The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: HappyHippy on July 05, 2012, 09:31:11 pm
-
Poppy pig is farrowing as I type ;D
So far we have 3 gilts and 2 boars :thumbsup:
One of the boars is absolutely STUNNING, if you or anyone you know is looking for a registered OSB boar (Alistair/Elsie lines) in Scotland or northern England let me know asap please, as this wee guy will be castrated on Sunday otherwise :-\ He's too good for the chop folks ;)
I'll get photo's on asap - forgot to charge my camera ::) :innocent:
Karen :wave:
-
Great news! :thumbsup: Looking forward to hearing the final tally and seeing the pics.
Oh I wish we had the space for three girls and a boar... but we don't. Hope someone comes along for this wee fella. :fc:
-
oohh lovely x
-
Oooh I really want to start keeping pigs with OSB but really need to start with a couple of weaners.
He sounds wonderful, can't wait to see pictures.
-
I won't say "I told you so" Karen :innocent:
They should be real crackers if they are anything like their cousins/half siblings ??? you know what I mean ;D
-
well done Poppy!
Our Clover had milk in one teat last night but still holding on tight when i came to work this morning money is on for when i sit down tonight with my friday night glass of vino!
Many congratulations, enjoy your babies.
Mandy :pig:
-
Ooh! Babbies! Photos, please :)
Margot is still waiting. I have suggested to her that she wait for Sunday in the hope that the weather picks up. She now resembles that fattest of Zeppelins, the Dirigible!
I am interested ref the castration. I assume you are doing this yourself. How did you first learn? We have decided to not do Lady Penelope's - mainly because we don't know how to, and haven't yet found anyone who can teach us...
Hope you find a hope for the handsome little boar, anyway :fc:
-
My camera is still dead :( But a friend took some fabulous photo's today, so as soon as she emails them to me I'll post them for you to see :thumbsup:
Poppy farrowed 6 in fairly quick succession last night, delivered one afterbirth and promptly fell asleep ::) Bruce was convinced she was done, I wasn't ;)
This morning there was still no sign of any more piglets so I gave her a quick shot of oxytocin and after about 30 minutes I could see she was struggling so on went the gloves and in I went. I'm not surprised she was struggling :o I eventually managed to birth the offending piglet, preparing myself (and the vet student who's with us this week) for the fact that it would most likely be dead :'( But it wasn't :thumbsup: She is the biggest, fastest and prettiest piglet I've ever seen - though this is obviously a completely biased opinion ;D
She's the biggest by far, we've had the second afterbirth and all seems well now.
I am a little dissapointed she's only had 7, especially after her first litter (by a Kunekune boar) was 10, but we did move her home from the boar about 4 afterwards this time, whereas last time she was here the whole time, so I'm not sure if this is the cause or something else - no sign of any obvious reason. But I'd rather she had 7 healthy piglets who are all fit & strong than more and lose some of them - stupid, girly sentimentality I suppose :innocent:
Polished Arrow, Bruce worked in a commercial pig unit for a while when he was younger - it's him who actually does the cutting ;)
I visited Lillian who showed me how she does her castrations, watched a few videos online and spoke to our vet before agreeing to let him do it though :D I hold them and he does the actual proceedure - it's not nice doing it, but it stresses them more getting picked up than anything else ;) I'm sure your vet would be happy to show you, it was a vet in the pig unit who taught Bruce, you might even be able to take the piglets to them (in a big dog cage lined with straw) to keep call out fee's to a minimum (I like to save money where possible ;)) or there may be someone here on TAS who would come and show you ? A sharp scalpel and plenty of purple spray :thumbsup:
We'll be doing these ones on Sunday, so I'll try and find a way to film it (maybe on Bruce's Blackberry ???) and either post it here (if that's not too insensitive) or somewhere else to let you see - but seeing it in the flesh and having someone talk you through your first one would be preferable.
-
pepper only had 6 piglets so dont worry.
congratulations :love:
so what would have happened if u hadnt jabbed her then? wev never had to interfere yet, so its nice to know the possiblities and learn a bit more.
ponies can get sick quite quick with afterbirth left in but as the piglet was still alive is it still urgent to get it out?
do u think she'd have given birth later herself?
lucky u having vets on hand ...lol
-
I think she probably would have managed herself PP, but the labour had gone on sooooo long (started around tea time last night) and she was sooooo tired that it might have taken a while, I felt so sorry for her and wanted to help speed things up for her. All the oxytocin does is help the womb to contract and we had it on-hand anyway because one of the Large Black sows had lots of problems with her previous farrowing (I wanted to have it this time 'just in case' and to save emergency trips to the vet ;))
I went in because I wasn't entirely sure what was causing the problem, it might have been 2 piglets trying to come out at the same time (we've had that with the Kunekunes) in which case the only way to fix it is by intervention, it could have been a sideways presentation (had that with the Large Black last time ::)) or, as in this case, a huge piglet coming backwards with one leg forward and one back. I wasn't sure if the last piglet had been attached to the first afterbirth (though obviously since it was delivered alive it had to have been the second one) but didn't want to hang around too long before getting it out. We've given anti-biotics as a precaution (mainly since I did internal exam) but the second afterbirth was complete and healthy looking so :fc: all will be well now.
