The 114 Days - Gestation Care

The most expensive animal on a small pig farm is a sow you are feeding as if she is pregnant when she is not. She eats for months and produces nothing. Confirming pregnancy early is the cheapest money you will ever save.

Step one: write the date

Gestation is 114 days: three months, three weeks and three days. The moment you serve her, count 114 days forward from the service date and write that expected farrowing date on her card and on the wall calendar. Normal farrowing may occur a couple of days either side of 114, so plan to have her in the farrowing pen well before the date, not on it.

The easy mental method: take the service date, add 3 months, add 3 weeks, add 3 days. Served on 1 March gives 1 June, plus 3 weeks gives 22 June, plus 3 days gives 25 June. Do it on paper, not in your head, and write it down.

Step two: the 21 day check

This is your main pregnancy test and it costs nothing. Between 18 and 24 days after service, run your normal heat detection routine on her with the boar. If she stands, she is not pregnant. Serve her again immediately, and you have lost only 21 days. If she shows no heat signs at all across that window, she is probably pregnant.

You must actually check. A farmer who assumes she held because she looks calm will discover the truth at day 114 when nothing happens.

Step three: the 42 day check

Check her again for heat at roughly 39 to 45 days, one further cycle later. Some pregnancies are lost in the first month, and the sow then returns to heat around this second window. A sow who passes both the 21 day and the 42 day check without standing is very likely pregnant.

Later physical signs

These confirm what your checks already told you rather than replacing them.

• Behaviour: she settles, becomes calmer, eats steadily and gains condition.
• Abdomen: visible enlargement usually only from around the last third of pregnancy, and it is easy to confuse with fat in an over-fed sow.
• Udder: the mammary line develops and firms up noticeably in the last few weeks. Teats become more prominent and the line of the udder fills.
• Vulva: some slackening and swelling in the final days before farrowing.

None of these are reliable early. Do not skip the heat checks because her belly looks big.

Signs something has gone wrong

Investigate and call a vet if you see any of the following in a supposedly pregnant sow: a return to heat at an irregular interval such as 30 or 35 days; a thick, coloured or foul-smelling vulval discharge; expelled fluid or tissue; a sow going off feed for more than a day; abortion of small formed piglets. Repeated irregular returns across several sows is a herd problem, not an individual one, and can point to infection, mycotoxins in feed or severe heat stress. That is a moment to get professional help rather than to keep re-serving.

If you can get a scanner

Some veterinary services and larger farms have ultrasound scanners that can detect pregnancy from roughly the fourth week onwards. If a scanning service visits your area at a reasonable price, it is useful for confirming groups quickly. It does not replace return-to-heat checks, because those catch the failure at 21 days, earlier than most scanning is done, and they cost nothing.

The habit to build

Every service goes on the calendar three times: the service date, the 21 day check date, and the 114 day farrowing date. Three pen strokes at service time. That habit alone will remove most of the empty-sow losses on a small farm.

Feeding by the bucket and hoping is how most sows end up either too thin to milk or too fat to farrow. Body condition scoring replaces guessing with a decision you make with your hands, on each animal, every few weeks.

The scoring system

The common system runs from 1 to 5. You judge the amount of fat cover over the bones, mainly the hips, the pin bones either side of the tail, the backbone and the ribs.

• Score 1, emaciated: hips, pins and backbone sharply visible and sharp to the touch. No fat cover. This sow is in trouble.
• Score 2, thin: bones easily felt with light hand pressure and visible when she moves. Too thin for breeding.
• Score 3, good: bones felt only with firm palm pressure, not visible. This is your target for most of gestation.
• Score 4, fat: bones hard to feel even with firm pressure. Rounded appearance.
• Score 5, over-fat: bones cannot be felt at all. Rolls of fat. Farrowing and lactation problems follow.

How to score, step by step

1. Stand behind and to the side of the sow while she is standing on level ground.
2. Look first: can you see the hip bones and the ridge of the backbone from a few metres away?
3. Then use your hand. Run your flat palm firmly over the hips, over the pin bones next to the tail head, and along the backbone.
4. Judge the pressure needed. Feel the bones with light touch equals score 2. Need firm palm pressure equals score 3. Cannot feel them equals score 4 or 5.
5. Write the score and the date on her card. Score every breeding female at least monthly, and always at service, at day 90 and at weaning.

Scoring with your eyes only will fool you, particularly with hairy or dirty animals. Use the hand.

The targets

Aim for condition score around 3 at service, hold roughly 3 through mid-gestation, and arrive at farrowing at about 3 to 3.5. She should be well covered but not fat. She will lose condition during lactation, which is normal, and your job is to make sure she starts lactation with something to lose.

