[devonlad]

Morning all, not been on here for a while. nothing sinister, just been really busy. hello again anyway

we've got 3 growing weaners out in the field (Tamworth x saddleback) and we're feeding them on our usual mix of rolled barley and growers. we always soak it for 24 hours to make the barley more digestible, so the feed is always wet. the boys seem fine and healthy, but one of them has this curious habit of sucking the food up rather than gobbling it up in the usual fashion, and like his other two mates do.
weve noticed this for a while and weren't too bothered but he has begun to look noticeably smaller and is presumably not getting as much as the other two as it looks rather slow going.
 originally another one was much smaller but he has now caught the sucker. I just wondered whether there was possibly some precedent to this and we needed to do something. this batch are especially snippety snappety and I don't fancy my chances of looking in his mouth . any thoughts

[Marches Farmer]

Hmm, inspecting the mouths of pigs is always a challenge.  Can you hold something tasty just out of reach - as their noses go up you will often be able to see at least some of their teeth.  Does his jaw look properly aligned?  First of all I would suspect a tooth problem or abscess.  How far off finishing are they?  If fairly close can he can be fed soft food, preferably away from the others? 

[devonlad]

hi sorry not replied sooner but been away, couldn't see anything obvious but not been able to look that closely, does seem able to chew things like veg etc so maybe just a habit hes got thanks again

[gracy]

One of ours was a sucker, it was like listening to noo-noo from the telytubies. Inspected his mouth no problems. Did fall behind the others for a bit but finished out mid weight. Will say he had the highest fat to meet ratio. A good 5 mm more fat than the others!
Who knew chewing burnt up so many calories?