Bess is now a momma again

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

I was so hoping to get pictures of her udder and everything before and after, but she had them a WEEK EARLY. Unheard of around here. I was afraid something would be wrong since they were so early. Maybe stillborn, or too big. Anyway, we went to feed her last night and her udder looked significantly HUGE. Darn, I wanted to get a picture. I'd been checking her vulva for days, and it was getting floppy, but it looked like she would wait until the end of the week.

When I was doing chores last night, she was very slow to get up. Then she backed against the wall and went in a circle, and only ate half of her dinner. Then went in and laid down again. I rubbed her udder and milk was squirting. Uh Oh.

Got another heat lamp, got hubby to put a latch on the new door of the new stall that wasn't quite done. Then I went in and ate dinner and came back out. It was the longest labor I have ever experienced. 45-60 minutes between babies. But, she wasn't straining, or shaking, or giving any other sign that she was in trouble, so I didn't interfere. When the first one was coming, she had already been in labor for over an hour, so I did poke my hand in to see what was there and I felt a nose, with front legs back. Poor girl. No torpedo delivery.

They weren't particularly large, but after 4 1/2 hours she had 7 and all the placenta had been delivered in two chunks, and she started grunting to the babies, so I figure she was done. And I was tired. They were all nursing well, except for the little one. She may be brain damaged or something. She figured out how to get the teat in her mouth and lick, but couldn't get the sucking down, even on a small teat. We'll see if she's still there this morning.

Right now I'm having oatmeal, and we made a double batch so Bess can have some too. She was very tired. Maybe too fat. We'll have to get her in boot camp next pregnancy.

[Rodie Todie]

YAY For piggys! I'd LOVE to see them =) I hope the little one pulls through!

[Stacy]

Darn! We could've used those pictures! LOL!
Ok.. I'll cut ya a break this time, considering she went so early and all....
Can't wait to see the pictures and to hear how the little one did. What was the break down on male to female ratio? Just curious.

[Tammy]

Congrats, Shelley! Hope momma gets the rest she needs and all the babies do well. Sorry about the little one.

Tammy

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

Well, even more drama. She wasn't done! I took her her breakfast and there were three more! Too bad two of them were already dead--one wrapped in placenta and the other one in a sac. And the tiny one that wouldn't nurse is nearly dead. But she had one more survivor, so this morning there were still 7 healthy piggies. Final tally is 3 girls and 4 boys alive, 1 girl and 2 boys dead. Poor girl is exhausted and didn't even want any breakfast.

Here's a dark video showing her nesting. She only had about 2 hours of nesting time before she laid down for good, so she couldn't do a superior job. And, I took some of the straw out before she had any babies because it just looked like too much.


And here's the family:

[Shawn]

They are SO cute. Love baby piggies.

[Rodie Todie]

Awwww I want one!!! I love little pigs!

[Stacy]

I am sooo glad they get UNcute! those are wayyy too cute to even think about eating.
Thanks for including the video of her nesting. Seems kinda like what Bailey did, but a week ago or so now!
Thanks for sharing the pics!

[tammy0518]

it is so much finger nail biting it seems when our animals our about to have babies or are in the middle of having babies. i sure do appreciate this forum and all the information that is posted from first hand expierence. i am sorry about the little ones that did not make it but glad you have the healthy ones that did and poor mommy. is it normal for it to take that long? how many litters has she had before this one?

[missevelyn]

Congratulations on Bess' new litter.

Penelope and her pen mate are doing well. You'd've loved watching her run and buck in the pen when Fay was scooping manure with the little Kubota.

Regina

[Mitra]

Ahhhhh, a lovely litter of piglets! Go Bess Congratulations!

[kristi]

Awww...congratulations! Love those babies!

[Nonesuch Melissa]

So cute... and we got our piglets last night, also without pictures as the camera was broken and only takes very fuzzy pics now.

[Liz]

Congrats!!
They are so cute!

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but early labor in a pig is not a good thing. I knew with that slow delivery, and a week early when she's always been a few days late, this was not a good sign. When I checked on her the next evening, two more were dead and one was dying. I brought it in the house to warm it up because it was chilled. I was still hoping they were just chilled, but it wasn't cold in there. It died in the night, and the next morning, another one was dying and one more chilled. That left one piggy-a girl. She was acting good, talking to her mama, and mama was taking care of her. But she died by that night. So they all ended up dying. I don't know what went wrong. We sent two babies backeast to test for everything. Dr. Pete says it could have been any number of things, from a virus, to the wierd weather.

The testing hopefully will tell us something conclusive, although sometimes it's not. In my gut, I remember vaccinating all three sows last spring. Except, Bess is needle-shy and jumped when I stuck her. I dropped the needle and got a fresh one to finish up, but I never got more than 1/2 the dose of vaccine in her. The other two got their full dose without blinking. They both have delivered 7 and 5, all healthy and on time. Luckily I sold those two and don't have to worry about fulfilling any deals. I'm just out my litter and a gilt that I was going to save.

After some research online, Lepto can cause very late "abortion" or early farrowing with weak babies. I don't know at what point we draw the line between abortion and early farrowing. We have a rat problem, and haven't had any problems since the last sow that aborted 6 weeks early many years ago, and I attribute it to starting up the vaccinations again.

I'm waiting to find out what to do next. Bess seems healthy, after resting for several days after the exhausting labor and grieving over her dead babies. Poor thing. She really is a good momma and loves her babies. It's so sad to watch her nose the dead ones around trying to get them up, then laying down to call them to nurse. Her udder is going down, and she's almost back to normal. So sad.

[missevelyn]

Oh, Shelley, I'm so sorry. Poor Bess.

Regina

[kristi]

Oh no... poor girl and you too! Can you remove the dead ones? We do that and it helps, I think. Please keep us informed when you get your test results back.

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

Kristi, don't worry, I took the babies out as they died. If I had somewhere else sheltered I would have moved her too, because new surroundings would have helped. It's just so sad to watch them try and figure out what's happening.

Thank you Regina. I'm glad Penelope is doing well. I'd love to see pictures as she grows up. Her mom sure turned out to be a great milker. I'm sure Fay will love her.