Our desire to keep our own sow for breeding piglets stemmed from our frustration trying to get quality piglets. Spring is the ideal time to get piglets for most, so they sell out quickly and our expectations are admittedly high. Keeping a sow of our own would allow us to have control over the breed mix and experiment with crosses, save the hectic spring scramble, and on the cost of buying piglets. Maybe, we could even make a little money on the side selling extra piglets!
When we first started scouring Craiglist for a gilt or sow, I admittedly at the time didn’t know a thing about what to look for. I had no pig mentor, and the internet leaves a lot to be desired in terms of information. So I figured I would just kind of trust common sense and go with it. I knew to check that she moved soundly, had nice feet squarely under her body, and that her vulva didn’t appear scarred or damaged, but that was it.
When we went to look at Big Marie, I was flabbergasted and literally taken aback by her size. I didn’t necessarily think she was overweight, because she is quite literally huge in stature. The people said that she was a year old and had never been bred, but had been in with a boar so she could potentially be pregnant.
There was nothing that screamed “don’t get her” to us, so we loaded her up on the trailer and brought her home hoping that we may have some piglets on the way if she was already pregnant. It turned out that she wasn’t, and five months later I artificially inseminated her. I learned that not only was she in fact overweight (and not just big) but also considered “old” to be getting bred for the first time. Despite these challenges that I didn’t even know were an issue, I decided to move ahead with breeding her and attempt to overcome the obstacles.
Before getting Big Marie, I knew that a gilt had to be at least 300 pounds and cycled a few times before being bred for the first time. I did not know however, how critical of a factor age is, and that ideally a year old is the maximum age for being bred for the first time. Seems young, am I right? Big Marie, was 18 months old when I went to breed her, six months past the ideal maximum age! Basically, having gone through many heat cycles with never being bred, she was at risk for developing (or already developed) follicular cysts. This leads to infertility, aka the inability to be bred. We obviously can’t “work through this problem” unless we somehow come up with a way to turn back time. So, the only thing I could do to address this was to try and get her bred immediately before she got any older!
Because I had no control over her age, the main issue that I had to address first and foremost was her weight. It’s so easy for a pig to get overweight, and unfortunately we didn’t know exactly what we were looking at when we got her as she came to use overweight. Fat sows/gilts have difficulty getting bred, and are at an extremely high risk for difficulties farrowing including stillbirths and breached babies. In an ideal world, I would put her on a strict diet to cut her weight down before breeding her. We were however, up against the age issue and time was not a luxury that we had.
The only option we really had at this point was to put her on a crash diet to get her to start cutting weight fast. I cut her daily food intake in half, and she got only 3 pounds of 14% protein feed a day with zero scraps. She quickly trimmed down early in her pregnancy, so I slowly increased her feed throughout her gestation to provide the necessary nutrition for her and her growing litter.
The whole breeding pigs experience certainly was a crash course before I even got the chance to inseminate her. I am just thankful that all of my efforts weren’t in vain, and I was able to successfully inseminate her and she didn’t have any major complications in her farrowing.
If at the time I went to look at Big Marie I knew more about pigs, there is a good chance I would have never taken her home that day. She was fat, “old”, and her underline is not ideal. Sometimes when you have the “learn on the fly” mentality, you end up getting burned and make some pretty big mistakes. But, hindsight is 20/20, and the homesteading journey is all about challenges, learning from your mistakes, and overcoming them. Thankfully I didn’t get burned in the sense I am left with a 1,000 pound infertile pig that I became attached to. Big Marie did get pregnant, we had a pretty good overall farrowing experience (not without its challenges), and ended up being a fantastic mother. But, through this experience I have learned what to look for in the future and am wiser because of it.
Here we are already, less than two weeks from Christmas and over halfway through Big Marie’s pregnancy. It’s hard for me to believe that she’s over halfway through her 114 day gestation period already. I also still have a hard time believing that Big Marie got pregnant via artificial insemination on my first time trying despite the fact that she was too old and too fat to be bred. Granted those were valuable lessons to learn, but I am still partly in disbelief that she took the first go around.
Now that she is confirmed pregnant and we are getting further along in her gestation, there are certain preparations I am making to ensure that the piglets are getting everything they need to develop properly as well as keeping her as healthy as possible.
Feeding
One of the biggest concerns I initially had when breeding Big Marie was her weight. While she is a very large pig in stature she was also overweight. Fat pigs can have difficulty not only getting pregnant, but it also typically leads to issues when it comes time to farrow if they do manage to get pregnant. I put Big Marie on a crash diet a month before insemination, cutting her daily feed intake from 6 lbs/day down to 3lbs/day. It was an aggressive cut, but necessary to get her in healthy body condition for breeding. She quickly dropped weight, and I maintained this daily ration through her first month of pregnancy.
Because I got a positive test result with the ultrasound at 18 days post breeding, this is a sign that she is carrying a large litter of at least 11-12. With potentially lots of little piglets in there developing and her being in good body condition, around a month or so into her pregnancy I upped her feed intake to 4 lbs/day. I have maintained that daily ration until now.
At this point (65+ days) in the gestation period, the piglets are demanding more nutrients to develop and grow properly, while her body still has to maintain and develop the products of conception (uterus, placenta, mammaries). Because I was able to get her into shape before breeding and early in her pregnancy, she doesn’t have excessive fat reserves to burn for calories to maintain her body condition. Basically, this means that without increasing her feed, the babies will take as much as they can for proper development not leaving much for her. So, I have increased her feed again to 6lbs/day. She will maintain this daily ration until the very end where it will be increased again when she is lactating and nursing her piglets.
I have also added supplemental fiber to her diet in the form of wheat bran. As with a human pregnancy, sows and gilts can have issues with constipation so the fiber will help keep things moving along for her and hopefully reduce those issues. The fiber addition will also satiate her hunger, and let her feel fuller in between feedings. During my research I found some interesting studies on the piglets themselves as a result of their mother being fed a high fiber diet during gestation. Results show that these piglets grew faster than those fed a lower fiber diet, and also showed less aggressive tendencies. Whether this is true or not, it certainly won’t hurt and if at the very least it helps her through her pregnancy it’s worth it.
Vaccinations
Prior to breeding Big Marie I never vaccinated her before nor did I give it much thought. I take a middle of the road approach to vaccines generally speaking. I think that they have their place, but like most other forms of medication they are overused and their use has spiraled out of control. So, I decided that I would minimally vaccinate to cover some of the more common diseases that could be detrimental to her health as well as the piglets, and ones that she could pass on immunization in utero. While there are countless vaccines I could give her to cover anything and everything, I have opted for more broad spectrum vaccinations. I firmly believe in the power of diet and environment and how it contributes to overall health and naturally immunity. With her being raised outside the natural way, she is extremely healthy. But, she is at a higher risk for certain diseases carried by other species such as birds, but at very low risk for certain diseases seen in confinement type settings. Regardless, I am administering Farrow Sure Gold and ProSystem TGE to protect against some of the “biggies” that are a realistic threat.
Right now, making sure Big Marie is getting proper nutrition as well as the necessary vaccinations are the top priorities in addition to her overall comfort. As she gets closer to farrowing, we are going to convert the part of the chicken coop into a farrowing house to give her a comfortable place to safely have her piglets outside in the beginning of February.
To say that we are ecstatic for our first litter of piglets is an understatement. She’s such an incredible pig and I cannot wait to see what a wonderful mama she will be. Oh, and the photo opportunities that will come as well!