A 'baker's dozen' of little piggies!!

We got a wonderful surprise today when we went to check on our pigs. Actually, we got two surprises...the first of which was not so wonderful. We had recently moved one of our very pregnant sows, Wiggles, into the "maternity ward".  It is a recent construction with plenty of room, fresh straw bedding and a nice warming lamp. All in all, nice digs for a pig. However, when I rounded the corner of the building to feed Wiggles in her posh new pen, she wasn't there. Commercial hog houses cram  there pregnant sows into narrow metal cages, called farrowing crates. These crates prevent the sow from moving forward or backward. Nor does she have room to turn around. She can only lie on her side to give birth and nurse her babies. The treatment of pigs in most large hog houses is unforgivable. But that will be a story for another day.

Here is a little history on our dear Wiggles. She is a 2 1/2 year old registered Berkshire we have had for over two years now. From day one, she has been the only one of our pigs that didn't care much for humans. All of the others welcome our ear scratching and belly rubs. Those who make reference to the ferociousness of a mama bear have never encountered a mama pig! Allen had a VERY close call with Wiggles and her first  litter. He entered her pen and picked up one of her babys. When it began to squeal she went NUTS and after Allen she went full speed. He could have qualified for the US Olympic track team getting out of that pen!

Now, back to my surprise this morning. I found the steel cattle panel comprising the east side of her pen pried away from the barn and no Wiggles! I could equate the feeling I had at that moment with that of a zookeeper realizing his lion has escaped. This was a well constructed, very solid pen. My step son asked, "Why did she do that?", my answer, "She is a 600 pound female, she can do anything she wants!" I guess our new maternity pen didn't meet her diva standards. All of our sows fancy themselves 'divas'. They sleep in, demand attention and let us know when something doesn't meet their approval.



Allen doing a head count

 After a cautious search we found Wiggles, still in labor. She hadn't wandered far. She was still in the barnyard, under a covered shed. Wiggles had already delivered 12 babies and we got to see the 13th and final little piggy being born. Giving birth to 13 babies must have taken a bit of fight out of her, because she didn't seem to mind us hovering... ever so cautiously.

All 13 were hearty and active. They were all vying for the best nipple. Piglets do that, apparently some are better than others. I guess its kinda like trying all the toppings at Sweet Frog's (a frozen yogurt shop). You try them all till one's just right. I'm so thankful I had brought my camera with us to check on the pigs. I had been planning to take some pictures of our finishing pigs. Instead, I got some great pictures of the new babies. There are just so adorable!

We decided to just leave her were she is for tonight. I doubt her and the 'baker's dozen' will wander off overnight. There is an electric fence on 3 sides of her and it is a good distance to the nearest road.  We set her up with a bucket of fresh water and put up a sheet of ply board to block any westerly breeze. It's gonna be around freezing here tonight so we hooked up a heat lamp for the new babies. Piglets can't regulate their own body temperature well until about three weeks of age. Mama pigs have been raising their young for thousands of years without human help, so I know the lamp isn't a necessity. We just don't want them to get too cold and it couldn't hurt. I would have put them all in little feety piggy pajamas if I could ;-). 

Our new Berkshire babies

So, we are hoping and praying we find 13 healthy babies again in the morning. We have a plan to get her and her little darlings into a different pen, since the first one obviously didn't suit her. I feel sure she will be back to her old self again by tomorrow. That is why we will trade in our muck boots for running shoes and hope for the best.