Newborn Pigs

Question
Our pigs just gave birth to a baby. Do we need to seperate/remove the mother from the father? Is there a time frame to handle to baby? Will the father eat the baby if handled?
Sorry this is my first time being a pig mommy...

Tonya

Answer
Hello Tonya and thanks for the question.

Congratz!

If you DID NOT YET remove the mother from the father, you are looking at another pregnancy risk! Do it IMMEADIATELY. A sow will go into estus (can concieve) RIGHT AFTER BIRTHING. Odds are she is prego again.

The father can be around the pups (but not the mom so it is kinda rough LOL) as long as he is not "annoying" them. He may show mounting behavior to establish the "chain of command". You should NOT stop this as it is normal. Female can GET pregnant and males can IMPREGNANT at 4 weeks so sex them and seperate them into males and females at that time. A mother and her daughters can be together and "most" of the time (unless fighting) the brothers can be put together (but NOT with DAD). If the sibling males fight, seperate them.

GP dads NEVER EAT their young but may "hurt" a male he deems a threat to his harim so watch out for too aggressive behavior.

Thanks and good luck,
Ryan
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