If we hadn't then worst case scenario we could have lost the piglet, Poppy or both - but that would be highly unusual, but it would likely have meant an emergency visit from the vet to fix the situation.
HTH
Karen :wave:
-
thanks karen. appreciate that.
its good to know but fingers crossed with mine, lol
;D ;D :wave: :wave:
-
Yes, we think probably best to ask the vet but if you can video the procedure, I would be interested - it may help us to decide whether to go down that route at all or not. Many thanks :thumbsup:
Sounds like you have the right thoughts - to be happy with the healthy litter, including the biggest, roundest and prettiest piglet ever :D
-
:wave: Congrats to you HH and Poppy and little OSBs and looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Lorraine
-
Here are some photo's (sorry they took so long !) ;D
We didn't manage to film the castrations unfortunatly :-\ too hectic with the kids being around and none of them staying still long enough to hold the camera ::)
Polished arrow - there's a good vid on youtube (and many, many awful ones !) look for the american lady & the Tamworth piglets ;) The only difference is they still do a 'tearing of the tissues' which we don't (against welfare regs :() We cut instead - but apart from that it's a good introduction.
I weighed the 'big' gilt today (3 days old) she's 2Kg, I weighed one of the Large Blacks when it was 2 and a bit weeks - it was 3Kg. I'll keep track of both and see how they go from now til weaning, can update if anyone wants to know.
Hope you like the photo's :wave:
-
Hi Karen,
I've looked on youtube and assume this is the one you are referring to:
Kingbird Farm - Pastured Pigs (2 of 4) - Piglet Castration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2dMkPGIOUw#ws)
I must admit to seeing quite a few horror stories whilst looking for this ... some are just awful.
Pete
-
Yes Pete - that's the one, thanks for posting the link (my right button on my mouse has stopped working and it's making cut and paste impossible ::))
There are some REALLY bad and awful ones on youtube - not good at all :'( But this lady explains it all really well I thought, better than I would have and without 4 mental kids in the background ;)
Karen :wave:
-
The You Tube video is really informative and helpful - the best one I've ever seen. Thanks for letting us know about it. Apart from the cutting bit, do you agree with her theory about not putting any antiseptic on as it makes them sting and rub their back ends?
Poppy's piglets are adorable, beautiful colours - are those the ones you thought were going to arrive much earlier, but the date turned out to be mistaken? Tamsaddle
-
We do put antiseptic spray on (just to guard against infection) the Large Black piglets and all of the cross breed piglets we've castrated don't seem up nor down with a wee squirt. BUT the pure OSB's didn't like it much - they did run their bums for a minute. They're all fine (though a bit wary) this morning though :thumbsup:
Poppy delivered right on time ;) She was away visiting a boar, so a much smaller window of opportunity/error :innocent:
We're still waiting for the Kunekunes to farrow - though hopefully not for much longer ;D
This week or next week :fc:
Karen :wave:
-
Thanks and good luck with the KK farrowing. By the way, now that that other post has been locked down, I too am mightily relieved you haven't disappeared from TAS - your advice and knowledge is second to none - Tamsaddle
-
Thanks too HH & P6te - an excellent video. We have been taught this way to castrate - less stressful than catching them all and taking to vet.
Lovely OSBs :love:
-
Thanks everyone for your comments :-*
Now, all I need is for this blinking rain to stop for a couple of days so I can get their arcs moved and get them all out into the field :-\ At this rate they're gonna need flippers ::) ;D
Karen x
-
the method shown in this vid is ILLEGAL in the UK that is tearing not cutting and the scalpel does not look sharp by the stabbing method used :farmer:
-
Polished arrow - there's a good vid on youtube (and many, many awful ones !) look for the american lady & the Tamworth piglets ;) The only difference is they still do a 'tearing of the tissues' which we don't (against welfare regs :() We cut instead - but apart from that it's a good introduction.
Which is why I said this when I mentioned it originally :innocent:
-
just bumping the point up better two people posting with the same view is it not :farmer: