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The first 12 / 24 hours of life of any piglet are the most crucial ones for its survival. This period is especially important in the case of the weakest piglets, which will not always be the smallest ones. During these first hours of life, it is essential to guarantee that all the piglets can drink their dam's colostrum. We will not perform any movement until we are not certain that they have consumed an adequate amount of colostrum. From there we will start to even the litters regarding the number and size of the piglets following two premises:
1. minimizing piglet movements as much as possible, and
2. focusing the movements on the weakest piglets.
The aim of these early movements is to increase the survival of the weakest piglets, facilitating their access to a good teat. Once their colostrum intake has been guaranteed and their lower viability has been detected, we will locate these weakest piglets and we will concentrate them under the care of foster sows. These sows should possess some qualities that we will have selected for previously, and among them we would highlight:
- Quiet sows
- Even teats, with nipples as thin as possible.
- We normally work with 2nd and 3rd parity sows.
We normally try that the 1st parity sows do not receive very small piglets, because we are looking for a good stimulation of all of their teats (so these sows develop the highest possible number of functional teats during their productive life).
In order to carry out the adoptions, we will take away from each sow those piglets that we decide that need a foster sow. Depending on the number of piglets that we have we will obtain and prepare the needed number of foster sows.
We will prepare the pen so it can receive the piglets as best as possible. In order to do this we will put paper bedding or a farrowing mat on the whole of the pen to minimise the possible draughts and to ensure that the weakest piglets do not lose too much temperature if they cannot reach the teats or the heated mat. In order to minimise the losses, we will add, on top of the mat, a kind of lid that will allow a better conservation of the temperature, acting as a nest. We will complete the preparation placing a heat lamp on the side opposite to the mat: in this way we will be able to guarantee better the temperature of the piglets, because they will have a better comfort in both areas.
Once all the piglets for the foster sow have been obtained (we will use them to complete the litters of sows with small litters), we will give her the piglets and we will make sure that the adoption is correct and that the sow meets our expectations.
The goal of applying more care on these litters is to be able to go on with the supplying of natural colostrum or commercial supplements, and to try that the competition between the piglets is fairer when finding a place beside the teats.
