Living with Pigs
Alisha,
Jocelyn, and Shannon Eberly knew nothing about pigs until
their family decided to raise them on their farm in Pennsylvania.
First, for practice, the girls raised six piglets that belonged
to a neighbor. Then the Eberly family bought a pregnant
sow and waited.
As the sow’s time drew near, the girls checked her teats for milk by pulling them.
“Gray milk meant her babies would come within twenty-four hours,” Alisha explains.
“When the milk was white, we’d have babies within twelve hours.”
Finally,
the first piglet came. “It looks like it’s running
out!” Shannon said. The piglet’s eyes were open.
Unlike other newborn animals, piglets have strong legs and are able to run.
Alisha picked up the slimy piglet. “Yuck!” Shannon said. “It looks gross.” The girls wiped off the mucus, making sure the mouth was clear so the piglet wouldn’t choke. Now it was pink, clean, and cute. Only five or six inches in length, the piglet looked like a week-old kitten. It weighed just a pound or two.
Jocelyn gently took the piglet from Alisha and placed it on hay under a heat lamp. “There,” she said, “you’ll be nice and warm.”
A
piglet was born about every fifteen minutes. The girls wiped
off each one and placed it under the heat lamp. Mr. Eberly
clipped each piglet’s two pointed upper teeth (called
needle teeth). He also notched one ear on each
piglet to tell the piglets apart. Then he gave each piglet
a shot of iron.
After three or four piglets were born, the girls carried them to the sow to nurse. While they drank, the sow gave birth to more piglets!
Somehow, a sow can control her milk and give it for about twenty seconds at a time. Then she shuts off her supply while she and the piglets rest. Soon the piglets come back for more. Each piglet returns to the same teat several times a day. A sow has enough teats to feed many piglets at one time. Most litters have eight to ten piglets, but some may have up to fifteen. Piglets nurse for five or six weeks, then eat pellets made of vitamins, proteins, and minerals.
A
week after piglets stop nursing, a sow may be bred again.
Then, in about three months, three weeks, and three days,
she will have more piglets. In one year, a sow might have
two or three litters and be the mother of forty-five piglets!
The Eberly sisters are very busy. They feed the pigs twice a day, clean the pens, exercise the pigs, and give them water to drink. “The time goes fast when we work together,” Alisha says.
“The pigs are almost like pets, and we love them all,” Alisha adds. “We’re sad when they’re sent to market, but we know we always have more piglets to take care of.”
