Hi Folks
We have had 2 litters recently from our GOS sows. First litter (only 4, all live births, called out vet, nothing stuck, just unusually small litter). They are about 5 weeks old now, and doing well, but at the weekend noticed that Stumpy not putting his back rh leg down on the ground. We manipulated leg and no obvious issues. I thought we would leave it in case is is just ' bruising'. It is not much better now.
He is doing fine ( able to get about OK and feeding from mum OK ( not pushing to get mum's food as much as the others but still same size as others.)
Question: how long should I wait until calling out the vet. I am a bit hesitant about vet at the moment, as we have had them out twice recently. First for farrowing as mentioned above and second for the other sow who had a litter of 9, fou of which were breech ( I helped 2 out, resucitated one, was not able to help another). Had to get vet as I could not reach last piglet (not breech but mum had given up by this stage.. Vet has less wide arms than me....but it was too late for this one also). Sorry about the long winded explanation, but just to explain why we are feeling a little resisant re adding to vet bills.
Stumpy does not seem to be in obvious pain ( or I would have had the vet out). nb he is called Stumpy as he now has tiny tail...due to being trodden on by mum during first day....due to his tendancy to hide in straw, which I suspect has led to current situation.
They are inside barns at the moment so we can keep an eye on them all, so Stumpy's leg not being aggraveted by uneven ground etc.
Thanks in advance for advice
Jo