Pig Pregnancy Indicator

One of the questions I get a lot is how to tell if a pig is pregnant. Well, first, is it female? You think I jest but I had a government official who was here once looking at our big boar Archimedes and said, "My what a big sow!" Yes, well...

So how do you tell, once you've made sure it is female? Well the first thing I do is look at the pregnancy indicator built into every female pig. Here’s a post to help you with looking at your piggy’s clit hood:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/2011/08/pregnancy-indicator.html

It’s got pictures of naked pigs, crotch shots and all that so people with extreme sensitivities of sexuality may not want to go there. However, consider this science, not piggy porn. I wrote up an explanation of what to look for with the pregnancy indicator, why it happens and also linked to another post I had that showed a non-pregnant gilt’s clitoral hood for comparison.

Enjoy,

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in Vermont

I've been reading through some of your posts and clicking on the links you provide to your website. I really enjoyed the part about making sure the sow is really a sow!

I aspire to raise pigs and am learning so much from your website. You can't argue with decades of experience on your side! Thanks for the read!

That's super cool!  Though I don't think it applies to our piggies, alas.  Our gaggle of definitely pregnant sows have no pointy vulvas.  They do get poochier and larger though, especially as farrowing approaches, and we still check their back side for progress indication.  I wonder if it's breed dependent?  Or litter size?

Walter Jeffries wrote:So how do you tell, once you've made sure it is female? Well the first thing I do is look at the pregnancy indicator built into every female pig. Here’s a post to help you with looking at your piggy’s clit hood: It’s got pictures of naked pigs, crotch shots and all that so people with extreme sensitivities of sexuality may not want to go there. However, consider this science, not piggy porn. I wrote up an explanation of what to look for with the pregnancy indicator, why it happens and also linked to another post I had that showed a non-pregnant gilt’s clitoral hood for comparison.

We followed Walter's advice and leaned heavily on his wealth of experience when we started with our pigs over four years ago, and then started breeding our own with our own boar - and it has never failed us... yes sometimes with young gilts it can be hard to spot unless you get comfortable with regular observation and having your pigs acclimatized to being examined closely "down there" LOL. The other thing we observed - mainly because our boar lived with the breeding sows and their subsequent litters - when the sow was ready/willing to mate, the boar went at it - maybe quite regularly over a day or two - and then he stopped trying to serve the sow - in 8 litters the fact that the boar was not interested in the sow was a 100% indicator for us.

Thanks again Walter for your generous sharing of all you do at Sugar Mountain Farm!!