Why it matters at each end

Too thin at farrowing means poor milk, weak piglets, more pre-weaning deaths, heavy weight loss in lactation, and a long wean-to-service interval. Remember that a sow in good condition returns to heat 4 to 7 days after weaning. A thin sow may take two or three weeks or not cycle at all, and each of those days is feed spent for nothing.

Too fat at farrowing is just as damaging and is more common than farmers expect. Over-fat sows have more difficult and longer farrowings, more stillbirths, they eat poorly in lactation exactly when they need to eat most, and they are more likely to crush piglets because they lie down heavily and are less agile.

Acting on the score

The score is only useful if it changes the feed. Once a month, sort your pregnant sows into three groups: thin, on target and fat. Increase the daily ration for the thin ones, hold the on-target ones, and reduce for the fat ones. In a group pen where all sows eat from one trough, the boss sow gets fat and the timid one gets thin no matter what you put in. If you cannot feed individually, at minimum feed thin sows separately or provide enough trough space that every sow can eat at the same time without being pushed off. Feeding stalls, individual pens or simply spreading feed over a long trough all work.

Condition scoring is the single management tool that connects your feed bill to your weaning numbers. Do it with your hand, write it down, and act on it.

A pregnant sow is not simply a growing pig. Her needs change sharply across the 114 days, and feeding her the same amount every day from service to farrowing wastes feed early and starves her piglets late.

Why phases

The unborn piglets grow very little in the first two thirds of pregnancy. Most of the piglet's birth weight is laid down in the last month. At the same time, the very early weeks are when embryos attach to the womb, and this is the period most sensitive to stress and to over-feeding.

Phase 1: early gestation, service to about day 30

Feed a moderate, steady ration. Do not overfeed immediately after service. Very high feed intake in the days right after service is associated with poorer embryo survival, so resist the urge to reward her with a big meal. Keep her quiet, keep the ration steady, and keep her environment stable. This is the phase where mixing, fighting and transport do the most damage.

Thin sows are the exception. A sow weaned in poor condition does need to regain condition, and that recovery feeding is appropriate from about a week after service onwards.

Phase 2: mid gestation, about day 30 to day 85 or 90

This is the condition-building phase and the phase where feed is most often wasted. Piglet growth is still small, so the feed you give beyond her maintenance goes onto her own back. Feed to her body condition score, not to a fixed bucket. Thin sows get more, fat sows get less. Aim to arrive at day 90 with every sow at about score 3.

Fibre helps here. Bulky, fibrous ingredients such as good quality forages, sweet potato vines, lucerne, brewers grains or milled maize stover keep her feeling full on a controlled ration, reduce stereotypies and boredom, and help keep the gut moving. Introduce any new bulk ingredient gradually over a week and make sure it is clean, unmoulded and free of soil.

Phase 3: late gestation, about day 85 or 90 to farrowing

Now step the ration up. The piglets are gaining fast, the udder is developing, and she needs more energy and protein. A common practical approach is to increase the daily ration by roughly a third to a half above the mid-gestation level for the final three to four weeks. The exact amount depends on your feed's energy density, her size and her condition, so watch her condition rather than following a number blindly.

Do not push a sow that is already score 4 into an even higher ration. Over-fat sows farrow badly. Step up the thin and on-target sows; hold the fat ones closer to their existing level.

The last few days

In the final two or three days before farrowing, many farmers reduce the ration somewhat and increase fibre or add a laxative ingredient such as bran, to reduce constipation. Constipation around farrowing is common and is associated with straining, discomfort and slower farrowings. Never cut her off completely, and never restrict water.

Water

Water is the nutrient farmers forget. A pregnant sow drinks a great deal, and more in hot weather. Restricted water reduces feed intake immediately, worsens constipation, and in late pregnancy compromises the sow. Provide clean, cool water available at all times. Check the drinker flow physically, not by assuming it works: put a bucket under it and watch. A blocked nipple drinker is a silent disaster.

The two commonest errors

The first is flat-rate feeding of the whole group, which produces a pen containing both score 2 and score 4 sows. The second is forgetting the late-gestation step up, which gives small, weak piglets and a sow with little milk. Fix those two and most gestation feeding problems disappear.

Costing your ration

Do not accept a feed price from anywhere but your own market. Phone at least three suppliers, ask the price per bag, the bag weight, the crude protein and whether it is a sow, grower or finisher ration, then work out your cost per kilogram and compare like with like. Do the same for local by-products such as brewers grains or maize bran, including the transport cost, before deciding they are cheap.

Most pregnancies that fail on small farms in this region do not fail because of exotic disease. They fail because of heat, fighting, slipping and rough handling. All four are within your control and none of the fixes are expensive.

