Pig Farrowing: Signs, Timeline and When to Call the Vet

Farrowing is the word for a sow or gilt giving birth to a litter of piglets. It usually happens about 114 days after breeding, the “3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days” every pig keeper learns, and the birth itself typically takes a few hours, with a piglet arriving every 15 to 20 minutes or so until the litter is out. Most sows farrow without help, but the first day of a piglet’s life is the riskiest one it will have, so a well-prepared pen and someone watching make a real difference.

This guide covers the farrowing itself: how to set up for it, the signs that it is about to start, what a normal farrowing looks like from the first piglet to the afterbirth, the danger signs that mean you should call a veterinarian, and how to get the litter through its first days. If you still need the due date, enter the breeding date in the free pig gestation calculator and it will give you the estimated farrowing date and the window to be ready for, with no account needed. Our pig gestation period guide explains why some sows go early or late and what happens week by week during the pregnancy.

What farrowing means, and when to expect it

“Farrowing” is to pigs what “kidding” is to goats and “calving” is to cattle. A gilt is a young female having her first litter; a sow has farrowed before. Producers often call the piglets simply “pigs”.

The planning number is 114 days from the first service. Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine uses it in its owner guide, What to Expect When Your Sow Is Expecting, and University of Missouri Extension’s Care of Pigs From Farrowing to Weaning builds its farrowing table on the same figure. Modern commercial sows tend to carry a little longer: the Merck Veterinary Manual’s breeding management chapter puts today’s average at 115 to 116 days from first service, and Penn State Extension’s Raising Pigs 1: Farrowing says most sows farrow between days 110 and 117.

So count 114 days to get the date to prepare for, and be ready several days either side of it. Penn State adds a useful detail: sows carrying smaller litters of bigger piglets tend to farrow earlier (113 to 115 days), while highly prolific sows with larger litters of smaller piglets can go to 115 to 120 days. A sow’s own history is a good guide too, which is one reason to write down the farrowing date every time.

Setting up for farrowing

Most of the work of a good farrowing happens in the week before it. Penn State says sows are commonly moved into their farrowing pens or stalls up to 10 days before the predicted due date, which gives the sow time to settle and gives you margin if she goes early. A 2022 review in the journal Animals, Defining “Normal” in Pig Parturition, reports that sows moved in around days 95 to 105 were noticeably less restless before farrowing than sows moved at day 114, and that a move too close to farrowing can disrupt it.

A practical checklist, drawn from Purdue, Missouri and Penn State:

• Clean the pen before she goes in. Missouri Extension says newborn pigs have a better chance in a clean, sanitized farrowing area, and advises washing the sow with soap and warm water just before she is moved in.
• Give her nesting material. Clean, dry straw lets her build a nest, which is normal behavior in the last day before farrowing. The Animals review cites research in which sows that could not nest-build had higher stress hormone levels and farrowings that ran about an hour and a half longer, on average, than sows in free housing with nesting material.
• Plan a warm, safe spot for the piglets. Purdue says newborn piglets need an environment above 90°F for the first couple of weeks. If you use a heat lamp, put it in a protected corner where piglets can lie under it but the sow cannot touch it, and keep every cord out of her reach. The same corner gives piglets a safe place to rest away from the sow.
• Keep the sow cool. She needs far less heat than her piglets. The Animals review cites advice to keep farrowing rooms below about 22°C (72°F), so the aim is a warm creep area for the litter inside a pen that does not overheat the sow. Purdue stresses free-choice clean water for her after farrowing too.
• Assemble a farrowing kit. Purdue’s list includes clean dry towels, paper towels, an infant nasal bulb syringe to clear mucus from a piglet’s nose and mouth, a thermometer, a heat source (lamp or heat pad) and a navel dip your veterinarian recommends.
• Write a farrowing plan with your veterinarian. Purdue recommends a plan made with your vet that says when to call. Put the number where everyone in the barn can see it. If you do not have a vet who sees pigs, our guide on how to find a large animal vet helps; do it now, not on the night.

Preventive care for the sow, such as vaccinations and deworming before farrowing, is something Purdue says to discuss with your veterinarian in advance, since the right plan depends on your herd and your area.

Farrowing crate, pen or pasture hut?

Where the sow farrows is one of the most debated questions in pig keeping, and the evidence points in both directions.

A farrowing crate holds the sow in a narrow stall inside the pen while the piglets move freely around her. It limits how she lies down, which gives piglets time to get out of the way. Purdue notes that sows not kept in a crate have an increased risk of crushing piglets as they lie down.

