2019 farrowing started well as Susie Q gave birth to 16 piglets yesterday, and after a cold night that dipped into the teens F, she still had 15 alive and nursing this morning.
I could see she was going to farrow yesterday morning so I put 2 straw bales and 1 hay bale loose where she could get to them and she spent a few hours building the giant nest you can see in the photo below. It works better if you let the sow build her own nest for some reason. All the women reading this are probably like, duh!
I wish all my sows were as good of mothers as she. And humbly, I tell you she wasn’t even chosen as a breeder. She was a runt that got accidentally bred, and after a first litter of only 4 piglets born, she’s had big litters since. I think this is her 4th litter.
Curiousfarmer 
I absolutely love happy stories about the unexpected success of an underdog.
Heather, I guess a runt truly is an underdog as the way I understand it is a runt is at the end of a uterine horn and receives less nutrients as an embryo compared to its littermates. I had never thought of a runt as an underdog, so thanks for that!