Especially if you’re starting to prepare for the winter months, it’s normal to wonder whether your pigs can get cold.
Do Pigs Get Cold? Although their bodies are better built to withstand the cold compared to humans, they still get cold. Pigs still need additional warmth and protection for their bodies especially during the coldest parts of the year. This is even more true for piglets and mini pigs.
Just like any other animal, pigs have certain reactions to changes in weather. Read on to find out more about how the cold can affect your pig.
How Pigs Manage the Cold
Humans have always been built to take shelter, whereas animals are designed to keep themselves warm. This is why we just have our skin and some hair, while animals have fur, feathers, and the like.
As for pigs, you may worry that they have very little hair. Does this mean that nothing else protects their bodies from the harsh temperatures?
Well, pigs actually have a thick layer of fat underneath their skin. This layer of fat plays the same role as fur or wool and keeps the pig warm.
But no matter how thick these layers of fat are, pigs still need shelter when it gets really cold. They also need to stay dry. This is what their bedding is for.
Pig bedding is usually made of a thick layer of straw. All the straw helps insulate the pigs from the ground.
Of course, it’s a different story when it comes to piglets. Piglets are far more sensitive compared to regular-sized pigs.
This is why you may also want to think about when to get a pig. If you plan on breeding them, timing is everything as well.
What Happens When Pigs Get Cold?
Normally, pigs generate their own heat. In fact, in colder weather, you would sometimes see steam coming out of their bodies.
However, pigs also get sick when the cold becomes too much for them to handle. In fact, pigs can also be prone to frostbite, as well as pneumonia, hypothermia, and respiratory issues.
The low temperatures can also have some effect on how well pigs process their food. No matter how well your feeds worked for the rest of the year, feed efficiency may get affected
What signs should you look out for to see if your pigs are starting to get sick because of the cold weather?
Pigs would start to shiver like a human being the moment the temperature becomes too cold for comfort. You may also want to check for snotting or coughing. Sunken eyes could also be a warning sign that your pigs are about to get sick and would need some extra warmth fast.
Visible signs, like changes in their color or the texture of their skin could also be warning signs.
Look at changes in their behavior as well. Most pigs start to eat less the colder they feel. As a result, they also start producing less body heat and become even more susceptible to the cold.
Caring For Pigs in Cold Weather
Here’s how you can give proper care to your pigs during the winter season:
- Provide shelter.
Some would suggest an insulated shelter, but some would say the usual setup for pigs is enough. The right choice basically comes down to what kind of pigs you have and how tough the weather gets in your area.
You can keep your pig indoors especially if they have been trained well.
As for pigs that are used to the outdoors, you can provide an outdoor shelter for them. If the weather does not really get that cold in your area, you could skip the insulated shelter and just go for a regular one. Just be mindful of where the wind usually comes from and make sure that side is covered well.
You may want to raise their shelter a bit as well, as groundwater can also contribute to the cold.
However, if you live in a place where winters are notoriously cold, you may want to consider a more serious kind of shelter for your pigs.
Proper ventilation is also a factor you should consider when providing shelter for your pigs. If you have good airflow, the pigs will stay comfortable in that shelter even as the weather becomes warmer and hotter.
- Choose their bedding well.
Keep the straw thick as this is the best way to keep them insulated from the cold. You can even use a number of different materials to provide maximum warmth.
Now, if you’d rather keep your pig indoors and would hate to have straw strewn all over the living room floor, you can always go for blankets and pillows. Yes, pigs love those, too!
Just be careful not to over-insulate the pigs, as this could pose a few risks as well. Especially if you have a group of pigs snuggling together, they would have the capability to produce their own body heat and keep each other well-insulated without much help.
- Keep them dry and clean.
Just like humans, leaving a pig wet and cold spells disaster. Always make sure your pigs are dry and clean to keep them healthy despite the cold weather outside.
And it’s not just the pig itself that you need to keep dry and clean.
Keeping their bedding and their general living area dry and clean also helps in protecting them from the cold. Remember that the cold becomes a breeding ground for sickness, so you can just imagine what a disastrous situation you can find yourself in if you combine bad pig hygiene and cold.
Note that you can’t wash them as often during the cold season. But you can continue brushing and conditioning their skin to keep them clean.
- Keep them hydrated.
Pigs become more prone to illness when they become dehydrated. This means that throughout the cold season, you have to be even more vigilant in keeping them hydrated.
If you’re keeping your pigs outside, make sure their water doesn’t freeze.
- Maintain your routine.
Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you should veer away from your usual schedule. Continue your pig’s usual routine. Continue training them and giving them opportunities to exercise.
By maintaining their routine, you are keeping them physically and mentally fit, and less prone to sickness. The regular exercise can also keep their energy levels up and would prevent them from getting too lazy.
You may think that you want to keep them away from the cold weather outside their shelter for now. But disrupting their routine could sometimes do more harm than good.
- Use heaters and heat lamps.
Especially if you have piglets or smaller pigs that are not exactly built for harsh weather conditions, it is best to invest in a decent heater they can use, or at least, some heat lamps.
Heat lamps are actually a regular tool pig farmers use especially when their pigs give birth. Piglets have thinner skin, so they would need additional help to stay warm.
How do you know if it’s time to take away those heat lamps? More experienced breeders and owners say that the pigs usually move away from the lamp on their own, which tells you that they’re warm enough.
A word of warning about the use of heat lamps, though. There have been a lot of instances where heat lamps were left on, causing straws or shavings in the pig’s bedding to catch fire. Make sure this doesn’t happen.
Keep the lamp far enough not to do that kind of damage to the bedding. You can also keep watch when using the lamp and turn it off when you leave the pig’s area.
Better yet, if you feel that you will not be able to keep a close watch all the time, opt for a heater instead.
Related Questions
Can a potbelly pig live outside?
Potbellied pigs can live outside, but they still need to have access to a decent outdoor shelter. They need to stay dry, warm and clean to stay healthy, especially during the cold winter months. Although there is a thick layer of fat underneath their skin, this may not be enough to keep them warm when temperatures dip.
How warm do pigs need to be?
Sows thrive in temperatures between 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. As for baby pigs, they need to stay warm and would prefer a minimum of 85 degrees. All other pigs like it at around 80 degrees or so.
How much heat can a pig tolerate?
It can get dangerous for pigs when the temperature shoots beyond 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Pigs produce their own body heat. The heavier the pig, the more heat it produces and the more risks for it to go under heat stress.