Bethany Baetsen

yes, i have  consulted a vet.  vet said do a course of antibiotics for three days. momma is producing enough milk. we are in northern michigan so we are very cold but the bit hut is sheltered, insulated with ventilation and on deep bedding. i could sleep comfortably in there with the heat coming off deep bedding. we have not introduced any new animals. could it have come from the straw bales?
i also spoke with a virologist at MSU and they advised in what samples to take to test for some viruses.

Should I pull all of the piglets of a litter that caught some sort of contagious bug off their momma? They’ve all been given antibiotics but I’m still losing piglets to something? Pneumonia maybe? They have an enclosed hut with lots of straw with a good momma sow. One day they are all playing and romping and the next one piglet is lethargic and crusty eyed and breathing fast and cold. I bring it inside to warm up and feed and the I’ll successfully brought body temps up and they’ve eating and peed and pooped and then all of a sudden they go down hill fast and die!? These aren’t newborns either. They made it through frigid temps for two weeks after being born. Why are they dying now? I’ve given them antibiotics and iron and nothing seems to work. Thoughts? Ideas? Any advice please? Should I separate the rest from their momma even if they have no symptoms currently?

Okay let’s be real! What do you actually do with your pigs in winter? This will be our first year overwintering our breeding pigs. Our snow load is such that they cannot be rotated like we do in the summer so in reality they may have to stay in one spot for up to 5 months (at the longest). We have a huge garden. 60 ft by 70ft. I would really like them to go into the garden to clean up after everything is harvested. But real talk: is that safe? I’ve heard parasites are a problem. Should I just not do that all together or could I deworm before they go in there? Can I keep them in there all winter? Would it not be safe to plant after that (given about a 3 month rest after they move out but before I plant).
Im thinking I just need to invest in a deep bedding winter structure? What size would you recommend for 3 Idaho pasture pigs full grown?
My current plan is to put them in the garden for just a couple weeks to clean up after harvest and then move them to a permanent winter spot after. Just hard to plan when we can get dumped on with snow pretty much anytime after Nov 1st. I only have premier one electrical hog net. They are very respectful of it but I’m not sure how it will hold up throughout the winter?

Small homesteader here. We got three Idaho pasture pigs this past spring. Great pigs all around. Such nice temperaments and easy to handle. Our boar bred one of the sows early on. She had her first litter with their previous owner and second with us. No problems. Great Mom. We also got a gilt. She has been in with the boar since April and still no apparent pregnancy!
I noticed their first two heat cycles and then nothing for a couple months. Figured she was bred. Gestation came and went and no piglets. I have been moving them around our pasture and so the last few months have been further afield so it’s possible I could’ve missed her in heat. However, I’ve seen the last two cycles and watched the boar. He doesn’t seem to be having trouble and we know he’s fertile since he sired the last batch of piglets from the other sow.
Our so far impregnable gilt is the same size as our other sow. She is very healthy and is seemingly more active than either the other sow or the boar. She would be about 2 1/2 years old now.
Any ideas what could be going wrong? Any advice on what to do? My one thought on it was that I could separate them for few cycles in hopes that the hormones might prompt them to breed more intentionally?? One cycle? More?
I tend to get attached to our breeding pigs so I don’t want to cull her without trying everything.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have IPPS and I love them! Two Sows and one boar. They are all big teddy bears, even during farrowing! I haven't had any other breed to compare before but I've heard KK and AGH are very similar. I was about to get AGHs but the IPPS were just a really good deal and I was comfortable with their previous owner and knew they came from a good place. I'm curious though, what is a typical litter size for an AGH?