The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Button End Beasts on August 06, 2013, 12:11:40 pm
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Sorry for all the questions but....never having kept pigs that reach the ages we now have ...do pigs toenails need trimming? Flos are looking a little bit long. How on earth do we trim them? ???
Thanks in advance,
Beki
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some pigs do need regular foot trimming......easy bit over. if you are lucky enough to have a sow that will have her belly rubbed and stay down you can try that (never been that lucky ;)) or stresnil a good pair of foot trimmers we use calf hoof trimmers and a builders rasp to file down.
all our pigs are indoors so we only ever have the odd one that needs trimming the concrete floors keep them down.
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We do the belly rub first, if that doesn't work a couple of cans of Guinness is our next port of call ;) if it ever gets to the time that this doesn't work (which it might for my boars de-tusking) it'll be a shot of stresnil.
Ours come in onto concrete in the winter, so mostly they wear them down a bit then, we've only got one sow who needs a wee trim this year (she's 6)
I've seen lots of micro pigs with feet problems and overgrown nails, this has led me (perhaps wrongly ?) to the conclusion that pigs seem to suffer more from it if they're overweight (cos every one of them was) :innocent:
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Suspect micro pigs are over-indulged and certainly not kept on nasty, hard concrete. We have a former intensive pig unit with concrete everywhere and have never needed to trim. I've been told that concrete can cause uneven wear but not seen it yet.
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Unfortunately we haven't got any concrete. Perhaps I should apply for a pig walking licence and take her down the road ;D . She easily lies down for a belly rub so can try and give her a trim with the sheep foot trimmers.
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We have one sow who has to have her toenails cut we use the belly rub tachnique and use cattle nippers to take off the ends and trim the sides.
HTH
mandy :pig:
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we had a sow that hated her legs being touched (could do anything else with her just not the legs) tried belly rub tried cider etc called out vet (easy option) 2 shots of stresnil later she could still kick like a mule (vets words a bit more *****) she just did not like a ped ::) luckily enough we have only ever had to do hers the last time by a shot of stresnil and a lot of patience and hands on the job.
the sheep foot shears would not touch hers we did it with calf foot trimmers and a surform.