By Makeli Phiri
OVERSTOCKING of pregnant sow accommodation is a common source of trouble. Too many sows in a pen or paddock leads to parasite building-up and various psychological upsets in the groups which may result in dirty habits, loss of weight and bullying.
A common mistake on outdoor systems is to have a communal feeding paddock for sows from all the different paddocks.
The feeding paddock is under considerable danger from parasites and pathogen build-up. It also invariably becomes very muddy and may lead to damaged feet and udders.
What are these psychological factors? Sows are usually moved into their maternity quarters some time before farrowing to allow them to become used to their new surroundings and adapt, to a small extent, to the potentially dangerous agents in their new environment.
This should be at least a week before farrowing as three or four days is not enough. It would equally be better to wash the udder immediately before the sow farrows and not several days before hand.
Equally, this period should make the pig farmer make nutritional changes and carry out various treatments if any, such as mangeing and worming, without upsetting sows close to pigging.
Psychological upsets after farrowing are common and careful note should be taken of the actions of sows in the first 36 hours after farrowing.
Worst savaging cases occur in sows that have had too much human attention during pregnancy. Another cause seems to be an abnormal extension of the psychology of parturition in the sow’s response to any movement or interference which threatens their offspring.
Fat sows who suffer a painful parturition due to excess fat around the vagina tend to be more hypersensitive than normal sows. Gilts are usually worse than sows.
A farmer should always remember that gilts don’t have pre-natal classes to tell them what to expect at farrowing! A pig farmer must try to stimulate the maternal instinct in a parturient sow, but this doesn’t mean too much interference. Quietness is essential and interference only necessary when something is amiss.
Constipation results in hard mass of faeces in the rectum which narrows the birth canal even further, and should be avoided wherever possible. Reducing feed intake and replacing half of the ration with bran just before farrowing may help to alleviate the condition. Exercise also helps.
Overstocking of the udder causes excruciating pain when piglets first suckle, so cutting teeth piglet’s teeth, and wise control of diet before farrowing, are of particular importance in gilts.
Some sows sit on their hindquarters before lying down, instead of going down in the more normal way. These sows are very prone to crush their piglets and should be culled as soon as possible.
Manual interference occurs with farrowing sows because many people fail to realise what is normal at farrowing. Many sows will farrow one piglet and then rest for one to one-and-half hours before producing the next. They may then farrow six or seven in rapid succession.
Conversely, they may farrow two or three and then rest. There is really no need to interfere until at least one hour has elapsed between births. Exceptions do occur, such as the sow who rests between each piglet for one hour and as a result has a prolonged farrowing. This is a very powerful pre-disposing factor to farrowing fever.
Sows should take between three to four hours to complete farrowing. If they take five to six hours, then trouble may be expected. It is suggested that in such an event you wait for one hour with a sow and 111/2 hours with the gilt before you think of interfering.
This applies so long as the sow is not forcibly straining. If this occurs for a quarter to half an hour, then a piglet is likely stuck and it should be removed by hand.
You must be scrupulously clean so wash your hands with a non-detergent soap before and after each entry into the sow. Sows which have been examined nearly always have a mucopurulent discharge for somedays after farrowing and this may result in infertility later. Treatment with an antibiotic may then be necessary.
Floor insulation is essential in any area an animal is confined. Temperature should be adequate for the sow and litter. It is as well to remember that infra-red lamps only heat objects onto which their rays play. They do not heat the air in between.
Thus these lamps will only heat piglets which are underneath them and not the whole house. If a lamp is placed over the pen partition some heat is wasted heating the partition.
Piglets spend a lot of time suckling the sow and if the body of the house is cold they will be chilled when they leave the lamp.
Pig farmers who are in good pig business should understand this to get the most out of their livestock.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN PREGNANT SOWS
