07/16/2025
Haven’t posted in a while, but wow, did we ever have an experience with our first-time momma pigs (aka first fresheners)!
If you scroll back a few posts, you’ll see when we first got our pigs. Well, we bred them, and this was our first rodeo with farrowing. Let’s just say… it was eventful.
We’ll call our first mom “Bad Mom” (and you’ll soon find out why).
Around noon one day, I came outside and found two piglets. All our pregnant girls were together, so I could only assume they were hers since she was inside the shelter. Bad Mom didn’t seem interested in them at all. There’s always that internal debate about whether to intervene or let nature take its course, so I decided to leave them and set up a camera.
Not even ten minutes later, she attacked one of the piglets and ripped open its neck. I ran out, grabbed both babies, the injured one was still alive but sadly didn’t make it.
At first, I thought I could manage bottle- or pan-feeding just one piglet. But two hours later, Christian got home, and we discovered Bad Mom had another piglet stuck. While our neighbors helped with the delivery, I was inside feeding the surviving piglet.
Before I knew it, I looked around and realized there weren’t just a few babies, there were eight total! I was freaking out, completely unprepared, and started feeding them one by one with a syringe as best as I could.
Unfortunately, Bad Mom crushed another piglet later on. By then, we’d pulled baby number 10, and finally called it a night.
I stayed up all night feeding the babies with no sleep. The next morning, our other sow farrowed nine piglets, accidentally killing two, which, unfortunately, sometimes happens. But at least she and another sow were co-parenting the rest beautifully.
Meanwhile, Bad Mom had one more piglet overnight, which she decided to keep and care for, go figure. We tried reintroducing the others, but she wanted nothing to do with them.
After another all-nighter, I was completely drained. So, I found better placements for the 8 piglets with experienced folks who know how to handle bottle babies.
However these seven little ones that been with the good moms are now coming up on 3 weeks old, which means weaning time is just around the corner! If anyone’s looking for some “bacon seeds,” let us know! We have 5 boars and 2 gilts available. ❤️ The males can be castrated if needed.