A loose farrowing pen or an outdoor hut on pasture lets the sow turn around, nest and move with her litter. A 2023 review in Frontiers in Animal Science by Hemsworth and colleagues, on farrowing and lactation housing and sow and piglet welfare, found that confining sows during lactation increases stereotypic behavior, reduces nursing and sow-piglet interaction, and that gilts put into crates show a greater short-term stress-hormone response than gilts in pens, though the evidence in sows is mixed. It also found that piglets raised in pens generally play more and grow better. The same review found that live-born piglet mortality is usually higher in loose systems than in crates, with one meta-analysis putting the risk of death before weaning 14 percent higher in pens.

The middle option researchers are studying is temporary crating: the sow is loose before farrowing and confined only briefly around the birth and the first days of lactation, the riskiest days for newborn piglets. Hemsworth and colleagues concluded it can reduce piglet losses compared with loose pens while giving the sow more freedom, and some of the studies they cite found losses similar to full-time crates. The Animals review notes that some countries are moving toward requiring loose pens, helped along in the European Union by the “End the Cage Age” citizens’ initiative.

For a small farm, the practical point is this: whatever system you use, the piglets need a warm, protected place of their own, and the sow needs room to lie down slowly. Many small and heritage herds farrow in loose pens or pasture huts with good results; the pig breeds on Creatures range from commercial maternal lines to small pasture breeds. Some breeds are known for careful mothering; our guides to the Large White (Yorkshire) and the Chester White cover the white maternal breeds kept for exactly those traits.

Signs a sow is about to farrow

Our pig gestation period guide has a short summary of these signs alongside the due-date chart; here is the fuller version for the days around farrowing. Many of the signs come late. Penn State warns that several of them appear only a couple of hours or even minutes before the first piglet, and some are subtle enough that only an experienced stockperson notices them. That is the main reason to move her early and check her often as the date gets close.

In the last days, according to Purdue and Merck:

• Swollen belly and udder. Producers call the udder filling “bagging up”. The sow may also look swaybacked.
• Swollen, red, relaxed vulva during the last week.
• Milk in the teats. Purdue says the mammary glands fill with colostrum 24 to 48 hours before farrowing. When you can express milk from the teats, farrowing is usually close.

In the last hours:

• Restlessness: lying down, getting up and changing position often.
• Nest building: pawing and rooting at the floor, carrying straw in her mouth. Merck places nest building in the last 24 hours.
• Frequent urination and dung, and faster breathing.

In the last 15 to 60 minutes, Purdue says the sow stops moving about and lies down on her side. Contractions become visible, and a little fluid may come from the vulva. Penn State adds that muscle tremors in the flank or tail are common as contractions start.

What a normal farrowing looks like

Once she starts straining, Purdue says the first piglet should arrive within about 15 to 20 minutes, and the rest every 15 to 20 minutes after that until she is finished. Merck gives an average interval of 10 to 15 minutes with a range of 5 to 45, and Penn State describes a smooth farrowing as a piglet about every 15 to 30 minutes. Piglets usually come in a run with pauses; intervals tend to stretch toward the end of the litter.

Presentation. Piglets are born either head first or back legs first, and both are normal. Merck puts the split at about 60 percent head first and 40 percent hind end first.

How long it takes. There is no single normal number, because litter size has grown. The Animals review reports that research from the 1960s found an average farrowing of about 2.5 hours (ranging from under 1 hour to nearly 9), while a more recent study of modern high-producing sows found an average of about 3.6 hours. Merck notes that farrowings reaching 5 hours have become more common as litters have grown. Piglets born last, or after a long farrowing, are more likely to be weak and short of oxygen, so they deserve extra attention.

Stillborn piglets. Merck says a stillbirth rate of 5 to 10 percent is usual, often tied to long farrowings or to a piglet stuck in the birth canal. One or two stillborn piglets in a big litter do not by themselves mean something went wrong, but a run of them, or a sow who looks ill, is a reason to call your vet.

The afterbirth. The placentas usually come out after the last piglet, though Purdue notes a sow occasionally passes one between piglets. Merck says the membranes should pass within 4 hours of the last piglet, and that this matters most after a long farrowing because a retained placenta can make the sow seriously ill.

Gilts. First-time mothers are more often agitated during farrowing, getting up and down repeatedly. The Animals review notes that savaging, a gilt attacking her own piglets, is more likely in gilts and tends to happen around the first two piglets. A calm, familiar environment and a quiet attendant help. If a gilt does turn on her piglets, keep them safe and warm away from her and call your veterinarian for advice.

