[yankieGirl]

What must be done after a litter of pigs are born?  Shots?  Dealing with boy piggies?

Any help is appreciated. 

Once again I have the cart before the horse.  I have a gilt married to a live in boar.  She might be in the family way.  I'm not even sure of that.

Thank you.

[robert waddell]

the first thing is make sure of your service dates     that allows you to within a day or two to identify when she will  farrow and let you separate the boar from her  to let her get used to the farrowing facility's you have
some let the gilt or sow get on with it and don't have much input  others like to be there to avoid to many losses piglets not breathing piglets in the sack piglets eaten by mother
some fill them with stresnil and oxytocin others don't it all depends on each sow or gilt
you are better with a separate creep area for the piglets with a heat lamp or two depending on the weather or amount of piglets    they lose body heat very quickly and is the biggest loss in piglets
is she getting a bit of a belly on her     the teats will start forming and bagging up just before she is due to pop there will be milk in her nipples but the above will be useless if she is not up the stick

[yankieGirl]

separate the boar from her

Do I have to?  I have extra pens but.....

  creep area for the piglets with a heat lamp or two

Check.  I had seen descriptions of this.  Hubby will build something.

Castrate or not.  I have seen the debate on this forum.  Where do you fall on the issue? (If you posted before, I don't remember what you think)

Thank you.

[robert waddell]

it is a boar how will it react for your safety once Mary Lou starts farrowing
 i am all for hacking the nads of the boars      i mean surgical castration  but only if you are trained to do it
1 all pigs can run together without any unwanted pregnancies  2nobody  is going to use a boar that is not breed standard or just a dolly mixture       that choice is up to you 

[HappyHippy]

 i am all for hacking the nads of the boars      i mean surgical castration  but only if you are trained to do it

That's only cause you don't have to do it though, eh Robert 

I'm on the same side as Mr Waddell when it comes to getting the boar out the way for farrowing.
What if there's a problem, what if he doesn't like you messing about with his wife ? What if he doesn't like the look of the little noisy things that have suddenly appeared ? I know it's only if's but IMHO it's not worth taking any chances - even the most placid of boars can change when they feel unsettled.
I also go down the castration route (Kune Kunes by vet @ 6 weeks and all 'big' pigs @ 3 days old by ourselves) again for the same reasons as Robert - you can run a mixed herd without worries about in-breeding, aggression or the much debated taint issue (I know, I know  but I'm one of the fussy ones  )
HTH
Karen 

[yankieGirl]

Kune Kunes by vet @ 6 weeks and all 'big' pigs @ 3 days old by ourselves

I guess mine are "big" (yorkshire (large white)).  Who taught you to castrate at 3 days?

[robert waddell]

yes Karen you are right it is Lillian that does the cutting while Donna holds the piglet i blame that kiddy fiddling bastard of a school doctor  that groped all the boys at school   

[robert waddell]

dont know what the laws are in the usa    but in good old blighty  up to 4 days without anistetic by some one trained to do it after 4 days it has to be the vet that does it anyway 

[Tamsaddle]

How did Lillian, or anyone else, learn how to do castrating?  Should one start with the vet first time, and could one learn how to do it in one session of watching the vet?   Also, does the sow go mental when you remove her tiny babies?   Our sows have always been very protective when they are that young.  Do the piglets squeal a lot, if so presumably you have to do it a good distance away out of earshot.   I am tempted to go down that route next year as it has been a real nuisance the last 3 years running separate pens for males and females, would be much easier having multiple plots rotated for worse and slightly less worse mud.   Tamsaddle

[robert waddell]

Lillian was shown how to do it by the vet    and has since shown others how to do it
yes the sow goes mental but depends on the breed  lops do not bother well our one does not bother
piglets squeal when they get air under the trotters
if done correctly it is bloodless and has no effect on the piglets once they are back in the nest
calves and lambs after the ring is put on them are in obvious distress for up to a day after the accepted method of castration
the only thing is we small producers do not have a big enough voice when it comes to this issue even the bpa will not support this essential part of management  them and the commercial guys fold like a pack of cards when castration is mentioned so much that freedom foods do not have castrated pigs  o yes they can have castrated lambs and cattle  but no pigs have to go with there nuts intact gilts up the stick  has the question ever been asked how many pregnant gilts come through the slaughter line   you wont get told 

[HappyHippy]

Kune Kunes by vet @ 6 weeks and all 'big' pigs @ 3 days old by ourselves

I guess mine are "big" (yorkshire (large white)).  Who taught you to castrate at 3 days?

It was the wonderful Lillian who taught me (as well as sausage making, curing and the art of dispatching & preparing turkeys  ) but OH had done in years ago in a commercial setting, so once he'd had a quick 'refresher' he was much more confident than me (and usually does the cutting while I do the holding.)

I think a friendly farm vet would be quite happy to show you how to do it, or you could take them to the vet surgery and have it done there on the day for not much cost.

When we're removing piglets from mum (for jags, castrations, tagging etc) we tend to take all the boars out and leave the gilts or take the gilts and then the boars - this way mum always has some piglets around her and it stops her getting too stressed. Timing it to co-incide with feeding is my 'tip', mum is less bothered by everything when her nose is in a trough    Castration is done at the opposite end of the shed (all the boys go back in together), but jagging, tagging etc is done 'penside' and each piglet returned as soon as whatever we're doing has been done.
HTH
Karen 

[yankieGirl]

I've looked at numerous websites that explained and showed pictures.  Doesn't look too bad.

I think we will look for someone local to show us how or allow us to watch them do some or who knows, maybe we can entice someone to barter pig castration for some tasty homebrew.

Thanks all!!!

[Barrett]

Apart from the obvious what are the benefits to castration?.

[sausagesandcash]

If the sow is indoors, we always throw a sod of grass and it's soil in every few days, this will negate the necessity to inject the weaners with iron. Just see how she wolfs it down....