[garden cottage]

Hello all, we have had a horrendous pig incident that happened on frid afternoon went up to feed the pigs as usual chas and dave 2 glos old spot x berkshire both boars plus our older tamworth called tammy! as i went into the field i noticed dave had been attacked very badly bitten by the tamworth either side of his spine about 2" down very deep gashes and blood everywhere you can see that the tamworths jaw must have gone right over the spine and shook it to tear it so badly. spoke to the vet who said we dont sew up pigs? so ann flew up to get pain killer and antibiotics jabs split up the pigs with more electric fence got dave in the livestock box,washed out the cuts very deep and long cuts injected etc its now monday and dave has made a miraculous recovery have treated with spray and tea tree cream and the wounds are healing much quicker than id imagined anyway whole episode very stressful and glad its all over. tamworth is a gilt wondering if shes come into season to be aggresive? they have got on fine up to now with loads of space in paddock. any ideas much appreciated neil

[Farmer Giles]

Hi Neil

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate happenings. Not nice and great news that your prompt action has been rewarded with, as you say, a miraculous recovery.

We have a Pietrain sow, Bramley, who is quite docile but occasionally gets the hump and can be a little aggressive when in season. I normally get into training so I can leg it if she decides to chase me. The kids think it is great fun to watch dad running (well walking with vigor!!) away from her when she gets a mood on. Never known her to attack the other pigs she is with though. Our other sow Mrs. De Vere is a sweety at all times and never known her to be anything other than happy.

There are plenty of well versed souls on here with better advice than I can give and no doubt they will be able to give a better idea as to the reasons behind your incident.

Bon Courage
FG

[Francis Bacon]

Hi Neil,

Sorry to hear about your pigs, it's not nice especially when one gets hurt, but you took speedy action & hopefully now they're split it won't happen again.  Pigs are generally very quick to heal & in a months time you probably won't even see a mark! 

We have a gloucester gilt who is 11mths old, since her seasons have started her behaviour has got steadily worse. She is the top pig & is particularly nasty to our other gilt at feeding time but has not actually bitten her yet.  But I must say I will be very glad when she's gone next month.
Good Luck
Donna

[pigsatlesrues]

Here in Normandy, we found a dead Tammy this morning.  John thinks it is either a wild dog or a fox. The pigs was around 30 Kilos so not tiny.  A horrible incident and now we have to decide what to do next.  The problem is that it may come back now it has found a good food source.  It did try to drag it through the fencing, but not able to so left it there - torn throat and broken leg.  Horrible.

Anyone else in France had a similar problem?

Kate 

[Francis Bacon]

Oh Kate, How awful for you 

No we haven't had any problems like that here & hope we don't.  We often find their poo in the garden & I do worry more about the sheep than I do the pigs. 

I hope it doesn't happen again. You must be feeling pretty anxious.  Perhaps sheep fencing around their pen with barbed wire running along the bottom & maybe some at the top of sheep fencing, I know it won't look to nice but if it helps keep predators away 
Take Care
Donna

[pigsatlesrues]

We have all that - unbelievable experience and quite shocking for both of us.

Will have to leave the dogs outside tonight I think.

Kate 

[Farmer Giles]

Blimey Kate what a dreadful experience, I feel for you as it is horrible to discover ananimal that has succombed. As you say not a small oinker by any means @ 30kgs!!!

Can you put the rest of the pigglies inside and try and trap 'the beast' or is that not possible??

Good idea to leave hounds out as they may well dissuade any other foul happenings.

[pigsatlesrues]

They are in electrified enclosures, cannot lock them in unfortunatley.  I had a really good look at the body today and it has been gored at the throat - what would do that?


Sorry - have deviated from the original posting.  We had a pig with the huge gash in its haunches - the goat butted him and tore him.  It was one of our first pigs and we were devistated and worried, and the sight of the awful wound was terrible. We got the vet out and he just laughed - said leave it and do nothing.  It had cut through the fat layer and it would heal on its own - it did, without a mark to show for it, so don't worry Neil.

Kate 

[Merlin]

Hello to all,
              it seems amazing at the powers of recovery and healing that pigs seem to have. I read with interest the unfortunate incident , but luckily things seem to have turned out ok now. It reminded me of a day old piglet (at the time) that we have , which was trodden on by it's mum. The poor thing had a horrendous wound on it's hind leg as the skin was torn from the top of the thigh right down to just below its hock. The flap of skin was still attached but hanging , leaving the muscles exposed beneath.The vet suggested we flush out the wound and just dress it rather than go for expensive surgery.We took his advice and gave a long acting antibiotic shot too, but carried little hope for the poor chap. To our amazement he has now ,5 weeks later made a full recovery with little scarring and is as fit and happy as the rest of his litter.
I'm sure your boar will go on to make a full recovery and be none the worse for wear.
Good luck. 

[garden cottage]

many thanks for all of the replies, dave is still healing very well hope to put him back with the other old spot this weekend. cheers neil