Danger signs: when to call a veterinarian

Merck puts the rate of true birthing difficulty (dystocia) in sows at only about 1 to 2 percent, and most farrowings need no help at all. But when something does go wrong, minutes matter for the piglets still inside. Call a veterinarian now if:

• She strains for 30 to 45 minutes without producing a piglet. Purdue says intervention is warranted at that point. Delivering piglets takes skilled hands, so if no one experienced is with you, call your veterinarian immediately.
• A long gap follows a piglet. The Animals review says the common working advice is to act if 45 minutes pass after one piglet without the next. Different authors use thresholds between 45 minutes and an hour, so agree on yours with your vet in your farrowing plan.
• Labor stops, or she seems exhausted. Uterine inertia, where contractions weaken or stop, is the most common cause of difficult farrowing in sows, especially with large litters, according to Merck.
• She has a foul or discolored discharge, or looks ill. Both appear in published definitions of dystocia in the Animals review.
• No afterbirth within about 4 hours of the last piglet, or she seems unwell after farrowing. Retained piglets or placenta can quickly become a medical emergency.
• She is past the end of her window with no signs. If she passes the planning window with no udder change, have your veterinarian check her.
• She is a potbellied or mini pig. Purdue notes that potbellied sows have more difficult births because of a narrower birth canal and heavier body condition. Talk to your vet before the due date.

Do not reach into a sow or pull on a piglet unless you have been shown how. Penn State’s advice is simple: be there, because the sooner a stuck piglet is helped, the less likely piglets are to die in the birth canal.

Watch the sow for the next few days, too

Missouri Extension recommends taking the sow’s temperature right after farrowing and every 12 hours for the first two or three days, and says a temperature of 104°F or higher means action is needed. Missouri ties this check to starting early treatment for the post-farrowing illness producers call MMA. Merck lists a difficult farrowing, constipation, low feed intake, heat stress and mastitis among the causes of poor milk supply, which shows up as piglets that fail to grow in their first weeks. A sow with a fever, one who will not eat or get up, or a litter that is not thriving are all reasons to call your veterinarian.

The first days: keeping piglets alive

Missouri Extension calls the stretch from birth to weaning the most critical period in a pig’s life, and its data show why it is front-loaded: in one University of Alberta dataset it cites, nearly half of the piglet deaths before weaning happened on the first day, and about 70 percent in the first three days. In the older study Missouri reports, crushing was the biggest single cause, followed by starvation and weakness at birth, with diarrhea and chilling also on the list.

The fixes are low-tech and depend mostly on the person in the barn. Penn State and Purdue agree on the essentials:

1. Dry each piglet. Piglets are born wet and lose heat fast. Rub them briskly with a clean towel. If one is slow to breathe or has mucus in its airway, Purdue says to clear the nose and mouth with an infant bulb syringe and rub it over the back and ribs. Do not swing a piglet or hang it upside down.
2. Get every piglet to the udder early. Colostrum, the first milk, carries the antibodies that protect piglets until they can make their own. Missouri notes that a piglet’s ability to absorb those antibodies falls quickly after birth, so watch that every piglet nurses, and help weak ones latch on.
3. Keep them warm. Use a heat source the sow cannot reach, so piglets have somewhere above 90°F to sleep.
4. Give them a safe place to rest. A protected corner keeps piglets out from under the sow between feeds, which is the main defense against crushing in a loose pen.
5. Watch the small ones. Missouri’s figures show that piglets born under 2 pounds survive far less often than heavier littermates. Extra help getting to a teat in the first days pays off most for them.

Litter equalizing. If two sows farrow within about a day of each other, Missouri says piglets can be moved between them to even out litter sizes, ideally in the first three days and after they have had colostrum. Merck notes most producers cross-foster within 2 to 3 days of birth.

Early care decisions. Piglets raised indoors without access to soil are usually given supplemental iron in their first days to prevent anemia, and navels are dipped on the day of birth. Some herds also clip needle teeth, dock tails or castrate males. These are management and welfare decisions, and the methods, timing and any products should come from your veterinarian, not from a blog post.

Creep feed and weaning. Missouri recommends offering a fresh creep feed from about one week of age in a spot the piglets can reach and the sow cannot. Merck says lactation peaks at 3 to 4 weeks and most commercial sows are weaned at 21 to 28 days, while Missouri describes successful weaning at three to six weeks on well-managed farms. Missouri adds that weaning under five weeks takes more skill and warm, dry, draft-free facilities.

The free pig weight calculator estimates live weight from a tape measurement, which is a quick way to track how the litter is growing and how much condition the sow loses while she nurses.

