The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: welshlass181 on October 15, 2011, 08:35:33 pm
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Went to feed the herd earlier this evening and hubby got a bit worried when our KK Mattee didn't come up for food. He called her and she called back so he went a-walking. Found her at the right bottom of the field on the other side of a ditch on a bed of reeds and 9 piglets :)
We moved them as it wasn't safe cos of the ditch up to the pen we used for the last litter. She is very protective and seems to be doing well and babies are all moving and healthy. No still borns either :)
This is the nest she made :pig: you can see the ditch and all it's mud :( had no choice but to move them.
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/IMAG0042.jpg)
This one is very sweet and totally different to the others :) don't know what sex it is yet tho
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/IMAG0044.jpg)
Only had a cat carrier to move them in lol not the best of ideas .... crude but effective
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies2.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies3.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies4.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies5.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies6.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies7.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies8.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Matteebabies9.jpg)
Not the best of photos but by the time i got there it was getting dark. Will get some better photos tomorrow
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they are gorgeous!
I much prefer black-on-white than white-on-black, my boy Murphy is just like your sow.
Congratulations, wishing the littl'uns the very best
:love: :pig:
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The weaners were getting through a hole in the fence and cuddling up to the babies which was sweet but momma didn't appreciate it at all :) blocked up hole and threw out said weaners hehe. Will get some better shots tomorrow. Momma seems nice and happy but very protective and the babies seem healthy too. Will all see when we get over there tomorrow
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Beautiful piccies, beautiful piggies. Thanks so much for posting. Glad you found them and rescued them before there was an accident!
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The tell tale sign was Mattee not coming up for food and the castrate boar picked up a cooking apple and a spud and took it down to her :) hubby jst told me that bit lol bless lil Chopin he took her some food
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very very cute! makes me so excited, our Kune Kune is due any day!!
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How lovely! Sweet Chopin :bouquet: I dare say that was a piggy version of a nice cup of tea.
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The piglets are gorgeous ! And cracking pictures too.
Good on your little castrate :love: :pig: I sold my favourite one this year (to a long term home as a grass cutter - no way he was going for pork ;)) Sir Shorty would have done exactly the same thing - castrated Kunes are just the soppiest pigs ever ::) But that's why I love 'em ;D
We're expecting our next litter in the next 3 weeks or so too, getting excited here as well :thumbsup:
Karen x
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Momma and piglets are all ok today :) Made a pen for the stud boar and the castrate boar to keep them away from the girlies until next spring :pig: the weaners are little monsters !!! They go in the pen and steal the food then bugger off before the boars can bite them lol
Not the best of photos as they're taken on my crappy phone. Please excuse the food on the floor but it was a nightmare to get her into the pen last night and we just ended up putting lots of fruit and veg on the floor to keep her occupied while we messed about. She has a half 45 gallon drum in there now as a trough. We've got a big bale of haylage being delivered tomorrow plus another massive bale of straw. We're going to put all of the straw we have now (about 8-10 small bales worth roughly) in the pen with her to make it easier to walk over the muddy bit.
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0742.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0741.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0740.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0738.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0738.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0736.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0735.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0734.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0733.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0732.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0731.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0730.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0729.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0728.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0727.jpg)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0726.jpg)
This one she was laying down with them and the babies were sleeping :) she allowed me to fuss her and sit down outside the ark
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0725.jpg)
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they are just so so cute, they are like puppies, you just want to pick them up and smell them for that baby smell ( sorry just piglet mad). the dark ones lok quite zebra like..... what colour is the boar??
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Oh they are just gorgeous. :)
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they are just so so cute, they are like puppies, you just want to pick them up and smell them for that baby smell ( sorry just piglet mad). the dark ones lok quite zebra like..... what colour is the boar??
The one having fuss is dad :)
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h261/shellsam/Pigs/Photo0582.jpg)
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He only has one ball distended and we were concerned that he might not produce. We had him checked out by the vets when the other 3 were castrated and she said that he might not be fertile. This litter is confirmation that he isn't a jaffa and we couldn't be happier
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Lovely pictures Welshlass, glad somebodyelses paddocks look like mine ;D
They are gorgeous piglets she's done really well especially having them outside.
Best of luck
Mandy :pig:
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The pen that they are in isn't ideal at all but it was filled with straw and lots of haylage yesterday so they're not walking on mud. I'd much rather keep them all in there where i know it is safe than have to build something else that isn't so muddy. We've cut all the reeds down and it's being ploughed next spring to turn the reeds over as they're getting out of hand now. ;D
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bless him, glad to see he's got the right stuff!
what line is he?
