Shari
IsItFridayYet?
Actually, sows (mama pigs) will even eat each other's piglets when they're very small... We had a large hog farm and occassionally would miss a sow about to deliver and she would have her litter in the common area with all the others. We would make attempts to save the babies, but frequently the piglets wouldn't follow and other sows would actually eat them. Pretty gross. If you step in to rescue baby, mama may well attack you to protect her baby, and the others will attack you to get it and eat it.
I don't think this is such a big problem (like in the wild), but they didn't have large spaces to den up and hide in our operation.
I was maybe 6 or 8 when a sow had her litter in the field. Thinking I was doing the right thing, I jumped the fence and wrangled 4 or 5 of them out of there. I don't think I ever got a butt-chewing like that one before or since!!
Val, I love your story. That's much how my childhood was (that's why a 6 year old was roaming around the hog pen alone!) But for all the "awful" things my parents did (or didn't do - like supervise my every waking moment), I only got hurt at school! lol
I don't think this is such a big problem (like in the wild), but they didn't have large spaces to den up and hide in our operation.
I was maybe 6 or 8 when a sow had her litter in the field. Thinking I was doing the right thing, I jumped the fence and wrangled 4 or 5 of them out of there. I don't think I ever got a butt-chewing like that one before or since!!
Val, I love your story. That's much how my childhood was (that's why a 6 year old was roaming around the hog pen alone!) But for all the "awful" things my parents did (or didn't do - like supervise my every waking moment), I only got hurt at school! lol