Lame piglet
15 09 2007
The Other Half with the injured piglet
We’ve just had one of our local vets out to have a look at one of our two-week-old Berkshire piglets after it went seriously lame in the right hind leg.
The gilt has been having a rough time of it this week as Delilah, the sow, first stepped on her on Tuesday, seriously bruising the piglet’s left rear trotter.
The trotter swelled up with the nail turning black, but after 24 hours the swelling subsided and the piglet was still getting around easily.
Then, on Thursday, Delilah stepped on the same piglet - this time bruising the right front trotter.
Again, the piglet had pronounced swelling but was still able to get around and the swelling had started to subside by midday on Friday.
But when we went out to check and feed the pigs on Friday evening, it was clear the same gilt had suffered a new injury as she had a noticeable limp to her right rear leg with the shank being noticeably tender to the touch.
When we fed and watered the pigs this morning, it was immediately obvious that the limp was much more pronounced and the shank was now hot to the touch
We called the vet who came out after the morning’s small animals clinic. By then, the piglet was holding her right rear leg completely off the ground.
The vet, who is new to the clinic, proved to be very comfortable with pigs - not all are - and after examining the piglet said it did not appear to have a break, although it probably had bruising to the bone.
She injected the piglet with an anti-inflammatory, a pain killer and an antibiotic, which should result in a marked improvement within 24 hours.
While she was here, the vet commented on our biosecurity precautions and was very approving of the way visitors have to pass through two sets of secure gates, both with disinfectant foot baths, to get to the animal side of things.
She also approved of our use of a disinfectant sprayer to clean visitor’s waterproofs and the clear signage warning people to observe biosecurity precautions, especially when she discovered it’s not just a recent foot-and-mouth disease precaution.
What was interesting about her comments was that she clearly had not expected this on a smallholding or croft, which tells you something about the way people perceive the very real risk of disease. They don’t think it will happen on their farm or smallholding so they don’t bother to do anything unless a disease outbreak occurs near them.
The vet and I also had an interesting chat about pigs, and the way we keep them compared with both commercial operations and other, non-commercial smallholdings.
She was very surprised by the survival rate of our piglets (100% if they’re born alive), the excellent condition of Delilah (the sow which farrowed two weeks ago), the condition of our boar and the other two sows, and our housing arrangements. And she had a good laugh about my having given mouth-to-snout resuscitation to one of the piglets when it was farrowed.
Her comments reflected those of two previous vets, the animal welfare officer and an SSPCA officer - all were surprised and pleased at the thought and effort that’s gone into animal welfare on the croft.
Obviously, we have limited means and can’t afford to run a luxury pig hotel, but what we do is make sure our pigs are well looked after, keep them well fed and well housed, maintain good biosecurity, and ensure sick or injured animals are seen as quickly as possible when it’s obvious they need more attention than we can provide.
It’s telling that by doing that, we’re doing something that’s noticeably different to other people who keep livestock.
Just to say that i am pleased to learn of the humane way you look after your animals. Many don`t.
Good luck to you.
I’ve just come from doing the last nightly check and the piglet is already showing dramatic improvement. She’s putting weight on the injured leg again, the swelling is down, and she’s enthusiastically pushing her way through the scrum to get at her teat for dinner.
She’s still limping, but the signs are hopeful.
One thing I did notice when I went out was a cloud of condensation billowing out of the pig arc. The temperature is down to about 3C already with a strong breeze blowing so it’s fairly cool.
But when I popped my head into the arc to check Delilah and the piglets, it was like popping my head into a very warm kitchen.
People laugh when I tell them we have pig huts with wooden floors and thick insulation to keep the animals warm, but you can see the benefits on a night like tonight and again in the way the piglets grow much faster than in an uninsulated arc. The sow also maintains condition better.
That’s all down to the fact that they’re not having to expend energy keeping warm and they’re much less stressed.
And even if you’re a pig keeper who doesn’t care as much about animal welfare as we do, there are economic benefits as well - a warm adult pig in good condition needs much less feed to maintain that condition while a porker continues to gain weight fast. That means insulated arcs soon pay for themselves.
It’s good for the pigs’ welfare and it’s economically sensible - so why don’t more people use them?
See, my children laugh when I tell them the classroom is stuffy due to ‘pig heat’ but now I can point them in this direction and prove it’s true! (Does this prove they are pigs? Hmmmm. Some days……..!) I should think that if you are bringing on an animal to eat it, it’s only considerate to make sure it has a good life whilst growing.