I started farrowing my spring group in early March. I’m using the same farrowing setup in the same hoop barn which I wrote about in my previous post. All I did was clean the manure out of the middle of the hoop barn, leaving the huts where they sat. As pigs generally don’t manure where they sleep, there was only bedding inside the huts and that is working fine.
It doesn’t look like this group will average quite as well though, and I’ll tell you why. It’s gotten too warm. Today was in the 60s F. Instead of cold air keeping each litter in its own hut for a week to 10 days, the mama sows are calling their piglets out of the huts at just a few days old. The older litters are then robbing some of the milk from the younger litters and I fear it may starve some of the younger piglets.
I had debated about whether I wanted to farrow in a hoop again, or place the huts out in the field. Well I’m glad I’ve kept them in the hut because we have still been having snowstorms and been dealing with mud. This group is almost finished. The May group will farrow out on pasture for sure.
Curiousfarmer 