Sow Gives Birth to 27 Piglets

Archived

Wednesday, 18 June 2003

An experimental sow, known only by her lab name of P1818, has given birth to 27 piglets, the largest known litter in history. The Yorkshire husbandry firm which raised the sow even contacted the Guinness Book of Records to verify its claim -resulting from ten years of specialist breeding. Animal welfare experts have said that the advent of such large litters is cause for shame and dismay, not celebration. Compassion in World Farming said, "This makes one despair for the pig industry".

Source: Daily Mail via www.soilassociation.org