How a Mother Pig Takes Care of Her Piglets

Pigs give birth to live piglets, and the natural course is for the mother pig to care for piglets immediately following birth. Though you may need to intervene, especially if the piglets are being raised to be pets or kept in a home-based setting, the mother pig will instinctively handle the primary care of the piglets.

  1. Immediate Nurturing

    • Provided the sow has survived the birthing process, the mother pig will begin to take care of piglets immediately following birth. The mother pig must have an ample number of teats to nurse each piglet. It is optimal for the sow to have at least 14 teats to provide milk to a full litter of piglets, which averages 10 piglets per litter. You want a healthy sow to have extra teats available in case one becomes clogged or is a poor producer of milk.

    Feeding Schedule

    • Piglets should latch on to the mother pig within the first hour of being born. This is so the piglets can receive the first round of milk produced by the mother pig, which contains colostrum. Colostrum provides the antibodies the newborns need to build up their immune systems. Piglets feed from the mother pig every hour on the hour. This means the mother pig and her piglets need to be kept together during the first four to eight weeks. It is important to not mix litters. You must keep piglets with the mother pig, unless an alternate sow is required for nursing an orphaned piglet.

    Mastitis

    • Mastitis is one condition which impacts mother pigs, unless human intervention occurs when the piglets are one day old. Piglets have sharp eye teeth, known as needle teeth, which can injure the sow and render the impacted teat unusable. You can use clips to trim the sharp points off the teeth to help prevent mastitis from occurring. This will help ensure all piglets have an available teat to nurse from.

    Feeding Location

    • It is common for larger piglets to push smaller piglets out of the way in order to nurse. The smallest piglets, known as the runts of the litter, often get forced into feeding from the less viable teats of the sow. The teats located to the front of the mother produce the most milk, whereas the teats located in the hind quarters produce the least. Because of this, you may need to physically move piglets around so theyall have a chance to receive nourishment.