Today we pretty much finished up all the action around our spring farrowing. We ear-notched, castrated and weighed all the piglets, situated the last sow in the barn and did a bit of doctoring on another sow.
Our three sows have a grand total of 18 piglets between them this spring. That’s not so great when you consider that we’re aiming for at least 8 pigs per litter, or 24 from three sows.
While I’ve been ruminating about which of my spotted sows I should keep a daughter from, our Large Black sow comes along with the best litter. It’s a bit of a hassle keeping the detailed farrowing records that I do, but it does give me a lot of good data to use.
Here’s a peek at the numbers from the last two farrowings.
Margo (Large Black)
14 live piglets, 1 mortality 4.9# average weight (@72hrs.)
Annette (G.O.S.)
14 live piglets, 3 mortalities 3.24# average weight (@72hrs.)
Dottie (Spotted)
12 live piglets, 15 mortalities 3.2# average weight (@72hrs.)
With it all there in black-and-white it’s pretty clear who isn’t making the cut.
What factors do you attribute to the one sows. 15. mortalities?
Poor Dottie!