She also may or may not have a slight mucus-like or bloody vaginal discharge, act restless, urinate frequently, twitch her tail, hold her ground when you press down on her hindquarters, or try to "ride" other sows.
You should mate gilts on their first day of heat and older "gals" on the second day. Both young and old sows should receive a second mating 24 hours after their first. As for the male partners in a porcine union, an 8- to month-old boar can usually service 12 females in pasture or be "handmated" matched individually in a barn with 24 gilts or sows.
A yearling or older boar can service 50 sows in stalls or 35 to 40 pasturing females. The gestation period for your pregnant sow will be approximately days, or as the old saying goes, three months, three weeks, and three days. But there are some important preparations to be made before that magic moment of birth arrives. For one thing, you should in advance take steps to help keep diseases from striking those fragile newborns.
So be sure to worm for parasites and spray for lice each sow about two weeks before her due date. You should also immunize an expectant mother against erysipelas to strengthen both the sow's and offspring's resistance to this most common—and usually fatal—swine disease. Likewise, good sanitation is a vital part of preventive health care, so thoroughly clean the farrowing pen and keep it clean Another important prefarrowing job is building a proper "birthing nest.
The youngsters' mother, on the other hand, probably has three to five solid inches of insulation better known as lard around her middle The different temperature needs of a swine mother and her children can create quite a problem.
While the little oinkers will try to cuddle up against Mom to stay warm, the parent pig will just as likely be trying to cool off by continually standing up and sitting down. And every time the mother settles back down, she runs the risk of landing on and perhaps killing a baby squealer. To avoid such a calamity, your farrowing pen should incorporate a separate heat source for the piglets so they won't need to scramble up to their mother for warmth.
Most folks use electric or gas-powered heat lamps for this purpose, although a few innovative individuals have taken to building solar heated farrowing pens.
Your pen should also have some piglet "guard rails" that stand 8 to 10 inches off the floor and extend 1 to 12 inches out from the farrowing pen walls. By crawling under the rails, the little ones can curl up and sleep safely in their own heated spot, and scramble out after Mother only at mealtime. A few days before the piglets are due, you'll want to move the expectant sow into her new quarters so she can adjust to the changed surroundings.
Be sure, though, to let her out for two 10 to 15 minute periods of exercise every day that she's in the farrowing pen to help the beast ward off constipation and nervous stress. Around that same time, you'll need to gather together all your nursery items such as iodine, clean rags, and plenty of bedding.
And don't forget to keep a pitchfork or shovel around as well, so you can keep the farrowing area "clean enough to sit in with your Sunday best duds on. You'll know that the sow is ready to bear her young when she gets restless and tries to make a nest in her farrowing pen. Once the mother actually starts giving birth, you can help events proceed smoothly by talking to the sow reassuringly—or if you feel foolish conversing with a pig—by giving her a small portion of laxative bran meal.
Then, as each baby is born, dry the new arrival with clean rags before it hits the ground, if possible. Also, paint the piglets' navels with iodine by either spraying the disinfectant on each youngster's severed cord or by firmly placing the tot over a wide-mouthed bottle of iodine so that its navel cord hangs down into the container and then deftly turning both bottle and pig upside down.
It's probably best to keep the newborn piglets in a heated corner or box , away from their mother while she undergoes her birthing throes. Then, once they're all born and you've disposed of the afterbirth, make sure each newcomer has the chance to nurse and obtain some of its mother's precious colostrum. This "first milk" is high in nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antibodies.
You might even milk some extra colostrum from the sow to store in ice cube trays in case you later encounter a mother who won't allow her piglets to nurse. Finally, after you've gone on to clean out the soiled bedding and made sure that both the new mother and her piglets are comfortable, you can go back to bed and try to make yourself comfortable.
Female pigs can rarely give birth to 25 pigs, but is possible. The average number of piglets that can be born starts at 5 piglets up to 10 piglets. Studies also say that depending on the cycle when the mating period began, pigs that mated during the 2nd to 3rd cycle are most likely capable of giving birth to more piglets. You must also consider the amount of water supply for drinking. Housing or bedding if they are indoor pets is necessary for comfort too.
Please be reminded that prices may differ depending on your country or area therefore we can only provide an estimated amount. The answer depends on where you live. Laws differ on every country especially regarding animal welfare. If it requires a license, please register your pig for its safety and yours too. We have a helpful guide on how to get a license for your pig. You may read that here. Welcome to Pet Pig World! We have spent hundreds of hours working on this site so you can take great care of your new pet pig.
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Arcadian Vision Ltd is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. How Old does a Pig have to be to Breed? Erected ears — this sign is most present in Yorkshire pigs. Allowing mounting — this may only be effective if the female pig can see a male pig around. However, most of the time, a pig will not allow them to be mounted ridden but if they are in heat, they will stay still. Male pigs will have more impact stronger genes than female pigs. The costs of breeding Just like people, any pregnant animal usually needs more food to consume in order to stay healthy and to provide nutrients for their offspring.