Heat stress

Pigs cannot sweat effectively. A big pregnant sow carries her own heat load and struggles badly in hot weather. Heat stress reduces feed intake, and in early pregnancy it is associated with embryo loss and reduced litter size. During hot months you may see more returns to heat and smaller litters across the whole herd for no other reason.

Signs to look for: rapid, shallow, open-mouth panting; lying flat out on the coolest floor; refusing feed in the afternoon but eating at night; wallowing behaviour and wetting the pen deliberately; lethargy.

What to do, cheapest first:

• Shade. Roof or shade cloth over the pen and over any outdoor run. Trees work. Direct sun on a pregnant sow at midday is the biggest single load.
• Airflow. Open sides, high roofs, ridge openings, and pens oriented so the prevailing wind crosses them. Remove obstructions to airflow at pig level.
• Water. Cool, clean, unlimited. Increase drinker checks in hot weather.
• Wallow or wetting. A shallow mud wallow or wetting the sow's skin in the afternoon works well. Wet the floor and the animal, not the feed.
• Feed in the cool. Shift the main feed to early morning and evening. She will eat more.
• Reduce stocking density in hot months so pigs are not lying on each other.

Mixing and fighting

Pigs establish a rank order by fighting whenever the group changes. Fighting is most damaging in the first month after service, when embryos are attaching. A sow knocked down, bitten on the vulva, or chased for days may lose the litter or part of it.

Practical rules: mix sows once, as soon after weaning or service as your system allows, and then leave the group alone; do not add single new animals to an established group; mix in a larger pen with escape space and solid barriers to break sight lines; provide bulky feed or bedding at mixing to give them something else to do; mix in the evening if you can, when they settle sooner; and remove any sow that is being consistently bullied rather than hoping it will resolve.

Floors and slipping

A heavily pregnant sow that slips can be injured or can lose the litter, and leg injury is a leading reason sows are culled. Keep floors clean but not polished, avoid wet concrete in walkways, repair broken and uneven floors, and never move pigs over a slick surface. Sand or straw on the route costs almost nothing.

Moving her

1. Move slowly, and always allow her to walk at her own pace.
2. Use a solid board or panel to steer her, not sticks and not shouting.
3. Never hit, kick or twist a pregnant sow, and never lift or drag her.
4. Move in the cool part of the day.
5. Use a clear, prepared route with gates already open and no dead ends. Pigs move towards light and away from noise.
6. Move one at a time or in her existing group, not with strangers.
7. Avoid unnecessary moves entirely between service and about day 30, and again in the final week other than the planned move into the farrowing pen.

Parasites and routine health

Follow a written health plan agreed with a vet or extension officer for your area rather than copying another farm. Common elements include treating internal and external parasites before she enters the farrowing pen, and any vaccinations recommended locally. Timing of treatments during pregnancy matters and some products are not suitable for pregnant animals, so check the label and ask before you dose. Keep a written record of every product, dose and date.

Pregnant sows are the animals most easily damaged by bad feed, and home-mixed rations on smallholdings carry the greatest risk. Losing a litter to mouldy maize costs more than the entire year's saving from buying cheap grain.

Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are poisons produced by moulds that grow on grain and other feedstuffs in the field and in storage, especially where crops are harvested damp or stored humid. Pigs are among the most sensitive farm species, and pregnant sows are the most sensitive pigs.

Different toxins do different things, but the effects you may see in a breeding herd include reduced feed intake and refusal, poor growth, reddened and swollen vulvas in young females, irregular returns to heat, small litters, abortion, stillbirths and weak piglets. A cluster of reproductive failures across several sows at once, with no other explanation, should make you suspect the feed.

You cannot see or smell most mycotoxins. Visible mould means risk, but feed that looks clean can still be contaminated. Treat mould as a warning sign, not as the only test.

Practical control

• Buy from suppliers who store properly. Ask to see the store. Look for grain off the floor on pallets, dry roof, no bird or rodent access.
• Reject visibly mouldy, caked, discoloured, musty or insect-damaged grain. Do not accept it at a discount for pregnant sows.
• Store dry. Grain must go into storage properly dried. Keep bags off the floor and away from walls, on pallets, in a roofed and ventilated store.
• Rotate stock. First in, first out. Do not let a bag sit at the back for a year.
• Clean the feed store and mixer regularly. Old feed residue in corners and in the mixer is where mould starts.
• Never feed spoiled leftovers, mouldy bread, fermenting waste or damp brewers grains that have sat. By-products spoil quickly in warm weather. Use them fresh, within a day or two, and keep them shaded.
• If you suspect a batch, remove it from breeding stock first. Pregnant sows and gilts should be the first animals taken off a suspect feed.