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I have no idea lol i got the 4 of them as they were being rehomed. The lady had bought them for meat, fell in love, got sick and had to rehome :( i told her i could take 1 as a stud and if i took the rest i'd slaughter them. Got them home and they were brilliant :pig: so had 3 castrated and kept him entire x
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Congratulations they are so cute
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Congratulations they are so cute
Thank you :) they are being sexed today and the boys will be castrated tomorrow hopefully :pig:
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The tell tale sign was Mattee not coming up for food and the castrate boar picked up a cooking apple and a spud and took it down to her :) hubby jst told me that bit lol bless lil Chopin he took her some food
Some sows dont come in for food for some 2 or 3 days. they just lay in their hut with their piglets and let them suckle. They also dont get up for a drink.
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Thank you :) they are being sexed today and the boys will be castrated tomorrow hopefully :pig:
Are you doing them yourself in the traditional way Michelle ?
Can you let me know how you get on with it please ?
I have no problem castrating (thanks to Lillian's expert instruction :-*) but I'm still sooooo wary about trying it with the Kunes :-\ Maybe a good experience for you will ease my worries a bit ;)
Karen :wave:
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We did the last lot we had and they're all fine. We did a lot of research before we did it PLUS we used local for them. They went crazy when they were being held and once we put them back in the box after the castration they were silent and a bit dopey. They didn't appreciate the purple spray lol we spoke to the vet again today about doing these lil ones and she said that we must make sure that we "twist a bit more" and it'll be ok.
We picked up more local today and we've got everything ready :) we didn't get chance to find out how many boys there were today as i picked up 600kg's of meal and we had to handball it into bins and sacks.
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Eeeek, you'll be shattered then !
What do you mean by 'twist' ? Are you twisting & pulling the testicles as opposed to cutting ?
Welfare regs I think, state there's to be no 'tearing of tissues' I've not had to twist anything - always just pull and cut (but maybe the twist is because it's Kunes & to do with the hernia risk ???) can you explain for me (being a bit slow on the uptake tonight ;)) what you're twisting.
Thanks x
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noooooooooo what i mean is once the ball is out we twist them (to close the tubes up apparently) THEN fray them i don't just pull them out...that makes even me cringe. We don't do a clean cut either on the vets advice they are freyed.
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when the vet dehorns they twist the blood vessel to seal them
the fraying is interesting :farmer:
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it's something to do with it not being a clean cut that helps it heal ??? it worked well on the last lot and there were no complitcations. We've got a vet on call for tomorrow (sorted it out today) incase something happens and we need to take them in :)
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Okay, I understand what you mean Michelle ;)
Good luck with it and I hope all goes without a hitch.
Can you post a wee update and just let me know.
Thanks :wave:
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Out of 9 piglets there were 6 boys. The runt of the litter is a boy again and is a lot smaller than the other ones :pig: momma is still VERY protective over them and it was a job to get them away from her without being bitten lol she'll come around.
We did them this morning and it all went well. Injected local into them and left them for about 8 mins in a box to calm them down and let the meds work.
All of the castrations went really well with minimal bleeding and very little stress. The worst and most stressful part was separating from mum :) We left them in a cat carrier with a warm blanket after they were done so we could keep an eye on them and make sure that they were all ok. No bleeding, no stress and when we took them back to the pen they all walked out to see mum (who was on guard) quite happily and then munched on fruit, veg and pig meal.
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Hubby just went over to check them again and they're all out and about scrapping and messing about :) none are bleeding or anything bad and they all seem happy :pig: they are munching on strawberrys and other fruit and veg we got from a local veg shop this morning.
So .. so far so good
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Hubby went to feed this afternoon and got met with 6 very itchy piglets but all is good. No infection or bleeding or any signs that there is something wrong. They're eating and scrapping like normal piglets :) they are sitting butt to butt and having a good old scratch. They didn't appreciate the purple spray lol but needs must. At least now if they go as pets they can live a full and happy life
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and if they happen to hang around at yours you don't have the worry of extra randy little boys running amuck ;) :D :D :D
Glad they are doing well :thumbsup:
Karen x
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Sam says it is rather funny watching the boys rub their behinds on the poor female piglets lol they are being sat on and rubbed to hell and back by their brothers. Everybody is still ok and no adverse issues or signs of infection or stress.