Bottle Pigs!

[mysunwolf]

Just wanted to share since there doesn't seem to be too much about bottle raising pigs here...

Our friend's sow had 16 piglets and not that many teats. She pulled a bunch of the runts, and these two are from that bunch. I will just call them mutts as their mother is large and red with spots and their father was large with black skin and white bristles.

This is Agatha and Gertrude

They are about 3 days old in the picture. We've bottle raised one pig before and had some trouble with nighttime scours. These two are scouring a little bit but still gaining weight just fine and they're HUNGRY little buggers.

I love these piggies!

 

[M.L. McKnight]

I have raised babies on bottle too, once they know what they are doing they hit that bottle with more enthusiasm than a calf! I got my little spot pig to drink from a bowl, it made a mess at first but I kept the bowl on a towel and she got the hang of it. I'd suggest trying that.
As for the scours, electrolytes should do the trick. If you hadn't mentioned that they were cross bred, I'd have sworn they were two large blacks. Nice looking girls.

 

[mysunwolf]

I love the way pigs get excited to nurse They did have trouble learning how to suckle from a silicone teat for the first few days. We did a little dish with them during that period, but once they figured out the bottle they preferred that. I had never heard about the bowl method with pigs until this year, but I think it sounds like it would give me a break!

At this age, how would you give electrolytes?

 

[M.L. McKnight]

I just gave electrolytes like I would give my pigs milk. In a bowl or bottle when they needed it.

 

[mysunwolf]

Just asking because a neighbor told me, for my bottle lambs, to not give electrolytes from a bottle because it would "confuse them." I did think that sounded strange. I'll try from a bowl this evening, thank you

 

[Miohippus]

I have a bottle baby right now, and i have had one before that didn't do so well it was a runt though and it died after about two weeks. I think it it might have aspirated some milk but idk. This one is an orphan his moma died due to complications with the birth. I'm worried about him i hope he will do better than the last one. It is good to know that others have had good success with it.

 

[M.L. McKnight]

I have a bottle baby right now, and i have had one before that didn't do so well it was a runt though and it died after about two weeks. I think it it might have aspirated some milk but idk. This one is an orphan his moma died due to complications with the birth. I'm worried about him i hope he will do better than the last one. It is good to know that others have had good success with it.

Try feeding from a shallow bowl and if your pig takes to it well, add a few tablespoons of Calf Mana each time you feed him.

 

[mysunwolf]

We've also found that a heat lamp is very important for the first week if temps are below 80˚F or if they're in a drafty spot. If they're at all chilled their body is too busy trying to keep warm and can't fight off infections or properly digest food. If they start scouring, immediately stop it with something (we use pepto and probios, different people have different methods), then try to figure out why they're scouring. And really, we've found that some (especially the runts) just don't make it even if you do everything right.

...and by the way, we weaned our bottle piglets Aggie and Gertie fully at 6 weeks onto pig starter pellets. They're now on a general swine mash, as well as all sorts of kitchen and garden scraps, and at 3 months they are about 80 pounds, the same size or bigger than their siblings who stayed on mom. Cost of milk replacer was about the same as buying a weaned pig but at least it was a neat experience.

 

[M.L. McKnight]

Nice looking pigs. I'm jealous of that mud hole, mine insist on a larger spa.

 

[Miohippus]

Try feeding from a shallow bowl and if your pig takes to it well, add a few tablespoons of Calf Mana each time you feed him.

i tried with a bowl and he just spilled and blew bubbles in it and got i up his nose.

Yep, i know about the heat lamp we have been keeping him i our bathtub don't think he would get any drafts but idk.

we named him uno, because he is by himself.