Author Topic: Sow not eating - have I missed something (Read 10159 times)

nelson · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2011, 06:37:50 pm »

Okay the vet came this pm - temp normal - after the B12 injection he is now treating her with "Genabiline".

She is currently very very grumpy but still feeding piglets. Not eaten but has taken some water on.

We have to give her another injection of this tomorrow and the next day.

nelson · « **Reply #16 on:** June 23, 2011, 03:07:45 pm »

she has eaten her first 1 kilo of pig food this morning. We took another kilo down at lunch time and she has eaten that too. We will watch her over the next couple of days - she is not looking heavy with milk like usual but piglets are well and we have introduced food for them.

Looking back :-\after the long farrowing and the delay last two piglets perhaps we should of acted sooner with the anti biotic "shotapen"

Well thanks for support - now on to the next couple of farrowings this week - two berkshires gilts and a tamworth ...... the tamworth being a first for us.

Berkshire Boy · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2011, 03:19:55 pm »

Hi Nelson,
Glad she seems to be picking up. Don't beat yourself up over wether you should have acted quicker, you did what you thought right at the time and next time you will be more aware.
This whole thing is a learning curve that's what makes it so addictive.
Hope the next litters are more relaxing.

nelson · « **Reply #18 on:** June 23, 2011, 03:37:02 pm »

Thanks Berkshire Boy

Got the stout ready

oaklandspigs · « **Reply #19 on:** June 23, 2011, 06:47:03 pm »

Nelson,

Great to hear she's going the right way.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #20 on:** June 29, 2011, 05:31:48 pm »

As recommended on this forum I have recently bought myself Andy Case's book. I was reading up on looking after the in-pig gilt, farrowing and so on.

If no afterbirth is expelled by a couple of hours after farrowing stops he recommends lomg-acting Penicillin & Oxytoxin straight away "before she goes off her food."

In all cases he says to feed about half her normal rations for a couple of days after farrowing "otherwise you will overface her and put her off her food" and then to increase feed gradually over the next few days.

I thought I'd post that here in case anyone has a similar problem in the future and reads this topic looking for help.

Hopefully Esmae is fully recovered now?

nelson · « **Reply #21 on:** June 29, 2011, 07:27:23 pm »

Hi SallyintNorth

and thanks.
She had an injection of Oxytoxin during the birth after the first piglet was born - there was a delay of 2 hours. The rest of the farrowing was pretty straight forward. The first afterbirth was presented half way through and then maybe this is where we thought the farrowing was over as the last piglet came out with what we thought was afterbirth a couple of minutes later. Not so as she delivered another two piglets and the final afterbirth 10 hours later - so with hindsight we should of given her a penicillin shot. She is a bit of a drama queen when it comes to farrowing but never never goes off the food. Always a first time.

The last three weeks have been exasperating - "what can we do for Esmae?" We have tried everything to get her to eat her "pig food" but she has only eaten bananas, advocado, cooked eggs, and French bread, even tried the kipper thing that Carol Harris recommends in her book "Traditional pig keeping" . She has started drinking a bit more now. Her condition does not seem to have suffered yet but as we reach the 3 week mark we need to watch her carefully.

What has amazed us is that she has fed her 11 piglets without a thought for herself - the chaps (piglets) are munching into the pig food quite happily so I feel a bit more relaxed about Es not eating but......We have an appointment with the feed merchants tomorrow - we are going to see if there is another type of feed we can try?

Is it possible for a pig to suffer depression

- to me Es certainly looked down. Her demeanor is certainly much better today and she is waiting by the gate for the bucket but will not touch the basic pig food. Maybe an association of pain or perhaps when you are down you just don't like the bland food...

Would like to add that we know that it is illegal to feed your pigs some of the foods that I have mentioned above in the UK. But faced with a sow not eating and even the vet perplexed

I was willing to try anything to get her to eat.

Here is a picture of Esmae taken yesterday with one of her piglets.

little blue · « **Reply #22 on:** June 29, 2011, 07:40:43 pm »

thats a lovely photo!
poor old Esme, she has perhaps now developed a taste for the finer things in life rather than boring old pig food!

maybe you could mix pig meal with warm milk, or soaked sugar beet, to give her some energy back...

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #23 on:** June 29, 2011, 09:08:06 pm »

That's a lovely pic, thanks for posting.

I'm glad to hear that Esmae is starting to look perkier. She sounds amazing - being able to rear all those babies when she's not eating very much. I hope she gets her appetite back soon!