How many babies will a pig have?

[huntallday]

How man piglets will a sow have? I saw two pigs running around this weekend with about 10 babies. One pig was much bigger than the other. They were too far away to tell wheter he was a boar or not. Just wandering how many babies a pig can have in one litter?

 

[docapi]

I don't know beans about wild hogs, but I know 18-20 piglets was not all that unusual on the farm when I grew up.

 

[Speckmisser]

The biologists say wild sows will have from 6 to 12 babies per litter (depends on which biologist you ask). They can have as many as three litters a year.

That's one of the reasons they spread so fast and are so hard to control.

 

[oljim]

My experience is a little different,,but perhaps not as well researched...

We've taken a lot of sows (many pregnant),,off my place here in texas and the most we've ever found in their bellys has been 4,,,

Course now,,maybe that don't prove nothing...but that's been my experience anyways.

I asked one of the old timers in these parts about the birth rate difference in hogs fed out and those out in the wild,,and he answered my question before i asked it,,,lol,,

He already knew that feral hogs had many less piglets that what's had in captivity,,,know what i mean?

When i asked him what was his theory about why,,,he just shrugged his shoulder and say "jus nature's way",,,[smile]...

I had another feller claim that that old timer couldn't possibly be right cuz he's seen sow's many times out in the wild with as many as 8 to 12 piglets hanging around...

Since i've seen this, too,,,,i asked frank about this, he told me that the reason that happens is that sows make some of the best mama's on God's green earth,,,and will take up other piglets easily and raise them...if their own mama can't do it for some reason...

He also told me this is one of the reasons that piglet survival rate is so high,,,cuz they get taken care of by others,,if they lose their own mama...

Interestin' stuff,,,huh?,,lol,,

 

[Shot]

The number of piglets will vary because some sows adopt other piglets, so don't be amazed to see more than 12 piglets per sow, even though this is very rare it could happen.

 

[Speckmisser]

From my limited anecdotal experience, I agree with what Shot and OlJim say.

Just this weekend I saw at least one sow with probably fifteen piglets...BUT... they were different generations. Several were about the size of footballs with stripes, then there were a bunch of little black and white ones that were probably ten pounds, and a couple of in-betweens that were red and brown. These were all with a single sow. My guess is either they are separate litters or else she'd adopted some orphans.

 

[bigtusker]

The most I can recall pulling out of a sow when gutting her was 8. It's hard to say but I think 6 to 12, probably closer to the lower end in the wild.

 

[Boar Tracks CA]

At camp Roberts today I saw a young sow with 7, I think the average is 6 to 8,X 3 times a year,which = lots of hogs to hunt.

 

[LAgunman2K]

ive only seen one sow with piglets, she wasnt afraid of the car either and stood firm and faced us till she could get away with the little ones, she had 4-5 piglets, the grass was taller than them.

 

[HaveGunWillTravel]

the younger sows usually only have 2 or 3 survivors. the older sows are able to rear more. this is what ive seen with piglets on the ground, no gutting experiences. i see no reason to shoot the sows unless youre trying to control the population.........

 

[Hawghunter]

Huntallday,
I have heard the same as the rest. A sow can have as many as 3 litters a year. However, every sow that I have taken that was (unfortunatly) pregnant had 6 piglets in her. I am sure that is just a fluke and that they could have more or less per litter.
Mark

 

[Freedivr2]

Here's some good numbers for you from the field; We counted 9 fetal pigs in one 250 lb. sow I took last year, and 6 fetal pigs in a smaller 150 lb. sow.

I've also read that they have 2 litters a year.

 

[GruntHunter]

Oljim,
You are absolutely correct. Four pig are what you'll find in the wild hog here in Fla. and yes, the Sow will adopt other piglets. The Piglets can breed in 6 months.
We take about 60 - 70 every year off our hunting lease here in Central Fla. and don't even begin to make a dent in the population. I got a nice 197 black & white Sow in Jan that had 4 inside of her. Her photo is in my Wild Game album on webshots.

 

[RIFLEMAN]

I read a Texas A&M study awhile back that indicated that in order to achieve a flat growth in population (neither increasing nor decreasing), 80% of the population had to be harvested at any given time. This was in addition to natural mortality.

 

[oljim]

Great photo's,,grunthunter,,

Thanks for showing 'em to us,,,sure did enjoy looking,,

 

[boarhuntertx]

Just seeing them with thier young is not an accurate way to tell how many they have. It is a fact that hogs will tend to each others young when the mother is out feeding. This will acount for some of the large numbers seen with one sow. The number of young also depends on habitat. If they have a good enviroment with plenty of food and not alot of stress, they will be able to sustain more young. The numbers can range as high as twelve. Larger litters are more common in domestic cross bred hogs. A friend of mine took one 2 years ago with twelve inside of her.

 

[Hoggin Hank]

The most I've found in a wild sow was 5 piglets. I would say that I find 3 piglets on average in the real young sows and around 4 or 5 in the more mature sows. I'm not saying that they don't have more piglets because they definitely have many more than that if the conditions are right. In my neck of the woods in Texas the sows seem to have 2 litters a year, Could be more but thats what I've observed in the wild.