After The Sow Has Been Served Paul Mcavoy Looks At The System For Farrowing In The Pig Unit At Tatton Park (from Smallholder)

Pigs

After the sow has been served - Paul McAvoy looks at the system for farrowing in the pig unit at Tatton Park

By Paul McAvoy

A Berkshire litter at Home Farm, Tatton

LAST month I was talking to Lisa Kennedy, who manages the pigs at Home Farm on the 1,000-acre Tatton Park Estate at Knutsford in Cheshire.

Formerly the home of the Egerton family, Tatton now belongs to the National Trust but is run on their behalf by Cheshire County Council. The farm is a typical 1930s-style mixed holding, albeit with an amazing range of specialist buildings: dovecots, stables, shippons, dairies, estate office, cottages and a mill. All of these were once linked by narrow rails that ran around the yard for trucks to run on, easing the job of moving heavy loads around in the days of a large staff and minimal machinery.

Although her responsibilities are wide, Lisa is particularly well known for her pig unit in which she aims to have a breeding sow from each of the rare breeds. From time to time she also runs introductory pig-keeping courses for the Cheshire Smallholders' Association, based on the Tatton pig unit.

In the previous article, our conversation had been about how Lisa selects pigs for breeding and how she get the sows and gilts in-pig. This time we will be talking about pregnancy and farrowing.

After the sow has been served, Lisa always checks the sow again with the boar in 21 days. If they show interest then the sow isn't in pig. If not, then the sow is pregnant. Of course, if you don't have access to a boar, then what do you do? "Chance it," says Lisa, "Although ultrasound scanning is possible, it isn't a common option for smallholder." One option though, if your sow is visiting the boar (or vice versa) is to ask to keep the boar, or for the sow to stay at the boar's holding, so that the 21-day check can take place.

The usual pregnancy lasts for three months, three weeks and three days - or, to put it another way, 115 days - from the date of a successful service. Lisa is very relaxed about her care of pregnant sows, which is a good example to follow. She doesn't believe in any special treatment, although she does particularly advise against over feeding before farrowing, as a too fat sow may get into difficulties, but a "bit extra" for the last four weeks is a good idea. As I've said before, feeding pigs is an art rather than a science, so exactly what that extra bit is, relies on common sense more than anything else. Lisa also worms the sows about two weeks before farrowing. The other parts of her regime are equally simple: "avoid travelling if at all possible" and "exercise is good". One avoids unnecessary stress and the other ensures the sow is still reasonably fit come farrowing time.

Well before the due day Lisa gets her expectant sows into the area where they will give birth. This is a roomy pen with water and food troughs, a dunging channel behind the main area of the pen and essentially, a protected creep area for the piglets in which a heat lamp will be provided. The whole pen will have been cleaned and disinfected before the sow goes in. Lisa also washes the sow with soap and water before she goes in, especially around the teats. This to avoid worm eggs being carried into the clean pen. In my previous articles I've always talked about rearing weaners out of doors. When it comes to farrowing though, indoors is probably preferable if at all possible. Firstly, it avoids having to wander around with a torch trying to find the sow. Secondly, it means that power for heat and if necessary light, is available. Finally, it's just so much easier for you. I lamb indoors for all the same reasons.

One of the surest indicators that a sow is about to give birth or "farrow" is that the sow will start to "nest" by collecting straw or bedding material and piling it up where she has decided to have her piglets. The other reliable sign is the appearance of milk in her udder. This generally happens about 12 hours before the piglets start to arrive but never more than 24. You will note that this is a natural system and the sow has a degree of choice about exactly where she will give birth. It can take hours between the earliest signs of farrowing and the first piglet arriving. Lisa told me (with a certain amount of resignation) that night-time farrowing is usual and that she tries not to disturb her sows as they are settling down to it. So if (for example) she sees early signs at about 2 in the afternoon, she leaves the sow in peace until about 7 in the evening, rather than hanging over the edge of the pen all the time. You will be concerned but your "odd" behaviour will be noticed by the sow and it may put her off her instinctive preparations. If there are no piglets by that time, then go away and come back a little later.

