The piglets are out and about in the pasture.
Chestnut and Swannanoa the sows are incredibly hot- even in the morning when it is only about 77 degrees. I'm pretty sure the hard work of lactating is making them sensitive to the heat. They spend more time wallowing that the 2 pregnant sows who are a similar size and color.
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| Nothing like a water hose to make a pig happy. |
All pigs need a wallow when it is warm (and it's certainly warm: 87-90 degrees these days). The sows are so big and they just sigh as they lay their bellies down into the cool mud. We've been running water from the irrigation system straight into their wallows almost everyday. There must be water in the wallow to cool them down. We do like that the wallows will dry out if we let them- that will prevent disease and bacteria from building up in the water.
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| This is a deluxe wallow- it is under a 10 by 10 tarp shade shelter. I'm filling the wallow with a hose. |
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| The piglets are learning how to drink water. This is not the water we want them to drink, but they're having fun exploring their surroundings! |
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| This is the pasture farrowing huts that we built. You need a truck or tractor to move them, but we wanted a nice big hut for each sow and her litter. |
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| Nap time. |
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| They will bury themselves in hay even when it is 90 degrees outside. The slanted boards are to for the sow to lean against when she lays down. The piglets then have a safe area past the boards. The piglets have to watch out when they weigh 3 pounds and the sow weighs 300-400 lbs. |
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| Sibling rivalry...at 5 days old! |
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| Dinner! Each sow gets 15 lbs once a day of a 18% protein feed to help her meet her nutritional needs while she is lactating. |
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| Tired after a grand adventure. |
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