Experts’ Advice On Pig Giving Birth To Excess Piglets
Pig giving birth to excess piglets is a result of good feeding practice. Pigs are comparatively very fertile having a short generation interval. The female reaches maturity as early as 6-9 months when they can start breeding. They have a gestation period of 115 days and lactation of about 25 days.
Learn MoreJust in one year, a female pig can give birth twice producing up to 8-16piglets each time when they are fed properly. When the female gives birth, the piglets are allowed to suck for a period before separating from their mother.
The essence of weaning is for the piglets to have a good feeding regime for quality growth and body formation. Meanwhile, very many assume pigs are unclean animals but in reality, it is not so. Pigs love a clean environment as it helps in improving their health status.
Our recent finding reveals that an average farmer sweeps and cleans their drinking bowl twice daily. Pigs are served good food with clean water in one corner of the pen to allow the animals enough space to move about.
With good spacing in the pen, the animals maintain a clean environment. Just like humans, pigs select areas for waste disposal, feeding and sleeping. In my previous article Pig Rearing Business for Beginners, i did mention that a clean environment helps in keeping the animals healthy and pig farmers are to ensure they clean their pen regularly.
How To Handle A Pig Giving Birth To Excess Piglets?
According to experts, a pig giving birth to excess piglets is a sign to show is super fertile. The mother pig commits no crime for giving birth to more than the required number of babies. The only way to save the life of the mother and the newly born is to kill the excess to ensure proper feeding. That is to say that if a pig with 10nipples gives birth to more than 10piglets the excess should be killed.
READ ALSO 3 Conditions that Determine Successful Piglet Weaning
When the female (sow) gives birth the newly born are allowed to suck for a period of four weeks before being separated from their mother. The essence of the weaning is for the piglets to have a good feeding regime for quality growth and body formation.
Factors Affecting Pig Production
There are factors that affect pig production, some of which include; Number of female (sow) breast nipples, quality feeding, good environment, and the size of the male testicles.
Out of very many piglets, you will realize that there are some with small testicles while some have sizeable ones. Male pigs with big testicles are assumed to be more active while mounting the sows.
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To maximize your pig production, it is best practice to choose female pigs with a more good number of nipples. Sows with fewer breast nipples produce fewer piglets.
Sufficient fresh water helps to keep the pigs happy as this directly impacts the profit from the venture. A poorly feed mother during the reproduction period might end up eating the newly born. Therefore, farmers are to ensure they feed their pigs with quality food during the gestation and lactation period to ensure they have the required energy to breastfeed their young.
However, female pigs should be fed twice daily. Feeding twice enables them to have time to rest which helps in the conversion of feed into milk production and fat content in the body.
As a farmer, you also need to observe your female pigs to know when they are on heath. How do you know when pigs are on heath? Well, signs to show you that your pig (s) is on heath are as follows;
General restlessness
Vulva turns red and swollen
White mucus discharge
READ ALSO Neonatal Diarrhoea and Coccidiosis in Piglets – What can we do Better?
Tendency to mount and be mounted
The female pig stands still when pressure is applied to her back.
Final Note
For proper pig reproduction, never keep the female and male in the same pen. Only serve the female the male when you see a sign indicating the female pig is on heath.
Understand that keeping the pigs together in one pen will kill the tendency for the male to mount the female
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