Although her sows prefer to farrow after dark, Lisa always puts the heat lamps on as soon as the sow comes into milk. This ensures that the creep area is nicely warmed up before it is needed as well as avoiding disturbance and a sudden increase in lighting levels later on in the process. Once the piglets start to arrive, Lisa was very explicit that one should try to be on hand. Some sows give birth very quietly and calmly but some are up and down after every piglet appears. If you're to hand you can avoid anything getting sat on. In fact, Lisa likes to clean up the mouth and nose of each piglet in turn and then move it safely under the heat lamp in the creep area, but only after you've seen it suckle successfully. Lisa will hold a piglet up to the teat if necessary or even milk a little colostrum out and syringe it into a piglet. The afterbirth usually appears on the same night as the piglets. In fact, you may even find that a piglet can appear mixed up with the afterbirth, which will probably need help to get clear. Lisa reckons the whole farrowing process should take two to six hours.

As you would expect from someone as unflappable as Lisa, she says that after the piglets have arrived the sows "just get on with it" but there are still some things that you will need to do. The straw from the nest will need mucking out, of course, and clean, fresh bedding putting down. The sow will need additional feed now, as a rough guideline it's worth doubling up her feed but if that doesn't seem to be enough then it would be OK to increase it beyond that. It's a matter of being sure the sow is getting enough to feed herself and a whole litter of piglets whose demand for milk is increasing daily. Of course, with all that milk it's also essential that you are on the look out for mastitis (the udder will become inflamed, hot, red and obviously painful for the sow). At two to four days old the piglets need an iron injection to avoid anaemia. This is particularly true if the piglets are indoors or if the ground is frozen. Your vet will advise you on this but Lisa routinely administers an iron injection into the muscle of her piglets neck and finds that this avoids problems. Occasionally, she still gets one that fails to thrive and is somehow "runty" but generally a second injection at two weeks old sorts this out.

I specifically asked Lisa what her experience of piglets being smothered by the sow was. "It can happen," she said, "but in my experience, it's rare." Sometimes the runty piglets just aren't fast enough to get out from under their mother and into the safety of the creep area. On the other hand some sows are just plain "dopey" and have trouble avoiding their own piglets when they lie down.

The sow and her litter remain in the farrowing pen for two or three weeks before moving them into your regular accommodation, although a creep area is still a good idea, as that will allow you to offer creep feed to the piglets without the sow eating it. But from as little as one week old, the sow and her litter are also encouraged to go outside into the paddock. "This is where the general public see them at their best - rooting around in the soil and exhibiting their natural behaviour," says Lisa . She starts offering a dry creep feed at two or three weeks old, so that the piglets will be eating well before weaning at around 6. Under Lisa's regime, she offers the weaners dry creep feed ad-lib once they're away from the sow, as she puts it "it keeps them occupied and gives them a good start". You should expect some calling from the sow after weaning at first. So either separate the sow and piglets out of earshot if possible or be sure that the sow is securely contained.

At around eight or nine weeks, Lisa's weaners come off the creep feed and go onto rationed finishing pellets. The other thing that Lisa does at nine weeks is to worm them and she'll do this once again before they're finished - assuming they're going as porkers. Not all Lisa's piglets go for meat though. As she breeds pure rare breeds as well as cross breeds for meat, she often has both male and female piglets that are potential breeding stock. These are the ones that look as though they have the potential to achieve that breed standard and these Lisa will "birth notify" with the British Pig Association so that they are registered in the herd book and will be eligible to breed pure, rare breed, piglets in their turn.

Lisa finished by adding a thought that I strongly agree with: "There's no single best way to rear pigs - this is what works for me, in my situation - there will be other methods, and the fascination is to work out what combination works best for you".

For more details on Tatton Park, see http://www.tattonpark.org.uk/

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Posted by: M Heritage, Shropshire on 5:46pm Fri 1 Feb 08

Could you please clarify the required paperwork for potential breeding stock? I thought the whole litter had to be "birth-notified" and subsequently if any were breed-standard they could then be registered for breeding?

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