We ended up getting our piglet back from the people who bought him today. This piglet had an umbilical hernia. I have always seen this type of hernia correct itself...but this one didn't.
The buyers had the vet come take a look (same vet we use) and he explained that most umbilical hernias are surrounded by fatty tissue and the hernia heals itself. In this case, the intestines actually erupted through the abdominal wall and as the piglet grows, the hernia grows. My guess is that it could also cause digestive problems, leading to growth issues, and certainly pain.
We refunded the buyer's money of course, and brought the pig home. Ruby was VERY concerned as I carried him from the back of the van to the gate. She knew that this was one of her piglets immediately. He was welcomed back into the passel. He was certainly happy to find a mudhole and cool off.
My hope is that we can separate him and his brother Nuts (the hernia brothers) and free choice feed them for a month. Then we butcher young and use them for a whole hog BBQ...maybe in the ground. I just want to make sure that we butcher well before there is any pain for these two guys.
On a side note, I looked up the name for a group of pigs and this is what I learned...I kind of like a sounder of swine myself.
A collective noun for a group of pigs: A drift, drove, litter (young), sounder (of swine), team, passel (of hogs), singular (refers to a group of boars)
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Hernias in Piglets
We have two piglets with hernias this time around. One of them is an umbilical hernia...nothing we really worry about. The other is a scrotal hernia. This one has made it impossible to castrate the piglet and thus limits his usefulness as a butcher pig.
I have been doing some research into the causes of hernias and found a good article describing them. Here is the link.
http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/1/pig-health-and-welfare/2320/hernias-in-growing-pigs
Apparently, hernias are considered part genetic defect, part living condition. I don't think that our piglets were subjected to specifically dirty conditions, but I did read somewhere that said umbilical hernias tend to happen when piglets are cold and use those abdominal muscles to hunch over for warmth. This would certainly fit with our piglets as there was not a substantial enough shelter for them and we did not run a heat lamp this year due to the amount of energy it consumed.
The scrotal hernia is less likely to have anything to do with environment. Interestingly, the article mentions that this usually happens on the left side, and that is the case with our pig...named "Nuts" for obvious reasons. I hadn't read about scrotal hernias but made an educated guess to abstain from castration because I was concerned that it might complicate things. It sounds like that was the right choice as scrotal hernias make castration nearly impossible.
We will probably end up keeping Nuts until butcher age. My best plan is to isolate him (and maybe a buddy) from the big pigs, feed him free choice so that he grows as quickly as possible, and butcher at as young an age as we can. This will avoid the "taint" that may come with an uncastrated male. It will also lessen our chances of mortality prior to butcher as he will only have to grow for a few months. My hope is to get him to a reasonable butcher weight by four or five months of age. This should be completely do-able.
I will take pictures of the hernias soon and add them to this post so that people can see what a hernia might look like. It is different than the sub dermal hematomas we see on a regular basis after a piglet has been squished (usually against a wall so the hematoma ends up on a shoulder or hip).
I have been doing some research into the causes of hernias and found a good article describing them. Here is the link.
http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/1/pig-health-and-welfare/2320/hernias-in-growing-pigs
Apparently, hernias are considered part genetic defect, part living condition. I don't think that our piglets were subjected to specifically dirty conditions, but I did read somewhere that said umbilical hernias tend to happen when piglets are cold and use those abdominal muscles to hunch over for warmth. This would certainly fit with our piglets as there was not a substantial enough shelter for them and we did not run a heat lamp this year due to the amount of energy it consumed.
The scrotal hernia is less likely to have anything to do with environment. Interestingly, the article mentions that this usually happens on the left side, and that is the case with our pig...named "Nuts" for obvious reasons. I hadn't read about scrotal hernias but made an educated guess to abstain from castration because I was concerned that it might complicate things. It sounds like that was the right choice as scrotal hernias make castration nearly impossible.
We will probably end up keeping Nuts until butcher age. My best plan is to isolate him (and maybe a buddy) from the big pigs, feed him free choice so that he grows as quickly as possible, and butcher at as young an age as we can. This will avoid the "taint" that may come with an uncastrated male. It will also lessen our chances of mortality prior to butcher as he will only have to grow for a few months. My hope is to get him to a reasonable butcher weight by four or five months of age. This should be completely do-able.
I will take pictures of the hernias soon and add them to this post so that people can see what a hernia might look like. It is different than the sub dermal hematomas we see on a regular basis after a piglet has been squished (usually against a wall so the hematoma ends up on a shoulder or hip).
When Pigs Attack
This morning we were faced with the daunting task of catching all of the piglets for sale. Having done this a few weeks ago for castration, we knew it wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, but I had had some luck baiting them with food so we tried that first.
I poured a pile of food outside of the pens and squatted nearby waiting for the piglets to come to eat. When they did, I slowly reached over to them and grabbed one by the front leg. Immediately, I swung it around and grabbed a hind leg. Remember, these piglets weigh a good 40 pounds and are ALL muscle. J then grabbed the piglet from me and put it into a cage.
This only worked once. The piglets figured out way too quickly that they would be caught if they came anywhere near the food. So we had to try another plan.
We gave Jaws (daddy pig) a bowl of food and tried to sneak up behind the piglets from there. Jaws doesn't really care if there are squealing piglets around him so we knew we'd be safe with him. We caught one more that way before the piglets high-tailed it back to the pen with their momma.
Now, we knew that we couldn't go in and catch piglets with Ruby. She was already very upset that we were chasing her babies - barking and frothing back and forth in her pen. So we decided to move her into the goat pen so that we could safely catch the babies in her pen. She moved easily enough with the promise of a nice full bucket of grain.
Once she was out of the pen, we decided to barricade the babies into their shelter. When they were all in the shelter, we pushed a large table in front of the entry and thus had them contained. We then sent K and Z inside the shelter to catch babies. We knew that they wouldn't be able to hold a piglet for long, so we had them yell if they caught one.
Well, Z decided pretty quickly that he was not comfortable in a small shelter with a half dozen upset piglets. He needed out. As we let him out, the piglets ran out too. We were able to catch one more that way before they were all back in with Jaws.
Finally, we blocked a corner behind the chicken coop and ran the piglets into the corner. J was able to catch two this way, but after he handed the piglet over the fence to me, there was an immediate change of plans.
Up until this point, Ruby had been pretty happy with eating her food. Maybe it was the sound of two piglets squealing at once. Whatever it was, the next thing I heard was J yelling that I needed to get in the car (we were loading piglets into a crate in the back of the car). I glanced over at the goat pen and Ruby was destroying the fence, pushing over two pallets and the milking stand, and making a b-line for me and the squealing baby.
The kids jumped up onto the shelter roof, J climbed up onto anther shelter, I dropped the piglet in the back of the car and climbed into the front seat and closed the door just as Ruby made her way around to me. She was running, barking, frothing, and generally menacing. She made her way around the car, and finding no piglets, she moved on to the outdoor crate we had put the other piglets in.
Once she was satisfied that the babies weren't being hurt, she found the duck pool and decided to take a dip. We had one more piglet to catch, so I handed J a small crate so that he could put the piglet directly into the crate without leaving the relative safety of Jaws' pen. The minute that piglet squealed, Ruby was at the fence line. We quickly placed the piglet in the crate and she quieted down. We were able to load the piglet into the car without incident.
Ruby was still pretty upset, so we gave her some more feed and left the gate open to her pen. When I looked out about 20 minutes later, she had knocked over the pig grain bucket and was eating to her heart's content. Honestly, I know she won't eat enough to make herself sick. And honestly, I'm not willing to go out there and shoo her away from the feed. I've had enough close encounters of the porcine kind today.
I poured a pile of food outside of the pens and squatted nearby waiting for the piglets to come to eat. When they did, I slowly reached over to them and grabbed one by the front leg. Immediately, I swung it around and grabbed a hind leg. Remember, these piglets weigh a good 40 pounds and are ALL muscle. J then grabbed the piglet from me and put it into a cage.
