The Pigs

There are two resident pigs here on the ranch.

The one on the left is “Miss Piggy”, (quite an original name) and the one on the right is “Huey”.

Huey is quite the affectionate mate.

Look at him loving on Miss Piggy.


And still, loving on Miss Piggy.  Get a room, you two. 

The female pig is a Sow, and the male pig is a Boar.  There are a few main differences between the Sow and the Boar.  As you may have noticed, the Sow is often smaller in stature.  Also, the Sow has 12 to 14 “teats” and can have just as many piglets, because she has two uteri.  Each piglet claims its own teat which is why, if there are more piglets than teats, you will have a runt.


The gestational period for pigs is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days.  How can we know just exactly when she conceived, anyway?  Well, pigs make an awful racket when they, um, do it, so it’s pretty hard to miss.  About a week or so before she’s due, we put the Sow into the farrowing crate, pictured here.  The whole idea is to keep the Sow from rolling over on the piglets with her big ol’ behind, while affording the piglets ample room to nurse.  The piglets stay in a smallish pen with their mama, until they are ready to be sold.