[caracroft]

Hi,
I have now joined the ranks of pigkeepers!!!

We picked up our Saddleback weaners on Saturday, we were only due to view them for picking up later but the mother had died with a twisted bowel and as they were  healthy, weaned and eating well we took 2 gilts and 1 boar.  ( Tomorrow 16th May they will be 7 weeks).  They are doing well so far, eating well and following me around already when I am in their pen!!

What I need to know is about worming.  The sellers worm their sows at a stage where the piglets will suckle and get some protection from the milk.
BUT I know I must need to worm them more than this and want to know -
1.  When I should do this?
2.  How I should do it?  and
3.  Where do I get the worming medication from? 

As far as I am aware as I am raising the weaners for meat and their only trip will be to the abbatoir in a few months that no other vaccination is necessary, is this right? 

thank you for your help

Cara 

[hughesy]

We worm our weaners when we separate them from their mother at about 8 weeks. We use Noromectin which we inject. You will get wormers from any agricultural feed supplier.

[Eastling]

You can get the wormer from the vet if you don't want a whole bottle. You will need to have the weight of each weaner and the vet will draw up the amount required in a syringe with a needle for each one. They don't need to be vaccinated if they are for meat. Do you know someone who can show you where and how to inject them?
HTH

[Beewyched]

Hi Cara - welcome to the world of porcine pals     Hope you've got THE essential pieces of kit - some strong wellies & waterproof trousers 
 
I'm showing my ignorance here - never kept Saddlebacks - is the boar entire? not sure when the breed become sexually mature, would you need to seperate them before they get to weight?  Someone on here will know, only ever kept "big pigs" in same-sex groups for meat - but then the small guy sdo make up for size with their sexual prowess 
 
 

[caracroft]

Thank you for your replies.   
Beewyched - you have made me think - I was sure pigs would not be sexually mature before they went to slaughter?!?

Eastling - I can get back in touch with the people I bought the pigs from as they were really friendly and did mention about injections.

And
Hughesy,  I will look into Noromectin, i think this was mentioned when chatting to the people i go the pigs from but I should have taken shorthand of everything they said as by the time we left I had forgotten a lot of it

Thank you all and I think I will be back again with more questions lol!! 
Cara

[Berkshire Boy]

It does surprise me that people buy animals without even knowing the basics of care.

[caracroft]

Sorry Berkshire boy Im not sure to what you are referring to? Especially with your tag line.

I have been studying this day for a few years now and unfortunately with the way this particular sale went, it hasnt gone the way I expected - I am  concerned that something could be missed, i am sure you wouldnt want to see 3 beautiful healthy weaners suffer because of them losing mum early.

Regards
Cara

[Hassle]

Cara good luck, I'm sure you'll make it through

[Fowgill Farm]

Hi Cara
Congrats on getting your piggies even if a little earlier than you expected but as you say better they come and be loved and well looked after by you. As mentioned you'll be able to collect jabs from your vets approx 1/2ml for weaners of either Noramectin or Dectomax, then its just a case of getting into them just behind their ear towards the shoulder.
As you have one boy with 2 girls its highly unlikely he'll cause any bother, we took just the same computation to the butchers at 22wks (GOS) and had no issues, we think boyo was bossed by his sisters! If he's big enuff send him first and keep the girls a litle longer.
Enjoy your piggies and ask away, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!
best Mandy
Ps i think BB was just concerned by the number of question you had we get people come on here aks loads of questions they SHOULD know the answer to if they'd done their homework and then they never are seen again! Yours were perfectly logical given the situation. HTH

[Bodger]

Best of luck with your new arrivals. Forums like can be a gold mine of information and if you don't ask questions like yours, then you'll never know.
The world is full of experts but one thing that you must remember, is that an 'ex' is a has been and that a 'spurt' is merely a drip under pressure.
Ask away.

[FiB]

Enjoy!  We had 2 saddleback gilts 2 boars and killed at just over 6 months - no probs re mating or anything in fact (and I we didnt worm them after they came here at 9 weeks old    ) they were a joy and needed no medicine at all while they were here (unlike our sheep which seem to need something too blimmin often).  Interested in this thread as we are planning on getting more weaners in the summer - Is worming something we needed to do? Needless to say I would have wormed if Id seen anything untoward.......  I did feel I had read up and prepaired (and it did all go brilliantly) but you can always miss something?      (running for cover)   

[benkt]

I breed saddlebacks and broadly speaking we follow the soil associations organic standards. These disallow routine worming of pigs so we do a poo test once a year and so far its always been clear so have not wormed yet - if the test came back positive we would of course do so then.  We do also buy weaners in and they are almost always wormed before we get them.

[FiB]

phew!!!  OUrs were from a great place as far as I can tell - they would have been done if that is what usually happens (I will ask next time!!).  SO you would only FEC pigs to keep, not weaners?  Cheers F

[Hassle]

With breeders I inject wormer into a sow about 10 days prior to farrowing so she passes on some of the protection or every 6 months.
With fatteners I inject at the same time as I tattoo and tag roughly about 10 days, they will unlikely get further worming injections unless symptoms

[caracroft]

Thank you all so much,  I feel a lot better now!!  I am sorting it out the worming, so all will be fine.

The weaners are all getting on really well.  They are so healthy, happy and running up to us as soon as they see us!! 

Thanks again and wish everyone else all success too

Cara