[Ladygrey]

Picked up the saddleback weaners yesterday

I cannot believe how different they are to the kunekunes! so much easier to handle and so much calmer!

We caught them up by hind legs, placed them in trailer, brought them home, unloaded one by one, held by hind legs to put ear tags in, placed them in the paddock and not one of them said a word! not a single scream and they didnt wiggle and shake and try and roll and murder us!!!
After putting them in the field they then came up to say hello!

This must be the difference between flop eared and prick eared pigs but if we try and grab a kune to do anything with it it screams murder and thrashes like a crocodile the whole time then runs away and avoids us for a week...











The food I measured out looked loads for them considering how small they are, but hopefully its right!

Love my new piggies 

[Victorian Farmer]

Very nice stock .They seem great .

[ZaktheLad]

They look great - good luck with them.  I am sure they will keep you entertained for hours!

[kelly58]

Envy you, l miss my piggies  Enjoy !  cuties

[Berkshire Boy]

Ear tags should not be put in like that. They are just waiting to get caught and rip their ears, and certainly don't need 2.

[Bionic]

Nice looking piglets 

[bloomer]

 


say goodbye to that lovely grass...

[shygirl]

you lucky thing, they look gorgeous.

[Daisys Mum]

They do look gorgeous I love Saddlebacks  I must admit I never tag ours until the day they go as they are terrible for biting at each other's ears

[Ladygrey]

Ear tags should not be put in like that. They are just waiting to get caught and rip their ears, and certainly don't need 2.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments they are absolutely lovely

Berkshire Boy I have always put tags in like that and never had one lost or ripped out in the past 3 years, but please tell me how I should obviously be doing tags differently then? also yes they do need two as my abattoir will only take pigs with one metal tag in each ear for some reason, so please dont tell me they dont need two tags

The reason why I tag pigs when they are young is due to the fact that I struggle to get them in when the pigs are larger for two reasons
number 1 the pigs ears are thicker and my hands are not very strong so I cant clip them in as effectively as I cant squeeze them as hard so its a really long long squeeze for me to get them in which is not good for the piggie , and then when doing them when the pig is bigger the pig cannot be restrained as well and I have had pigs pull away as I am trying to squeeze them in resulting in ripped ears.

Im pretty sure everyone tags slightly differently! this just works for me to do them younger, I also tag my lambs at 24 hrs old

Yup the grass will all be gone soon I dont mind, I want to re seed the top half of the paddock and rotovate it but the land is too hard, so hopefully they root that up nicely for me

[hughesy]

I wouldn't have tagged them either same reasons as BB. I always tag ours in the trailer as we're setting off for the abattoir.

[Ladygrey]

I wouldn't have tagged them either same reasons as BB. I always tag ours in the trailer as we're setting off for the abattoir.

Thanks, next batch I will leave then and you and BB can come around with your strong hands and crawl into my little P6E trailer and tag ears whilst being shut inside only able to kneel, may be fun to watch...

Until you guys do that for me I will have to continue tagging when they are young, as I do value keeping all of my limbs etc attached and keeping the pigs ears attached to their heads

[Daisys Mum]

They do look gorgeous I love Saddlebacks  I must admit I never tag ours until the day they go as they are terrible for biting at each other's ears

To be fair I should have added that my 6ft3in tall son does mine as I don't think I would be strong enough either. Enjoy your pigs

[Ladygrey]

haha thats usefull  

I cannot squeeze the pliers together in one hand, so with one hand I have to position the ear in the tag whilst holding the pliers with my other hand, then let go and hold the pliers with both hands and hope the ear has not moved, I find this impossible to do in adult pigs that cannot be held still!

The plastic sheep tags I can do one handed

Someone needs to re invent the metal tag pliers....

[shygirl]

do they have to be metal tags? our pigs got slaughtered with z-tags no bother - rubber but as we got the heads back i can say the tags were in perfect condition post slaughter. the z-tag applicator is very easy and very strong, and doesnt move.
tagging bigger beasts is a bit more lively.

very fine looking weaners.