Keeping farrowing records on Creatures

A good farrowing record is short: the date, how long it took, how many piglets were born alive and stillborn, anything that needed help, and how many were weaned. Over a few litters, that record tells you which sows farrow easily and raise big litters, which ones run late, and which ones you want daughters from. Here is how to keep it on Creatures.

• Without an account: the pig gestation calculator gives the estimated farrowing date and a planning window (days 112 to 118 after breeding) for a single breeding date or an exposure window when the sow ran with a boar. It does not save anything. The help center’s guide to using the gestation calculator explains both modes.
• Record the breeding. Add the sow to Creatures, then record the breeding with the boar and the exact service date or the dates she ran with him. Creatures projects her farrowing date and window on her Breeding tab and creates reminders. See recording a breeding. A reminder for moving her to the farrowing pen about 10 days out is a good one to add; reminders and upcoming care shows how.
• Watch every sow due in one place. The breeding dashboard lists active breedings in due-date order, grouped into Expecting, Due soon and Overdue. Overdue only means the window has passed without a recorded outcome; it is your prompt to check on her, not a judgment on the pregnancy.
• Record the farrowing. On the sow’s Breeding tab, record the birth with the date and the counts born alive and stillborn. Creatures closes the cycle, creates a private group for the litter and offers to create piglet profiles linked to their dam, now or later. See recording births and creating a litter.
• Keep the follow-up. Log the sow’s post-farrowing temperature checks, vet visits and treatments as health and medical records, and weights for the litter as it grows.

Creatures is a record keeper, not a veterinarian: the dashboard and reminders help you plan, and your vet decides what is normal for your sow. For a wider look at what a breeding herd should write down, see our livestock record keeping guide.

If you are planning litters to sell, our pig cost guide covers what feeder pigs and breeding stock sell for. If you keep a heritage breed, the American Guinea Hog guide describes a small pasture breed whose sows typically nest and farrow in the open without a crate.

Frequently asked questions

What does farrowing mean?
Farrowing is the term for a sow or gilt giving birth to piglets. A farrowing pen or farrowing crate is where she gives birth, and “farrowing date” is her due date.

How long does it take a sow to farrow?
Usually a few hours. Older research averaged about 2.5 hours; a recent study of modern high-producing sows averaged about 3.6 hours, and Merck notes farrowings of 5 hours are increasingly common with big litters. Piglets typically arrive every 15 to 20 minutes.

How do I know when my sow is going to farrow?
Watch for a full udder, a swollen red vulva and, above all, milk you can express from the teats, which Purdue says usually appears 24 to 48 hours before farrowing. In the last hours she becomes restless, builds a nest and breathes faster. Count 114 days from breeding with the pig gestation calculator so you know when to start watching.

How long between piglets is too long?
Purdue says intervention is warranted if a sow strains for 30 to 45 minutes without producing a piglet, and the common working advice is to act if 45 minutes pass after one piglet without the next. Call your veterinarian if you do not have experienced help on hand.

Do I need a farrowing crate?
It is a management choice. Research reviews find crates reduce crushing, while loose pens let the sow move and nest; many small herds farrow in loose pens or pasture huts. Whatever you use, give the piglets a warm, protected corner of their own.

When should the afterbirth come out?
Usually after the last piglet, sometimes between piglets. Merck says it should pass within 4 hours of the last piglet. If it does not, or the sow seems ill, call your veterinarian.

How many piglets does a sow have?
It depends on breed, age and management. The Animals review cites average US litters of about 11, and some Chinese breeds are known for much bigger ones; our guide to the Taihu pig covers the breed group behind the largest litters. Mini pigs have smaller litters; see the Juliana pig guide for a pet-pig example.

Do this next on Creatures

Pick the step that fits where you are with your sow or herd.

• Have a sow due? Add your sow to Creatures so every breeding, farrowing and litter stays on her record, no account needed to start. Adding an animal to Creatures walks through it.
• Record the breeding or the farrowing. Add a record for the service date, the farrowing, or the sow’s temperature checks afterward. The form opens for visitors, and a free account saves it. See adding a record.
• Selling the litter? Create your farm profile, no account needed to start, then get listed in the breeder directory so buyers looking for feeder pigs or breeding stock can find you.
• Need a gilt or a boar? Pig listings are few right now, so set a free pig listing alert and get an email when a new one is posted, no account needed to start. Saving searches and using your watchlist explains how alerts work. You can also check pig listings on the marketplace.
• Want to talk to other pig farms? Browse the Creatures breeder directory to find trusted pig breeders near you.
• Keep reading. The Creatures pig page covers pig breeds from around the world, how long pigs live explains how many productive years to expect from a sow, and the free pig name generator helps when a new litter needs names.