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Author Topic: Pig gone off food  (Read 8099 times)

Barrett

  • Joined Jun 2011
  • North Somerset
Pig gone off food
« on: January 04, 2012, 11:39:44 am »
Hi guys, one of my young gilts has gone off her food and is loosing weight she is 5months old and in with my 2 other girls both 10 months old and Bob my boar, she doesn't want to come outside at all don't blame her we have had so much rain here in the SW the pens are like bogs, my OH is going to build another shed so they can all go inside, could she just be down in the dumps or something else. :P

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2012, 11:50:42 am »
Hi
Could be bullying at mealtimes, if she has to fight for her food all the tme its likely she's just give up,
Other things check her temperature if its high you'll need antibiotics and/or to separate her. Also more worrying to me is that you say she's in with your boar, be very careful as even at this age he'll have a try at serving her and may well squash and injure her which will make her extremely off colour.
just some ideas until others are along
HTH
Mandy  :pig:

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2012, 01:07:50 pm »
Bullying or the boar hurting her were my first thoughts too. But it could be any number of things  :-\
I'd get her in, on her own, as soon as possible.
Check temperatures and feel all over her body (sore areas, especially in the legs will feel hot & you'll know if it's causing her pain  ;)) You'll also be able to check her poo - it could be that she's constipated, but unless you manage to catch her having a poo in the field it'll be impossible to tell. When it's wet & muddy pigs will often avoid going to the drinkers (cos round the 'feeding station' is usually worst affected) so constipation could be a possibility.
She might just need a couple of days peace from all the big ones, or she might need treatment of some sort.

Get her in first and come back once you've checked her over  :thumbsup:
HTH
Karen x

Stevie G

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2012, 01:24:08 pm »
Hi guys, one of my young gilts has gone off her food and is loosing weight she is 5months old and in with my 2 other girls both 10 months old and Bob my boar, she doesn't want to come outside at all don't blame her we have had so much rain here in the SW the pens are like bogs, my OH is going to build another shed so they can all go inside, could she just be down in the dumps or something else. :P


Don't like to get the needle out too often (even though I am an ex-commercial pig farmer, ho, ho), but my thoughts are Pneumonia!!! Open those vents up and give her a good dose of penicillin, especially considering the time of year!!! :wave:

Barrett

  • Joined Jun 2011
  • North Somerset
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2012, 01:48:53 pm »
Thanks guys, she was supposed to be with the other ones her own age but we couldn't get her out of the pen when I took the others out, I don't think she will put up much of fight now.

Barrett

  • Joined Jun 2011
  • North Somerset
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2012, 11:46:44 am »
Hi guys, well managed to get Fiona out of pen and under the heat lamp in a spare shed for a couple of days sadly she did not survive I found her this morning cuddled under the heat lamp, I was hoping for a better outlook for her as she was picking up a little and starting to enjoy her food again.  Lessons learned by this though I do fear that big Bob may have rolled on her whilst a sleep, nothing under 9 months to go in with him. :'(

JulieS

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Devon - EX39 5RF
    • Ford Mill Farm
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2012, 12:19:47 pm »
Sorry to hear your news Barrett  :(

Pedigree GOS Pigs and Butchery for Smallholders.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2012, 01:49:17 pm »
Oh Barrett, I am sorry to hear that  :bouquet:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

princesspiggy

  • Guest
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2012, 03:15:05 pm »
my thoughts are Pneumonia!!! Open those vents up and give her a good dose of penicillin, especially considering the time of year!!! :wave:

is pneumonia not contagious to the other pigs?

Miss Piggy

  • Joined Mar 2011
  • Cardigan Bay, Ceredigion
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2012, 07:39:29 pm »
Sorry to hear you lost your gilt. A sad day   :(

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2012, 11:52:31 am »
So sorry to hear your news,  :'(as you say lessons learn't but a tough way to do it.
Mandy  :pig:

Barrett

  • Joined Jun 2011
  • North Somerset
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2012, 02:40:46 pm »
Hi guys, thanks for all your kind words, my eldest boy has been away with Scouts this weekend so I had to tell him the sad news last night.  I do still find the loss of one of my pigs really hard to deal with, I think the day I don't feel something when I take them to the abattoir or they pass away is the day I will pack it all in.  :pig:

Stevie G

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2012, 02:34:55 pm »
my thoughts are Pneumonia!!! Open those vents up and give her a good dose of penicillin, especially considering the time of year!!! :wave:

is pneumonia not contagious to the other pigs?

That is sipmly not so, just because one pig in a pen contracts Pneumonia then they will all get it. It does not work like that. A pig under "stress" is more likely to suffer from a disease problem ie being bullied and not eating and drinking.
And I believe that it was in the end a disease problem that eventually caused this pig to die.
Sad but true.
Best would be to ask your Vet. :wave: 

 

« Last Edit: January 13, 2012, 02:50:58 pm by Stevie G »

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2012, 02:51:47 pm »
pneumonia can and does just affect one pig in a batch   we have had quite a bit of it last year with the shite weather  check there temp then jag them it is rare to lose them if caught in time   you can also inoculate against pneumonia
i doubt very much if the boar rolled on top of her   maybe humped it to death
even mixing pigs of similar ages and size can cause bullying
piglets just hours old will fight    it all come down to observing and learing from these observations and mistakes
 :farmer:

princesspiggy

  • Guest
Re: Pig gone off food
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2012, 04:35:51 pm »
a local pig farmer near us has lost alot recently to pneumonia so its a conversation iv recently had, i was told that its contagious, same with cattle, cos when one gets it, it whips thru all of them in the same shed.
is it contagious with cattle? or are they just kept in identical conditions.
what do u inject? penicillin?
is it the same conditions that cause it in pigs as cattle?

 

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