This only worked once. The piglets figured out way too quickly that they would be caught if they came anywhere near the food. So we had to try another plan.
We gave Jaws (daddy pig) a bowl of food and tried to sneak up behind the piglets from there. Jaws doesn't really care if there are squealing piglets around him so we knew we'd be safe with him. We caught one more that way before the piglets high-tailed it back to the pen with their momma.
Now, we knew that we couldn't go in and catch piglets with Ruby. She was already very upset that we were chasing her babies - barking and frothing back and forth in her pen. So we decided to move her into the goat pen so that we could safely catch the babies in her pen. She moved easily enough with the promise of a nice full bucket of grain.
Once she was out of the pen, we decided to barricade the babies into their shelter. When they were all in the shelter, we pushed a large table in front of the entry and thus had them contained. We then sent K and Z inside the shelter to catch babies. We knew that they wouldn't be able to hold a piglet for long, so we had them yell if they caught one.
Well, Z decided pretty quickly that he was not comfortable in a small shelter with a half dozen upset piglets. He needed out. As we let him out, the piglets ran out too. We were able to catch one more that way before they were all back in with Jaws.
Finally, we blocked a corner behind the chicken coop and ran the piglets into the corner. J was able to catch two this way, but after he handed the piglet over the fence to me, there was an immediate change of plans.
Up until this point, Ruby had been pretty happy with eating her food. Maybe it was the sound of two piglets squealing at once. Whatever it was, the next thing I heard was J yelling that I needed to get in the car (we were loading piglets into a crate in the back of the car). I glanced over at the goat pen and Ruby was destroying the fence, pushing over two pallets and the milking stand, and making a b-line for me and the squealing baby.
The kids jumped up onto the shelter roof, J climbed up onto anther shelter, I dropped the piglet in the back of the car and climbed into the front seat and closed the door just as Ruby made her way around to me. She was running, barking, frothing, and generally menacing. She made her way around the car, and finding no piglets, she moved on to the outdoor crate we had put the other piglets in.
Once she was satisfied that the babies weren't being hurt, she found the duck pool and decided to take a dip. We had one more piglet to catch, so I handed J a small crate so that he could put the piglet directly into the crate without leaving the relative safety of Jaws' pen. The minute that piglet squealed, Ruby was at the fence line. We quickly placed the piglet in the crate and she quieted down. We were able to load the piglet into the car without incident.
Ruby was still pretty upset, so we gave her some more feed and left the gate open to her pen. When I looked out about 20 minutes later, she had knocked over the pig grain bucket and was eating to her heart's content. Honestly, I know she won't eat enough to make herself sick. And honestly, I'm not willing to go out there and shoo her away from the feed. I've had enough close encounters of the porcine kind today.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Broody Hens
I have three hens who have decided that they just HAVE to hatch out some babies. Unfortunately, while I am more than willing to let them do this, they seem to have four-legged snout-nosed invaders breaking a few eggs under them. This doesn't bode well for any of the eggs as most are now covered with yolk.
As anyone who has ever tried to clean dried egg yolk off of a plate can attest, yolk is a very successful binder. It's what makes cookies stick together so nicely. But it also covers the outer shell of another egg nicely. And it very successfully blocks any oxygen transfer from inside the egg to the outside world.
While I don't understand all of the biology behind it, I do know that an egg will not grow into a chick if the shell is impermeable due to yolk or dirt. So at this point, I think I have three hens who will be sorely disappointed when their babies do not arrive and I have to convince them to move on with a few days in solitary.
As anyone who has ever tried to clean dried egg yolk off of a plate can attest, yolk is a very successful binder. It's what makes cookies stick together so nicely. But it also covers the outer shell of another egg nicely. And it very successfully blocks any oxygen transfer from inside the egg to the outside world.
While I don't understand all of the biology behind it, I do know that an egg will not grow into a chick if the shell is impermeable due to yolk or dirt. So at this point, I think I have three hens who will be sorely disappointed when their babies do not arrive and I have to convince them to move on with a few days in solitary.
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