets were already resting from their morning activities....

Images of tropical
                    backyard sow suckling her three day old litter

...And evening hopefully signals the ending of another normal day


Sunday, October 28:

Imagws of a dead tropical backyard
        piglet

Another piglet crushed in the night.

Imags of sleeping tropical
            backyard piglets with mother

For the others, sleeping piglets, hungry mother

Imags of active tropical
                backyard piglets

Images of active tropical backyard piglets with
                mother

...But the are piglets soon active again

Images of tropical backyard pigs exploring
                outside their pen

....and exploring outside their pen

Images of tropical backyard piglets snoozing
                while mother forages

Then a Lunchtime Snooze while Mother Forages

Images of tropical backyard piglets sleeping

Sleeping Positions are taken up as Evening Falls

Imags of tropical backyard sow suckling piglets

Hopefully, Mother will continue to Suckle away from the Main Sleeping Area



Monday, October 29:

Imags of tropical backyard piglets sleeping
                while mother feeds

Mother has Breakfast Perilously  Close to Sleeping Piglets

  Images of 5 day old tropical backyard
                piglets waking up

Luckily, the Piglets Wake Up and are Soon Looking for Breakfast and Adventure

Images of tropical backyard sow safely
        suckling her litterher

Some Suckle Safely Inside


Images of 5 day old tropical backyard piglets exploring
        outside ytheir pen

While Others Sleep Outside -Or Look For Adventure There

Images of tropical backyard piglets with sow

Images of tropical backyard piglets with mother

Hopefully, the Piglets have now learned to stay a Safe Distance away from their Mother when not Suckling


Tuesday, October 30:

Imags of six day old tropical backyard
        piglets in pen with mother

Up Early This Morning -Perhaps Woken Up by the Rain

Imagws of six day old tropical backyard piglets
        exploring the garden

Ready to Go Exploring


Images of tropical backyard piglets with sow

....but Back Home Again in time for Feeding


Wednesday, October 30:

Images of tropical backyard sow with
        one week old piglets

Imags of one week old tropical backyard piglets
        exploring the garden

Images of one week old tropical backyard piglets
        exploring the garden

Imagws of one week old tropical backyard piglets waking
        up to suckle

Imagws of one week old tropical backyard piglets
        suckling

Images of one week old tropical backyard piglets
        sleeping while mother feeds herself

One Week Old Today!

-------------------------------------------------

Notes on Crushing:

Crushing is a complex problem -and we continue to look for a pattern that might help prevent it.

Sometimes the weak, or sick, piglets animals get crushed -and sometimes it is the bigger ones. Sometimes the aggressive ones get killed and sometimes the less aggressive.

Basically, it seems like a random problem: The sow lies down to suckle -an is often quite careful when doing so. After a while she stops and lies on her teats to prevent further suckling. Shortly afterwards, she relaxes and lies down in a resting position. It is at this point that crushing seems to occur. Usually, it is the rump area that does it. If a piglet is lying in that area -with its head towards the mother -then it is likely to be crushed without making a sound. If it lies with its feet towards its mother it is more likely to cry out -and be saved by the mother getting up.

After a while, it seems that some piglets learn to sleep away from the mother -but this behaviour needs both time and victims for it to be learned by each individual piglet. An inactive piglet might be crushed because it is weak -but an active piglet might be crushed because it is tired after being active.

Sometimes a mother will deliberately "sit" on a piglet as punishment -but then get up before serious damage occurs. Accidental crushing is different.

We do not know if iron deficiency is part of the problem Causing weakness and tiredness). For some unknown reason our usual iron supplement was not available (for some time). Fatima has been trying to compensate for any iron deficiency by putting extra soil in the pen, in the creep space and in the "restaurant" outside. It seems that even very young piglets eat soil.

So far we have had 66 live births in 7 farrowings: 3 piglets have died of other causes -and 13 died of crushing (20.63% ).

-------------------------------------------------

Notes on Crushing Prevention:

Ideally,  one wishes to separate the piglets to a safe distance from their mother at all times, except for when suckling. Preferably using the natural instincts of both sow and piglets.

If one cannot actually separate sow and piglets -then the best option is to encourage the sow to lie near the creep space and encourage the piglets to enter in to it.

There are perhaps a few simple ways that might encourage safe sleeping positions:
Heat:
There is a difference in heat preference between sows (who like it cool) and piglets (who like it warm). We have tried attracting piglets top the safe (creep) space by using a heat lamp. However, except in extreme cold (and wet) conditions this sems to doscourage piglets from entering the creep space. So we have turned off the lamp (which save electricity too!).
Forage:
Feeding the sow forage material near the creep space -encouraging her to eat there. Materials that are attractive to piglets (and there natural curiosity) might also attract them in.
Sponge Bath:
Giving a hot sow a sponge bath (with a damp cloth) near the creep space also encourages her to lay there -because the excess water cools down the earth in that area.

However, one should be careful not to get the soil too wet -so as to chill the piglets....
Hole in the Wall:
We have already provided a hole in the creep space wall so the piglets can escape into an (enclosed) area outside -which we call the "restaurant" because it is used to feed piglets during weaning -so they are not competing with their mother for food at feeding time.

However, the "restaurant" also has a gate, which can be opened to allow access to the garden (after fencing off sensitive areas).

Obviously, piglets cannot be crushed if they are roaming in the garden. It also seems to be of great therapeutic value to weak, sick or injured piglets.

Piglets soon return home when called by their mother.

By the second or third day they have usually found their way outside
Accidental Disincentive:
Unfortunately, when the piglets teeth were cut, this was inadvertently done near the creep space -and this may have helped discouraged the piglets from using the area.

-------------------------------------------------
Iron Deficiency?

No.Three's fourth farrowing happened mostly at night -and because we do not intervene (unless essential)  we could not easily see what was happening.

However, it appears that two piglets died at, or around, the time of birth.

Paradoxically, it seems that it was the larger piglets that tended to die -and this leads us to speculate on the possibility of Iron Deficiency.
Apparently, newly born piglets quickly use up their reserves of iron -and larger piglets have smaller reserves in relation to their body size.

Until now we have given "Liquid Iron" supplements to piglest withing the first three day, by dribbling the substance onto the sow's teats while she is suckling. This seemed successful.

However, for some reason we are not able to discover --"Liquid Iron" seems to have been removed from the local market.

Fatima did provide fresh earth (a natural source of iron) in the creep space -but it might take piglets several days to discover this. She also tried dribbling another supplement both on the teats and into the earth -but this may not have been sufficient.

We are still looking at natural ways to prevent any deficiency in the piglets.


-------------------------------------------------

 Piglets 2015
Butlig's Diary

PIGLETS -June 2016
More Piglets
Even More Piglets

Auntie Brownie's First Farrowing (2017)
A Harrowing Farrowing (2017)
Auntie Brownie's Second Farrowing (2017)
No.Three's Third Farrowing (2018)
Auntie Brownie's Third Farrowing (2018)

-------------------------------------------------

 Piglet Mortality Log

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Trevor Batten
 <trevor at tebatt dot net>
 Baclayon 2018
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