Any suggestions for how to tell a gilt is pregnant?
This is maybe a year too late and obviously you will know by now but we had great luck breeding our gilts the first two times and then have had problems the third time so we also wanted to figure this out. Upon consulting with our vet it seems the easiest way to to get a blood sample for a lab est that gives you the answer in 24 hours.
You can pay for the vet to come out and draw the blood but we tried it ourselves and it was doable if you are the do it yourself kind of pig farmer. We got the right sized needle 5/8 X 18 gauge, 6 cc syringes, and those red topped vacuum tubes from the vet and watched a couple videos on U Tube. We also borrowed a pig snare to hold the sow by the nose so she would hold still while we inserted the needle into the large vein on the back of her ear- it took several tries to get the needle positioned correctly but then we got the 5 ccs we needed for the test…Good luck