How to start the breeding program There are effective methods to successfully breed pigs together. How long do pigs stay pregnant Pregnancy usually lasts 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. Expectations for gilt fertility Gilt maturity is recognized when targeted age, weight and cycle maturity are reached. Reproductive performance and longevity are optimal when gilt breeding occurs near days of age, pounds kilograms , with adequate backfat and at second or third estrus.
Problems in fertility and longevity result when breeding occurs far outside the targets. Breeding under and overweight gilts appears most related to problems. These problems in body weight are related to issues with attainment of puberty and lifetime growth performance.
Pubertal estrus is induced in batches of gilts over a 60 day period. Earlier age of at start of boar exposure results in earlier age at puberty but reduces synchrony of estrus. Delaying boar exposure increases age of first estrus but improves overall synchrony Figure 2. Expectations for gilts can be charted Table 1 to include age, weight and backfat at puberty or first service.
Although a recorded standing heat is the only acceptable measure of sexual maturity eligibility to be bred , daily records of behavioral and vulval development help guarantee that effective induction and selection protocols are in place Figure 3.
Yet emphasis is often placed on traits with greater economic importance such as growth and carcass measures. As a result, average age of puberty typically ranges between and days of age. The variation in puberty can be large among batches of gilts, herds and different genetics. Puberty induction patterns can are influenced by the interaction of the genes and environment. Large seasonal, health and housing factors may explain much of the variation but not necessarily allow prediction of the response.
Puberty is defined when the behavioral expression of estrus coincides with the occurrence of ovulation. However, puberty is not the same as sexual maturity and can often as there are instances where gilts appear to express estrus but fail to ovulate and cases where gilts ovulate but do not express estrus.
For breeding, maturation should include evidence normal estrous intervals, standing for two days at estrus period, ovulation of 14 or more eggs, and a uterine size to accommodate a targeted number of pigs. A two-day standing estrus helps to remove errors in pubertal estrus identification and reduces failures in estrus intervals. The collective conditions for maturity are not met until the gilt has reached mature body size, and has cycled so that the uterus and neuroendocrine tissues have been exposed to progesterone during the normal cycle.
When conditions for maturity are sensed and external environmental signals are stimulatory, pathways to initiate reproduction begin. In the gilt, the brain, endocrine and reproductive systems are capable of hormone production and signal reception, but do not reach functional maturity at the same time and can be demonstrated by the proportions of gilts that express estrus and the magnitude of hormone release as gilts age.
These responses influence estrus and ovulation, numbers of eggs produced, uterine growth, normal cycles, pregnancy establishment, and litter size. Failure in any of these maturational steps during development can result in problems in delayed puberty, anestrus, irregular cycles, regular and irregular returns, and small litter size.
Since determination of internal measures of maturity cannot be assessed, gilt selection is based on the symptoms of estrus and measures of weight, age and body condition, linked to a requirement to breed gilts at second estrus.
Puberty induction procedures Induction of puberty is managed for groups of gilts housed in pens under scenarios typical of the grow-finish period with ad libitum access to food and water. Induction is often initiated at 24 weeks to days of age when non-select gilts can still be marketed. At induction, gilts are moved from finishing to induction pens which have reduced numbers of gilts and more floor space per female.
Ideally, even during earlier development in the finisher stage, gilts will have been provided more space than is typical of a commercial finishing facility. Induction is performed using exposure to a mature boar that may benefit with both relocation and regrouping.
Selection of gilts from dams that expressed earlier ages at puberty can improve responses. Selection for growth rate is a key factor and slow growing gilts less than 1. Age is also related to response since the proportion of gilts that respond to induction is low and increases with age Figure 4 and Figure 5.
Qualities of the boar identified as important for induction include: greater than 9 months of age seven months or more for Meishan boars , high libido active champing and salivation for pheromone production , vocal and with a calm temperament. In addition, daily is more effective than intermittent exposure occurring every other day or for weekdays but not weekends. Duration of exposure shows that a minimum of 10 minutes of exposure per female is needed for effect, with little benefit beyond 30 minutes per day.
Continuous housing of gilts with or next to boars, while stimulatory, reduces accuracy for detection of estrus due to the refractory behavior effects, and also tends to lead to boar complacency and over conditioning.
Direct physical and fenceline boar exposure have been utilized for successful induction but physical exposure is clearly a more potent stimulator for induction. The cumulative non-productive days associated with less effective induction protocols, in combination with the likelihood of delayed gilts being overweight at breeding, are risk factors that must be considered when deciding on gilt management programs.
Floor space is important for gilts during development and at induction and the negative effects of limited floor space result from stress associated with aggression in competition for living space and feed.
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