Circle M Farm

Our voluptuous sow, Piggy Lou, is due to pig today, but I’m praying she holds on for a few days more.

The temperature is just 50 today in our little valley, up from 30 last night. Tonight is predicted to be 36, which means about 32 here in the lowlands. Tomorrow should be much nicer, with a high of 63 and a low of just 48. But nothing in the next week is ideal birthing weather for pigs at all.

Our outdoor pig gardens aren’t really designed to accommodate the heat lamps and mats you’d find in a conventional indoor hog operation, but since we’re not breeding our sow twice year, we don’t normally require winter facilities. We planned this delivery to fall in a temperate week! According to conventional pig manuals, sows are most comfortable with a climate at 68 degrees, while piglets are best off around 95. Something in between the two is generally adequate, but we won’t be even close for the next dozen days.

Last year Piggy Lou delivered the first week in June and it was 90 at noon when she started. She birthed 11, but only 8 survived, probably because she was exhausted in the heat and couldn’t push the last few out before they became oxygen deprived. We were aiming for something earlier and gentler, but instead we’re in the middle of a harsh spring freeze.

But if Piggy Lou can hang on at least another day, we’d be out of the mid-30s night temperatures and maybe the weather system will have a chance to shift a bit away from us. In the meantime, I’m gathering the heat lamps from above the baby chicks and in the sheep pens and trying to find a way to safely rig a warm piglet “creep” area in which they can take shelter should they become chilled.