# pregnant gilt or not-pics



## happymainepigs (Jul 19, 2011)

Hi everyone. I am sharing these photos of my 4 gilts. All 4 were bred within a 3-4 day span. 3 of these gilts are sisters from the same litter and are half Large Black and half york/landrace. This first pic is Maggie. She was bred December 2nd. She was the last of the 4 to be bred. It was very obvious when she was in heat and very obvious she had been bred that day at least and possibly the day before. She was bred by a Large Black boar. Maggie is due on March 26th and doesn't look pregnant. She has shown no sign of coming back into heat. I put my young (7 month +/-) old spots boar in with these girls about 4 weeks ago, I figured even if he was too young to breed them he would let me know for sure if Maggie came back into heat. Nothing.
He has been talking dirty/heat checking all the girls, but treats them all as if there has been no heat. As you can see in the next pics, her two sisters look like beach balls are in their bellies and they have looked very pregnant for 2 months. 
So has anyone had a gilt who didn't show at all until just before farrowing, or do you think she won't farrow at all? I will find out soon enough, I am moving them all into their farrowing stalls friday or saturday. Just curious if anyone has had gilts farrow when they just didn't really look pregnant.








Sister Peggie front center and Sister Dottie left ( Dottie's pregnancy indicator is pointed down by the way )








Sister Dottie side view








Just another shot of Maggie









Maggie is shaped different from her sisters, taller and longer. I am hoping she could possibly be bred. Maybe she has a small litter and her sisters have larger ones?? I have been looking at her and wondering for weeks and I think I see slight changes in teats and the back of her belly seems sunken alittle in front of her hind legs. 
Oh well. Time will tell. If she turns out not bred, will probably give Romeo a few more months with her and see what happens. She will be a year old April 17th.


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## Karen in Alabam (Jul 21, 2010)

pregnancy indicator? The thingy on her hooha?

I am new to pig--they are just over 2 months old.


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## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

If a gilts or sows hooha is level with the ground then thats a good sign that she is prego.


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

First one - not bred or not going to farrow any time soon...the other two definitely are. Not all gilts will be able to breed. We have had a few duds over the years.


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## happymainepigs (Jul 19, 2011)

You are right, not bred. But I am not convinced she is a dud. Yesterday while this site was down, I saw lots of evidence that she is in heat. I'm afraid my young boar isn't quite old enough to know what to do about it. She has not been with a boar since she was bred, except for the last 4 weeks, and Romeo is only 7 months old. Oh well, I'm going to give them some more time.
Thanks for the responses.


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

7 months should be plenty old enough to be able to breed her if he is large enough. Our 6 month old boar bred 2 of our sows before he had him butchered last fall. He was 275lbs. He appears that he would be big enough to reach, if that is him standing next to them in the picture.


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## happymainepigs (Jul 19, 2011)

Yes that's him. He is a little smaller than the 3 sisters. I have no doubt he is big enough, she seems to be just coming into heat. She is dancing around pushing him around, he is nosing her neck and belly and following her everywhere. I haven't seen him try to climb up on her though. Maybe she is not quite there yet and he will still get her. I have read that some of the heritage breeds take a little longer reaching sexual maturity, so thought maybe he's not quite there yet. Also with other boars I've had here, when females are coming into heat the boar smells really bad. Romeo doesn't smell bad, so another reason I thought maybe he's not quite mature enough. They are in a winter paddock right out my back door so I can keep a good eye on them. I hope he figures it out soon, I was really hoping he could breed the other 3 too when I wean the litters yet to be born.


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## CornerstoneAcre (Mar 10, 2011)

So was she pregnant? How did the other three sisters do?


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Well Im not gonna guess. I was convince our sow was going to the freezer because we had never seen her come into heat and never saw our boar mess with her. She has always been thick. Went out there yesterday and she had three cute little piglets! 
Talk about a suprise!


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## happymainepigs (Jul 19, 2011)

I just wanted to come back and update, sorry I haven't stopped in here in a while. Maggie had a beautiful litter of 12 nice piglets a few days ago. Here are some pics. 




















Maggie did great, her sisters ended up doing well too. Peggie had 14 piglets-weaned all, Dottie had 11 -weaned 10 and Miss Pig had 11 huge ones and weaned them all. Romeo has successfully bred those 3 girls since and they are due in a week and a half. Looking forward to some more beautiful litters like this one pictured. Love my little Romeo boar. He is such a baby.

ps sorry about the huge pics, I will try to remember to make them smaller next time.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Gerold.

P.S. I guess you may have learned a bit more about pigs by now.


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## GoodNHappyFarm (Apr 26, 2012)

Nice piggies - I like the big pics, the better to see them


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