Where do babies come from? (Part 1)

Don't worry, we're still talking about pigs.  Save the awkward conversation with your kids for later...

Sow farms are the starting point for all pigs that will go to other farms to complete their growth cycle. There are three primary activities that happen on the sow farm:

1) Breeding
2) Gestation
3) Farrowing

Excuse me for going out of order but I want to talk farrowing first.  Farrowing is probably a new term to some of you reading this.  It is just the term that pig producers use to refer to the birthing process.

If you haven't seen a sow farrow, it goes something like this (I'm not much a videographer and it takes a bit before the action happens- hang in there, it's worth it):

Sows will typically have between 10-15 pigs.  On average, most litters will have 12 pigs.  As you can see in this video, this sow has already had several pigs.  Pigs are very active soon as after birth and after a short, break, begin searching for a teat to begin nursing colostrum (the first milk that is essential for survival).

You may also notice the farrowing stall that the sow is in.  This is a specially designed pen which pig farmers utilize to protect the baby pigs from being laid on by the sow.  As you can see, the pig is much smaller than its mother and can easily be laid on if the sow were not in this special pen.  Pigs are also very sensitive to temperature which is why we utilize heat lamps and heat mats (the orange mat you see on the floor where pigs are nursing).  These tools allow the baby pigs to stay warm while keeping the room at a temperature that is comfortable for the sows.

When the pigs are born, they are wet and susceptible to chilling.  Because of this, sow farms have people working on them whose primary responsibility is monitoring sows that are farrowing so that they can dry the pigs with either towels or drying powder.  This also stimulates them to begin nursing.  Since pigs are being born 365 days a year, dedicated people are on the farm every day to ensure that the pigs and sows are receiving the best care possible.

Once the sow has finished farrowing and all of the pigs are warm and dry, the sow will feed the pigs approximately once an hour every hour.  Pigs are very interesting because, soon after birth, they will choose a teat to nurse and will go back to that particular teat each time they nurse.  In addition, the sow will actually call to her pigs with a series of grunts to let them know when it is time to begin nursing.

Getting pigs off to a good start from day one is one of the most important aspects of raising pigs.  In future posts, we'll take a look at what happens from this point on.  Keep your seat belt fastened, it's an exciting journey!