If you want to raise pigs well, you first need to understand the biological features of pigs.
The pig is a homeothermic or warm-blooded animal. It has the ability to maintain a stable body temperature under limited fluctuating ambient temperatures.
A newborn piglet’s body temperature drops 2 °C to 8 °C during the first 20 minutes after birth because of a poorly developed heat regulation mechanism. However, it may return to normal levels after one to ten days, decrateding on the ambient temperature. The piglet’s thin coat, which is 1,5 mg/cm² of hair, as well as body fat of only 1,4%, forms a poor insulation mechanism against cold. As the piglet gets older, the percentage of body fat increases, thereby increasing its natural insulation against cold.
Piglets are very prone to hypoglycaemia, or low blood glucose content, during the first seven days after birth. It commonly occurs due to a lack of feed because the sow suffers from agalactia (no milk flow). The lower the ambient temperature, the sooner this fatal condition steps in. Heat stress due to too high temperatures is an important contributing factor to agalactia. Other clinical symptoms of hyperthermia in sows are an increased body temperature (up to 42 °C), rapid pulse, immobility and diminished appetite.
