The first thing is for you to prepare a place for it to deliver well. This is called a farrowing barn. Among other aspects, it must be dry, clean and disinfected,
– It should be possible to separate the piglets from the sow to avoid the risk of the sow rolling on a piglet. Those who can afford should acquire farrowing cabins for the sows. These stop any kind of injury to the piglets during delivery.
-Have feeds in the farrowing barn. The sow will then feel hungry, walk better and start eating as soon as she arrives back in the box
– Ensure fresh water 24/7, through a nipple or a covered water trough to avoid contamination.
– Feeding twice a day (lactation feed) and add extra sugar (dextrose 200 gr/sow/day) once day.
Feeding
You must not overfeed the sow in the name of feeding it properly; this will make it fat. If the sow or gilt becomes too fat, the following problems may occur on your farm:
-Delivery of the piglets takes longer than it should
– More stillborn piglets
-A poorly developed udder that later affects the way the piglets suckle. It also lowers milk production which will result in underdeveloped piglets!
But again if you under feed it, it will grow thin and weak. If the sow or gilt will become too thin, the following problems may occur on your farm:
-Next litter will be smaller, fewer piglets
-It takes longer to conceive and if you are using insemination, you will need more re-insemination because fertility will become lower -Weaning needs to be done earlier because the sow is no longer producing milk.
