Castrating Pigs *WARNING - GRAPHIC*

We did it.  It took a bit of courage and a few friends, but we did it.

J and I had decided that we were going to castrate the piglets yesterday, but it was clinched when our neighbors volunteered to come over and help.  We already had plans for a barbecue with some other friends, so we pulled out a few more steaks, but another half rack in the fridge, and invited them to join us.

We waited until after everyone had eaten before we started the castration process.  And honestly, the worst part of the whole thing was trying to catch the piglets.  They are a little over a month old now.  My guess is they weigh anywhere from 15 pounds (the runts) to 35 pounds (heavy enough I couldn't lift them over my head and I'm pretty tough). The piglets are able to run under the fence between the two pens, J went into the pen with Ruby and a couple of friends went in the pen with Jaws.  I strategically placed myself outside all of the pens so that I could pull piglets over the fence as they were caught, and because I'm not willing to get in a pen with a 450-pound angry momma pig. J felt a small dose of her anger when she charged him, grabbed his pant leg and ripped a hole in it, before retreating.  Luckily, she didn't grab his leg.  He swears she wasn't going to, but I'm not so sure.

I was surprised that Jaws reacted angrily when the babies squealed, but once we gave Jaws some food, he didn't care what we did with the piglets.  We gathered the piglets in a 4x4 crate, catching boys and girls alike just for ease of capture. Once we had caught all of the piglets, we let the girls go so Ruby would calm down.

There was one little boy (we called him "Nuts") that had a large protrusion near his testicles.  From a distance I had assumed it was a hematoma (a pooling of blood under the skin from an injury), but upon closer inspection, I decided it was more likely a fairly large hernia.  Because of the proximity to the testicles, I decided not to castrate this piglet today.  While it will be harder on everyone when the piglet is larger, I would rather see the hernia healed than accidentally open the skin and have the hernia truly external.

Finding the right spot.

Before we began, I lined up our supplies.  I had a bottle of iodine, an aerosol can of BluKote, and a scalpel.  Both the vet and the guy at the feed store had assured me that I could use the scalpel for several piglets as long as I disinfected between piglets.  In my opinion, this did not hold true.  The first piglet was easy to cut, but by the third piglet, I felt that I had to use way too much pressure to achieve the same goal.  In the future, I would buy a scalpel for each piglet and discard after one use.

Making the first incision.

Pushing the teste out.  Cut through this membrane.

We had three guys hold the piglets, although I think you could easily do it with two holding and one cutting, and if you had to, you could get away with only one holding.  One guy held the snout so that the piglet didn't scream.  This was more for our comfort as piglets are VERY loud when they want to be.  The second guy secured the front legs.  The third (J did this part) held the hind legs.  Initially, he held them towards the back so that I could find the testes, and then while I held my finger in front of them, he pushed the hind legs forward and slightly out, tightening the skin over the testes.  The piglet was very successfully immobilized this way.

I first poured a generous amount of iodine over the entire area (and myself).  I made a small incision from front to back over the teste.  Then a second incision through the membrane that holds the teste.  I knew that I was through the membrane when a clear fluid squirted out - I think this is what the teste is surrounded by.  Gently, I coaxed the test out of the incision.

The cord is thick. 

I cut away any remaining membrane and then began to cut the cord.  I was told to "shave" the cord so that the cut is not flat.  This part seemed to be the most painful for the piglet and while I tried to do it quickly, it was not a quick process (at least it didn't feel like it to me and I'm sure it didn't feel like it to the piglet).  I know that some people just pull the teste out and the cord breaks, but I was concerned that whatever the cord is attached to on the inside might be injured that way.

Shave it quickly, but don't cut bluntly.

After the first teste, I made an identical incision over the second one and repeated the process.  When both testicles were removed, I grabbed the BluKote and gave the whole area an ample dose.  I also managed to get most of J's hands (which will be blue for a few days now).  Once the piglet was sprayed, we quickly gave him back to his momma.

The whole process of extraction took less than five minutes per piglet.  Honestly, the hardest part was catching the little buggers. 

If you're reading this because you're trying to decide whether or not you can do it yourself, you can.  It really wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  And today, the boys are just as rambunctious and happy as ever - even if their booties are a little swollen and sore.   K took some amazing photos of the whole process and when I find the mini-USB cable, I'll add them to the post for those looking for images.

Castrating Piglets

We have put this off way too long and now we are facing the very unpleasant task of castrating much larger piglets.  I watched the dr do this last season, but have never done it myself.  I did find a couple of you tube videos.  The following one is the best so far.  Please understand that you will be seeing someone make an incision on a piglet and removing the testes.  It is not terribly bloody, but it is not for the faint of heart.  I will write more about our experiences after we have actually done it...hopefully by the end of today.

Sold Stitch and Apollo

Apollo, day one.

Lilo's daughter Stitch, and her son Apollo have gone to a new home.  Sometimes with herd management, you have to make decisions based on the big picture and not on the individual animal.  This was one of those times.

Stitch was a first time mommy this spring.  Because of that, I cut her some slack when she abandoned Mary.  But a few other factors made me decide to get rid of her.

First, Stitch is a meat goat.  She serves a single purpose when alive - to create more meat goats.  In contrast, my milking does create meat babies AND milk.  Dual purpose is better.

Second, when Stitch came into milk, it was apparent that her teats were positioned such that she had to move her leg to allow her babies to nurse.  This isn't awful, but it makes it harder for the babies.  There is no reason to keep a doe that has this challenge when there are lots to take her place.

Third, Stitch hasn't been the most attentive mom.  Sure, she's a teenager and most teen moms are not very doting, but some are.  And if I'm going to keep a single purpose doe, she's going to need to be a great mom.

Fourth, and this was only because of the first three, she abandoned her baby.  Now, this may be because it was her first kidding.  She may go on to have twins and never leave their side.  But it's not worth the risk...again because she is single purpose.

So, Stitch and Apollo have gone off to a nice family farm where little kids will get to enjoy them.  Farewell, you two.

Bottle Babies

Well, we have three bottle babies on the farm at the moment - actually two bottle babies and one bucket baby.

The first baby was rejected by her momma, something that happens every once in awhile.  This time it was our young mother, Stitch.  She delivered two babies, but abandoned one within minutes of birth.  The doeling, named Mary, was out in the corner of the pen, shivering and alone.  The buckling, named Apollo, was with Stitch.  We actually thought she had only delivered one baby until M noticed the other one.

I tried for several hours to get Stitch to accept her baby, but after forcing her to let Mary nurse a few times, it was obvious that she was not going to take care of the doeling.  So we brought her inside and began the task of bottle-feeding.

The second baby came from our good friend over the mountains.  She had a doe with triplets and was bottle-feeding one...but she wasn't home enough to feed three times a day.  She knew that I was, so we met in the middle and she gave me the doeling.  The biggest benefit to having more than one bottle baby is that you can leave them outside at night instead of in the bathroom...and that's a big benefit.

The third baby is not a goat.  He is a piglet.  He is one of two very small piglets in the litter.  I decided to supplement his feedings to help him in the first few months of life.  He probably wouldn't have made it if I hadn't.

We started Grunt, the piglet, with a bottle.  But for some reason, this little guy could not figure out how to suck on the nipple.  Instead, he would chew on it.  It achieved a similar effect, but with a lot more mess.  So a friend suggested a bowl.  It took a few tries, but Grunt now happily drinks his milk from a bowl three times a day.

The funnest (and sometimes most annoying) part about having bottle babies is the bond that they have with humans.  We cannot go outside without hearing them call to us.  At the moment, they are small enough that all three can wiggle their way through the fence and over to us.  It's pretty cute watching two doelings and a piglet run from the pens to the house.  It's not so cute when you don't intend to feed them at the moment.  We sneak out a lot if we're leaving close to a feeding time.

Ninja Goats

I knew that the time would come eventually when the goats would realize that my fence was not in fact goat-proof.  That day was today.

When I came out this morning, Asha and Lilo were wandering around outside of the pen.  They had obviously had some of the grain out of the grain buckets, but it didn't look like they had eaten a ton.  Phew.  Just what I need...a couple of bloated goats.  I put them back and Lilo seemed quite relieved to be able to let Ares nurse her out a bit.  She was very full.

I tried to restretch the fence but I knew that this was only the beginning.

This afternoon, I came out to feed and WHILE I WAS SCOOPING THE GRAIN I watched first Asha, then Lilo make the most amazing ninja moves over the fence. Bear in mind that Asha is due to kid any day.  First Asha stretched her front legs up as far as she could on the fence to get a good footing.   Then, in one fluid motion, she jumped onto those front legs, swung the hind legs to the side, rolled onto her back (allowing her front legs to slide out of the now-sagging fence) and stood up.  I could've sworn she smiled at me when she glanced over her shoulder at Lilo.  Lilo made a graceful leap over the bent fenceline without a scratch on her.  They both headed right toward me...and the grain.

