[waterboy]

Hi all,

 On Sunday we were really chuffed to add 4 Berkshire gilts to our little herd, they were really nervy and very fast and it was difficult to see them through the weeds with them only being 9 weeks old. All was well on Monday they were still very nervous and i couldn't get overly close but they had eaten their food found the water trough and even tested out the wallow i had made for them, but this morning when i came to feed them i found 1 stone dead in the middle of the pen. I removed the dead piglet and had a closer look, i couldn't see a single mark on the pig nothing stuck in its mouth/throat no signs of vomiting nothing. I corned the remaining 3 and gave them a good looking over and they all seem fine full of energy and upset at being disturbed, they are all eating and drinking, the food was brought with the pigs by the breeder so as not to upset the piglets with different feed and the breeder had a look over our field to check for possible problems whilst she was there.

 I wanted to have the piglet autopsied but due to work i was unable to get to the vets during the day so they suggested i just check over the rest and call them out if there were any looking unwell, on checking them again they look fine still very nervy but more than happy with a few apples and are very fast across the ground!

I spoke to the breeder who was very helpful and apologetic but was at a loss to explain why this has happend or how

Has anyone any ideas on whats gone wrong?

[suziequeue]

My understanding was that this sometimes happened with young pigs when they are moved.

To be honest, I can't remember where I heard this from - the piglet "dying of shock" - but reading your thread it rang a bell.

Can't offer any other explanation.

Susanna

[Hilarysmum]

Although thankfully it has so far not happend to us; when we sell weaners we guarantee them for a week, perhaps the buyer would replace the lost one?

[JulieS]

I do the same Hilarysmum....and thankfully nothing like that has happened for me either.

Sometimes being moved can be stressful.

[Fowgill Farm]

Terribly sorry to hear this but have you considered heat stroke on the top of the stress of moving home. We have had two cases of heat stress this week with our GOS remedied with wet towels, ice packs & cubes to get temp down which had read over 41 degrees it should be 38ish.
They sound very skittish and would advise that if you can spare the time to just sit in their pen in the straw outside their house for a  long as you can, their natural curiosity will normally tempt them to come and sniff and check you out and generally get used to you. if they're only seing you for 10 minutes twice a day whilst you feed them they'll never get used to you.
Hope the others are thriving. HTH
Mandy

[Greenerlife]

Really sorry to hear that.  I lost one of my Berkshires at the weekend too!    (Identifiable problem though)

When I first got mine - they did exactly the same as yours.  They take some getting used to the new ground.  Mine took about 3-4 weeks to accept me anywhere near them (I guess they ARE young!) but now happily let me scratch them, but they still don't like being told off for nibbling my wellies!  It could be the heat - if you think about it they have very little to sustain them particularly if they are just weaned, or maybe dehydrated?  It's a horrible thing to see though - my heart goes out to you.

[waterboy]

Thx guys for the replies.
The breeder we had them from has been great she guarantees her pigs for a month so thats not an issue. I think speaking to people and with what you guys have said it could possibly have just been 1 of those things but obviously we're keeping an eye on them. As to getting to know them over time yeah thats what we did with our others the middle whites how can you not want to spend time with them they're fantastic animals,in fact I've been sat on a pile of straw with them enjoying tickles (them not me) before realising an hour or two has passed. Pigs are just soooooo addictive 
Thx again for the kind words.