Swill and kitchen waste

Feeding uncooked swill, kitchen waste or waste containing meat products is a serious disease risk and is illegal in many countries. African Swine Fever virus survives in uncooked and cured pork products and swill feeding has been a route of introduction into herds. Know your national rules and follow them. Do not feed pork or pork products to pigs.

Other causes of abortion and pregnancy loss

Feed is not the only cause. Others include severe heat stress, high fever from any infection, physical injury and fighting, rough handling, some infectious diseases, and certain medicines given to pregnant animals. Note that a single abortion in a large herd may have no findable cause, but repeated abortions are always worth investigating properly.

When to call a vet

Call a vet or your government animal health officer, do not treat blind, if you see any of these:

• More than one abortion in a short period, or several sows returning irregularly to heat.
• Abortions with fever, or sows that are dull, off feed and hot to the touch.
• Bloody or foul-smelling vulval discharge.
• Sudden deaths in any age of pig, high fever, reddened or blotchy purple skin, huddling, and animals unwilling to move. These signs can indicate African Swine Fever, which has no vaccine and no cure. Report it immediately, stop all movement of pigs on and off your farm, and do not sell or slaughter suspect animals.

Keeping a written record of what you fed, when you changed batches, and where each batch came from is what allows a vet to actually find the cause. Without records the investigation stops at guessing.

Farrowing goes well or badly largely because of what you did in the two weeks before it. This lesson is a checklist you should run for every sow, every time.

About day 100 to 107: prepare the pen

The farrowing pen must be empty, cleaned and dry before she arrives, not on the day she arrives.

1. Remove everything: old bedding, muck, feed residue.
2. Wash the floor, walls to pig height, and all fittings. Scrub off the visible dirt first. Disinfectant does not work on top of manure.
3. Disinfect with a product recommended for pig housing, following the label dilution and contact time exactly. Too weak or wiped off too soon does nothing.
4. Dry the pen completely. Leave it empty and dry for as long as you can manage. A wet pen is a cold pen and a bacterial soup.
5. Repair. Check the creep area, the piglet rails or bars, broken edges, sharp metal, gaps a piglet could slip through into another pen, and drainage.
6. Test the heat source. Whether you use an infrared lamp, a hot box, or a simple insulated well-bedded creep, test it now. Check the bulb, the cable, the height and the fixing. Piglets need a much warmer spot than the sow does, and a lamp that fails at 2am on farrowing night kills piglets.
7. Bed it with clean, dry, dust-free material such as chopped straw or grass. Avoid fine sawdust in the piglet area, which can be inhaled and can stick to wet newborns.

About day 107 to 110: move her in

Move her at least about 4 to 7 days before the expected farrowing date. This lets her settle, build immunity against the organisms in that specific pen and pass it to the piglets in colostrum, and it means you are not moving a sow in early labour.

Before she goes in, wash her. Scrub her down, particularly the udder, underline, flanks and hindquarters, with warm water and a mild soap, and rinse well. Treat for external and internal parasites at this point if that is in your health plan, checking that the product is safe for pregnant animals. A dirty sow carries worm eggs and mange mites straight onto her clean piglets.

Days 110 to 114: watch and adjust

Reduce the ration modestly and add fibre or bran to reduce constipation, as covered earlier. Keep water unrestricted. Keep her calm and keep visitors away. Check her twice a day at minimum, and more often as the date approaches.

Assemble the farrowing kit now

Put all of this in one clean, closed box kept in the farrowing house:

• Clean towels or dry sacking pieces for drying piglets
• Iodine solution and a small cup for navel dipping
• Clean string or navel clips
• Disposable gloves, long-armed ones if you can get them
• Obstetric lubricant, or clean liquid soap as a substitute
• Clean bucket, soap, nail brush, and a supply of clean warm water
• Scissors, disinfected
• A pen and the farrowing record sheet
• Torch with working batteries
• A warm box lined with dry bedding for weak piglets
• Working thermometer
• The phone number of your vet or animal health officer, written on the lid

The kit exists because at 1am, in the dark, with a sow straining, you will not be able to find iodine.

Signs farrowing is close

Watch for: udder full and firm with teats standing out; milk that can be expressed from the front teats, which often means farrowing within roughly a day; vulva swollen and slack; sow restless, up and down, chewing and carrying bedding, nest building; and a drop in feed intake. Nest building is one of the most reliable practical signals that farrowing is imminent, and it is a strong reason to give her bedding material to work with.

When you see nesting and milk in the teats, alert whoever is on night watch. Module 6 covers what happens next.