Unusual behavior in gilt

cncncrew · #1 07/26/12, 11:12 PM

Hi,

I'm new here and fairly new to raising pigs. I don't know how much information I need to give but here goes:

We have three adult pigs and four piglets born on July 2nd.

Our sow, Red, is about 18mo., is a Duroc, and has had 2 litters. The piglets are hers.

The gilt, Mixie, is about 18mo., is a Hampshire and has been exposed to the male for about 9 months with no piglets.

The Male, Spot, is about a year old, is a Pietrain (I think) and sired both of Red's litters.

We had finally decided to put Mixie in the freezer because of her apparent barrenness. However, we noticed that she is allowing the piglets to "nurse" on her and her teats are looking almost as full as Red's.

Is it possible that she might actually be pregnant? Should we wait a little longer to slaughter just in case? Has anyone ever had this happen to their pigs?

Thanks in advance and God Bless

**highlands** · #2 07/27/12, 03:22 PM

When in doubt, wait a little longer and that way you won't miss out on a litter.

lasergrl · #3 07/27/12, 03:29 PM

I had a mini pig that had one litter then never got bred again. 2 years later she let the other girls piglets nurse and she came into milk. Many months later she was butchered and was not pregnant although was still in milk. I was told her reproductive organs looked normal.

cncncrew · #4 07/27/12, 07:10 PM

Thank-you for your replies. I guess there is no harm in waiting a little. We've waited 9 months for her to get pregnant. What's another month or two.

God Bless