[little blue]

bless him, glad to see he's got the right stuff!
what line is he?

[welshlass181]

I have no idea lol i got the 4 of them as they were being rehomed.  The lady had bought them for meat, fell in love, got sick and had to rehome i told her i could take 1 as a stud and if i took the rest i'd slaughter them.  Got them home and they were brilliant  so had 3 castrated and kept him entire x

[Eastling]

Congratulations they are so cute

[welshlass181]

Congratulations they are so cute

Thank you they are being sexed today and the boys will be castrated tomorrow hopefully 

[Blonde]

The tell tale sign was Mattee not coming up for food and the castrate boar picked up a cooking apple and a spud and took it down to her hubby jst told me that bit lol bless lil Chopin he took her some food

Some sows dont come in for food for some 2 or 3 days.  they just lay in their hut with their piglets and let them suckle.  They also dont get up for a drink.   

[HappyHippy]

Thank you they are being sexed today and the boys will be castrated tomorrow hopefully 

Are you doing them yourself in the traditional way Michelle ?
Can you let me know how you get on with it please ?
I have no problem castrating (thanks to Lillian's expert instruction  ) but I'm still sooooo wary about trying it with the Kunes  Maybe a good experience for you will ease my worries a bit 
Karen 

[welshlass181]

We did the last lot we had and they're all fine.  We did a lot of research before we did it PLUS we used local for them.  They went crazy when they were being held and once we put them back in the box after the castration they were silent and a bit dopey.  They didn't appreciate the purple spray lol we spoke to the vet again today about doing these lil ones and she said that we must make sure that we "twist a bit more" and it'll be ok.

We picked up more local today and we've got everything ready we didn't get chance to find out how many boys there were today as i picked up 600kg's of meal and we had to handball it into bins and sacks.

[HappyHippy]

Eeeek, you'll be shattered then !
What do you mean by 'twist' ? Are you twisting & pulling the testicles as opposed to cutting ?
Welfare regs I think, state there's to be no 'tearing of tissues' I've not had to twist anything - always just pull and cut (but maybe the twist is because it's Kunes & to do with the hernia risk  ) can you explain for me (being a bit slow on the uptake tonight ) what you're twisting.
Thanks x

[welshlass181]

noooooooooo what i mean is once the ball is out we twist them (to close the tubes up apparently) THEN fray them i don't just pull them out...that makes even me cringe.  We don't do a clean cut either on the vets advice they are freyed. 

[robert waddell]

when the vet dehorns they twist the blood vessel to seal them
the fraying is interesting

[welshlass181]

it's something to do with it not being a clean cut that helps it heal  it worked well on the last lot and there were no complitcations.  We've got a vet on call for tomorrow (sorted it out today) incase something happens and we need to take them in

[HappyHippy]

Okay, I understand what you mean Michelle 
Good luck with it and I hope all goes without a hitch.
Can you post a wee update and just let me know.
Thanks 

[welshlass181]

Out of 9 piglets there were 6 boys.  The runt of the litter is a boy again and is a lot smaller than the other ones  momma is still VERY protective over them and it was a job to get them away from her without being bitten lol she'll come around.

We did them this morning and it all went well.  Injected local into them and left them for about 8 mins in a box to calm them down and let the meds work.

All of the castrations went really well with minimal bleeding and very little stress.  The worst and most stressful part was separating from mum We left them in a cat carrier with a warm blanket after they were done so we could keep an eye on them and make sure that they were all ok.  No bleeding, no stress and when we took them back to the pen they all walked out to see mum (who was on guard) quite happily and then munched on fruit, veg and pig meal.

[welshlass181]

Hubby just went over to check them again and they're all out and about scrapping and messing about none are bleeding or anything bad and they all seem happy  they are munching on strawberrys and other fruit and veg we got from a local veg shop this morning. 

So .. so far so good

[welshlass181]

Hubby went to feed this afternoon and got met with 6 very itchy piglets but all is good.  No infection or bleeding or any signs that there is something wrong.  They're eating and scrapping like normal piglets they are sitting butt to butt and having a good old scratch.  They didn't appreciate the purple spray lol but needs must.  At least now if they go as pets they can live a full and happy life