Leaving Mum

"Hello little ones, I'm your mummy" Andromeda 15.8.14

Andromeda gathering nesting materials

Mangalitza sows make excellent mothers. They carry their piglets for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days.
When it comes to "the due date" they gather nesting materials - sticks and batches of leaves mainly - disappear into the ark, rearrange the bedding and quietly give birth to their litter with no help from us... in fact, they'll invariably pick a time when we're not around.
They quickly train the little ones to pile up in a corner - a useful lesson for whenever mum needs to move around or go out to eat - or humans want to 'peep inside'. For the first week or so our sightings of the piglets are restricted to various combinations of tumbling bodies - they may pile up, but they are rarely still - jostling for the snuggest space (usually somewhere under everyone else!).
After a week or so they are strong enough to snuffle and scamper around inside the ark; soon after they get inquisitive about what's through the hole.....

Andromeda's 'Humbugs' at 9 days old

If it's winter it could be three weeks or more before they pluck up the courage to venture out but in the summer it can be as little as 6 or 7 days. From the mud on their noses, it's easy to tell that these little guys had already been outside rootling about! They may seem small, but they are already capable of tossing a brick up in the air! 

"Come back in - time for a drink"

Andromeda's very watchful of her little ones. She's happy to let them scamper about all over the place but regularly checks on them and calls them back indoors when it's time for sustenance. As the days pass and the piglets grow stronger, their curiousity takes them further and further away from Mum. In no time they start calling on the aunts and uncles - the Humbugs thought nothing of borrowing some relative's ark to snooze in.  Perhaps Andromeda snored and kept them awake?
By the time they are three or so weeks old, Mum's milk on it's own is not enough to sustain their growing appetites.  As soon as we notice them sharing mum's food we start leaving a bowl of food close enough to their pen for them to find but not so close that Mum is tempted by it. As their appetites grow, so does their courage.
As the days go by, we move the bowl further and further away - and closer and closer to the Old Coach House. Their travels take them everywhere - round the pens, down the fields, up the drive, along the bridleway - if we had £1 for every time somebody said:
"Did you know  your piglets are........" we'd be rich. We recently had the hedges cut. Coming home at lunchtime, one of the workmen came rushing to meet me saying some piglets had been running loose but not to worry, he'd shut them in the barn!  I thanked him - then opened the door and let them run free again!
By 5 or 6 weeks of age the piglets are scampering up to the old stalls in the Coach House two or three times a day - the running around makes them hungry but it also builds up their skeleton and makes for good healthy bodies.
At 7 weeks it is not unusual for us to find them waiting for breakfast outside the back door first thing in the morning, having already scoured the garden and orchard for anything else that might be remotely edible........ By now they are spending hours away from mum, often sleeping on their own in a 'favourite spot'. Mum never worries because she knows they'll eventually come home for a drink.

10th September and the piglets are off adventuring

They follow us anywhere and everywhere because they know we feed them. That doesn't stop them turning on their heels and tumbling off if we do something unexpected or sudden! Every now and then one of them will 'lose' his mates and trot hurriedly around, squealing plaintiffly till all are reunited..... or they'll suddenly 'en masse' rush around a corner and bump into a human, turn on their heels in shock and dash uncontrollably in the opposite direction. Never ceases to make us smile!

"You looking at me?" Andromeda 22.10.14

All too soon though they are old enough to leave mum. And by now, she is losing patience with them - not letting them eat her food is always a sign that she's had enough.
So, one day, when the little ones are tucking into their food in the Old Stalls we simply shut the door.
And they are weaned.
No fuss. No stress. No noise.
Strangely enough, no piglets have ever fussed at this process. They all seem to accept that the time for running around as they please is over and it's time to start growing up. Of course, ad lib food helps. They spend the next two or three, sometimes four weeks inside so we can check they are all OK and eating properly. They get plenty of food and rest which builds them up for the next stage when they have to go outside and 'take care' of themselves.
Mum meanwhile might make a bit of fuss the first night when the piglets don't come home but by the next morning it's almost as though they never existed. She's relaxed and gets on with life.
Andromeda did make a bit of fuss this morning but I gave her a chunk of hay to chew and next time I looked she'd settle down on it and was quite comfy.
This all contrasts hugely with the way we weaned piglets when we first started out. Firstly, we'd try everything to keep them in with mum till 7 weeks old - forever repairing holes that they'd make to get out. Then we'd have to go in to the pen to take them away from mum. Neither party was ever too pleased about that; you can imagine what it was like trying to pick up squealing, squiggly, porky piglets in the mud when the sow was trying every way she knew to stop us.....  It was a nightmare for everyone....
Now it's all totally painless and the piglets leave Mum of their own volition. Result - everyone isrelaxed and a whole lot happier.......