Post by serendipity on Mar 30, 2013 10:12:00 GMT -5
Last night at 9:30 p.m. my sow seemed to be in early labor. (Right on her due date too) She was breathing in short pants but appeared normal in all other ways. She got up out of her nest and came over for her nightly back scratch, belly rub and general inspection. I couldn't express any milk yet. It was supposed to rain so I pulled the door shut to keep the new babies out of the wind. (She was in a horse stall with an attached outside run.) Then I went inside to go to bed - I've been sick and was not up to staying awake all night and she was a very good mom last time.
I got up to check on her at 3:30 a.m. and she was not in the stall-she had pushed the door open to go outside and it had swung shut behind her locking her out. With a sinking heart I opened the stall door expecting to find dead piglets. It was 37 degrees F windy, raining and lightning. Instead I found my sow dead! She was lying on her side and does not appear to be injured at all. :
Any ideas what may have happened? Could 6 hours or less outside in the wet been enought to give her hypothermia? Could a "stuck" piglet have killed her that fast? I've wondered about the possibility of a heart attack and a friend suggested lightning.
This is making me crazy. She was healthy and happy when I went to bed! My daughter was going to show one of her piglets in the county fair this year and I already had buyers for several piglets from her! Of course, she was the nicest sow I have - PB registered Tamworth.
To top it all off, I now have to figure out how to dispose of her. The ground here is frozen so we can't bury her. My husband want's to call the renderer, but that would be at least $250 and I really don't want to do that. Maybe we could dig into the manure pile enough to cover her?
Any ideas on what might have killed her or how to dispose of her would be greatly appreciated.
I got up to check on her at 3:30 a.m. and she was not in the stall-she had pushed the door open to go outside and it had swung shut behind her locking her out. With a sinking heart I opened the stall door expecting to find dead piglets. It was 37 degrees F windy, raining and lightning. Instead I found my sow dead! She was lying on her side and does not appear to be injured at all. :
Any ideas what may have happened? Could 6 hours or less outside in the wet been enought to give her hypothermia? Could a "stuck" piglet have killed her that fast? I've wondered about the possibility of a heart attack and a friend suggested lightning.
This is making me crazy. She was healthy and happy when I went to bed! My daughter was going to show one of her piglets in the county fair this year and I already had buyers for several piglets from her! Of course, she was the nicest sow I have - PB registered Tamworth.
To top it all off, I now have to figure out how to dispose of her. The ground here is frozen so we can't bury her. My husband want's to call the renderer, but that would be at least $250 and I really don't want to do that. Maybe we could dig into the manure pile enough to cover her?
Any ideas on what might have killed her or how to dispose of her would be greatly appreciated.