Pig Pile

It was the gilt (young sow) Goldy’s time this week. She had been bred to our white boar Benjie, and two weeks ago she had begun showing an udder, and it was time to move her to the barn in preparation for farrowing. The momma pigs just seem to know when it is their time, walking resolutely with Kara through the barnyard from their paddocks to the barn.

Already the space was a maternity ward, filled with jug pens of ewes with their lambs. It took a while for Goldy to settle into the new environment, grunting at all the sounds of hungry sheep. She had her own pen spa set up in the barn, loafing about waiting for her time.

Mom and Kara were in the barn delivering lambs right when Goldy went into labor, and she and Kara had to keep trading spots so one of them could be with the ewe while the other was with the pig. We raise heritage Kunekune pigs, which are smaller and furry as well as good-tempered, so Goldy didn’t mind having people right in the pen with her. This was the sow’s first time having piglets, and she was anxious and tense, complaining vocally through the process.

To help her relax, we used an old English trick of offering her a beer. As soon as Kara cracked the tab, she was right on it, as if demanding, “Give it to me!” verily inhaling the drink from her dish. It turned out to be a two-beer job, which helped Goldy transition from a prologued labor to finally being able to relax and push. It took a while between the first one and the last of her litter of seven creamy-white little ones, their skin pinkish beneath their velvet fur. Despite having a warm heat lamp, the morning was cold, and the first piglet was getting chilled.

They rushed the tiny piglet into the farmhouse, holding it on the heater block we keep running all through lambing season, as well as using a tiny syringe to drip karo syrup into its mouth. At first, it seemed like little progress was being made, and the rest of the piglets were brought into the house in a box to help keep them warmer to prevent any more hypothermia. Just when it seemed unlikely that the first piglet would recover, it perked up, started grunting, and turned the corner. Hooray!

Every two hours, we would bring the piglets back out to the barn to momma for nursing. Because this was Goldy’s first time, she didn’t have the experience of our other sows for the nursing process. While she would flop down when the babies were present, her udder was not very available for the little ones, and Kara would have to help reposition her so the piglets could nurse. Between the gentle nature of the breed and Goldy’s laidback nature, she allowed Kara to be right there with her, helping. Between sessions, Goldy would snooze and snooze.

For several days, the piglets were brought out for nursing then brought back inside to keep them warm, each time growing bigger and chubbier. As Goldy grew more comfortable with the situation, she began to grunt to her babies as well as be more relaxed in the nursing process and more easily let down her milk. Yesterday, the piglets were big and strong enough to stay full-time in the barn with a creep corner (a part of the pen with a board held up high so the piglets can sneak underneath and have time under the heat lamp where mom cannot lay on them.

Easily, the piglets have more than tripled in size, sleeping in a pile under the heat lamp. They are happy little chubs, learning how to come in and out of the creep and nurse at will. Momma is happy as well, enjoying her new role and sharing it with her little ones.

At the same time, I’ve been hatching baby chicks in the incubator from our own eggs in the walkout basement of our house, so it surely is springtime on the farm, with lambs, piglets, and chicks all at the same time! Time to go check on the adorable pig pile. See you down on the farm sometime.

Laura Berlage is a co-owner of North Star Homestead Farms, LLC and Farmstead Creamery. 715-462-3453 www.northstarhomestead.com