Will separating 2 sows/boar from each other cause stress?

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I have 2 sows & a boar living together.  Sows were impregnated by him so I let them all be for now.  This happened a month ago.  The 2 sows were partners when we adopted them so they obviously get along.

I have read that girls should be separated when pregnant otherwise one could induce labour in the other before it's really time.  I don't want that happening.  Also, I want to separate the male as I certainly don't want this happening again, especially straight after having baby/babies.

I know what I should do, it's just being concerned that the girls will get upset being apart as well as the male.  I know stress isn't good either for them.  

How do I properly handle this?   We have the room and are definitely going to keep all of the babies, then separate them when needed.

Thanks for your help.

ANSWER: Well first let me assure you that the idea that having two sows together is dangerous in any way to either of their litter's is pure fiction.  I've raised cavies for years and have never had a sow abort prematurely because her cage mate delivered first.

These are herding animals. They live in a communal society in the wild. They will take care of each other's babies and will tend to their 'sister wives' when one is delivering. I've watched as the "aunties" have helped to clean babies as they were born to their cage mates. The idea that it's unhealthy for them to stay the way nature intended is simply not true.

Leave the girls together. You're right in removing the boar before delivery as the sows come in to estrus within hours of delivery and he WILL breed them back. Although this isn't harmful to them if it's not done repeatedly, I believe it's best to not allow the sow to breed until about a month after she's weaned her pups. She needs time to recuperate and regain her condition.

You can leave the boar in with the girls until the first one looks definitely pregnant. When you feel the babies moving take him out. You'll feel the movement about two weeks prior to delivery. Gestation is seven weeks, give or take a few days. You won't know exactly when conception took place, but you will be able to predict approximately when they will deliver by when you feel the movement.

It's not usually the norm for the boar to have bred both girls at the same time. Typically there's a least a week, usually two, between the deliveries of sows who were housed with one boar. Perhaps it lowers his sperm count if bred too frequently. That's simply an observation, not a medical fact. I have no basis for that theory other than my own experience.

When the babies are born leave the entire family in one cage. Remove the baby boars first at about four weeks. If the sows are looking stressed and worn from nursing you can pull the boars at three weeks. I let the mom decide when to wean the baby sows. They generally stop nursing them by the time the pups are six weeks old.

If you have a big enough cage you can leave all the girls together. They thrive in that herd environment.  

So don't stress over what to do with the expectant mothers.  Just leave them as they are and let them take care of each other. They'll be much happier that way.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Pat and thank you so much for your very informative AND prompt answer.  

Why can't you form a website of your own to tell the TRUTH!  I don't know how many times I've read about separating the sows because 1 will deliver prematurely when she realizes the other mom is lactating.

The pen is large so that's fine and they get out for exercise.  It eases my mind to leave them together.

One thing I am concerned about (again) is I wrote to you on Aug. 21 I believe and was upset about these 2 sows being about 2 yrs. old and pregnant.  You said not to worry (what can I do now, right?).  You've had sows deliver their 1st litter at that age with no problems.

I noticed one of your other letters to someone to breed up to about 8 months old because if they're older there's a BIG chance of losing the sow and her litter.  Now I'm upset all over again, bah!

Thanks again Pat and hope to hear from you if you feel the need to answer.

Great work!
Paula

Answer
As breeders we try not to breed our sows after a year old. That's a rule of thumb and not written in stone. I try not to encourage what I call 'back yard breeders' to jump into breeding without being willing to accept the potential losses. Nearly every litter has at least one baby either born dead or dies within a few days.

I recently had one of my best Himalayan show sows (eight months old) deliver two babies then prolapsed her uterus, dying within a few hours after delivery. When I got home from work I found a dead mom and two live babies. Had I been home I would have been able to save her. I was lucky enough to have another sow with a two week old litter and put the babies in with them.

Normally it's a hard process to get a foster mom to take the babies when her own litter is that old. This mom surprised me and immediatey grabbed onto those newborns as if she were saying, "Get over here child, you need your bottom cleaned and a good meal."  

I lost one of them two days later, probably because it wasn't aggressive enough to get to the nipples and fight the larger 'brothers and sisters'. But the other survived and thrived. It was an important litter, the father was a Himilayan imported from England and this was his first litter. My point is it's always a risk no matter who you are.

I have had older sows deliver their first litters without difficulty, and I've lost younger ones for no explainable reason. As I think I told you in August, there's no point in worrying now if the sow is already pregnant. So rest easy and just wait it out. You don't really know the exact age of your girls. They may be younger than you think.  They may also have already had litters before.

If that's the case you have little or nothing to worry about. What I mean is there is always a potential for problems, that doesn't meant it's a given.

As for the website, there are so many people who open their own site and make claims of knowledge. Just because you read it online doesn't make it gospel truth.  You have to filter out a lot of information. The hardcore anti-breeding groups make a big noise without truly knowing what their talking about either.

They forget that the purebred dogs, horses, cattle, etc that we have we owe to responsible breeders. The puppy mills are a tragedy and we'd all like to see them stopped. People who just breed dogs in their back yards without knowing anything about the background or genetics of the dogs they own are no better in my opinion than the puppy mills that are just breeding for money. Unfortunately the animal rights people paint everyone with the same brush.

Making a website opens you up for trouble in many cases.  I'd just rather not go there. My animals area all purebreds with pedigrees going back many generations. They're bred by genetic selection, not for multiplication or cash. It's too bad that much effort isn't put into some of the humans that are 'breeding'.

I'm sure you can understand why so many of us just don't put ourselves out there for bashing by the groups that have good intentions but bad direction.

I don't try to frighten anyone about their animals. Although I don't encourage people to breed their pets for fun it's not my intention nor my place to criticize or chastise either. We see enough of that on so many web sites. If someone comes to me for help that's what I give them.

I feel I can accomplish more by educating than criticizing. When someone asks me for help, that's what I give them.

I hope this helps you a bit. Please don't spend time worrying about what you can't fix at this point. Just think positive.