It is VERY hard to keep a goat out of a grain bucket if it is open.  I had taken the lids off of all three buckets as I was scooping grain for the pigs, the goats, and the chickens.  I didn't have time to get all three lids resecured (my goats know how to pry open the lids if they aren't tied down).  I did my best to put all of the lids on, all the while kicking my legs, flailing my arms, and screaming obscenities at these two ruminent rebels.  I eventually abandoned the buckets and lured the girls back through the gate with a scoop of grain.  They may be ninjas, but Country Buffet Blend is their weakness.

Knowing that they would be over the fence the minute they were finished with their grain, I had to act fast.  I grabbed a pallet and wedged it into the sagging section of fence.  I dragged the milking stand in front of the pallet and then shoved the whole thing as far into the perimeter of the pen as I could, thus tightening the fenceline.  But this was just temporary.  And I was mad enough to fix it right just for the pleasure of frustrating Asha and Lilo in their next attempts.

I grabbed a roll of black and white six string hot wire and tied it to one of the post cap insulators on the pen.  From there, I began unwinding it around the pen.  I started so that the hot wire would stretch across the weakened spot first.  By the time I was half way down the second side of the pen, Lilo and Asha were belly-aching...having finished their grain and realized that their escape route was being permanently blocked.  They followed me around the perimeter, all the time talking to me, as if their pleas would somehow convince me that they didn't need a hot wire at all and that this was all just a misunderstanding.

I finished the fenceline and tied the ends together creating a loop.  By now, Lilo and Asha had given up and were eating hay.  They knew that their plan to assuage my fears of another escape had failed.  I walked into the pig pen, turned off the fence charger, tied the two lines together with a small section of wire across the corridor between the two pens, and turned the charger back on.  The needle pinned itself in the green.  I think I heard Lilo sigh and Asha curse under her breath.

Runts

One of the most challenging and most amazing things about piglets is how fast they grow.  On the first day, our piglets couldn't have been more than two pounds a piece.  Today, only eleven days later, they have easily doubled their size.  Well, most of them have.  And this is where the challenge lies.

There are always runts in the litter...one or two babies that are smaller at birth or were injured early on and didn't get as much to eat.  These piglets struggle to keep up and as their siblings pack on the pounds, their battle gets that much more difficult.

I have two piglets that are runts in this litter.  The first one I have named Sprout.  She is the one that I wrote about a few days ago with a cut on her leg.  This cut made it harder for her to push her way in to nurse and meant that she missed out on several feedings.  When you are growing as fast as these guys are, every meal counts.

The second one I have named Grunt.  He is just small.  When I go out to check on him, I often find him almost asleep standing up.  His snout has fallen just far enough to touch the ground allowing his head to balance as if on a tripod.  His little body is wrinkled and the word "scrawny" comes to mind almost immediately.  He is a sad little guy who does his best to fight for a snack, but is edged out by his bigger siblings and is falling further and further behind.

Today I decided to try to give Grunt some extra fortification via bottle.  He didn't fight me too much when I picked him up, but he did squeal enough to let Ruby know I had him.  I quickly retreated with him to the house.

He seemed to do ok with the bottle.  At first he wanted nothing to do with it.  While I was obviously not his favorite person, he kept trying to snuggle up under my chin for warmth and protection.  I had to pry his mouth open with my fingers and then stick the nipple into the side of his cheek to get him started.  He never actually sucked on the bottle, it was more of a chewing behavior...kind of like Little Plow.  I guess that this must be how piglets nurse on their mommas.

He did eventually allow the bottle to go into his mouth without force.  He seemed to like it best if I had my face right next to his snout...almost like the skin to skin contact was necessary for nursing.  At one point, he was rooting around for the nipple and bit my nose.  By the end, we were both covered in milk but I think he got a few ounces into his belly.

I took him back out to Ruby and he immediately snuggled up with her.  He was obviously still hungry though, because the minute Ruby grunted the dinner grunt, he was in there fighting for a plate.

I think that I will continue to work with him and Sprout.  I would like to see them growing better than they are.  And while I want them to stay out with Ruby because that is the best way for them to grow up, I will work with both of them on bottle-feeding so that we can supplement their diets for awhile.