Umbilical Hernia?

[Cricket]

I've had this piglet for a week today, and have made every mistake makeable in pigdom. Outside temps went from 40's to 1 overnight on night 2, had severe scours on day 3 (Sun. naturally). Ended up making the kill hiim or cure him decision and gave him sulfameth/trimeth pills I had for calves then wormed him on Tues with Ivomec orally. He's still expelling worms off and on and his appetite and attitude are back to fiesty. This thing on his belly is squishy, not hot, he flops over the minute you touch it, so apparently not painful. He pees fine, a steady stream tho, not squirt and stop. I haven't seen boy piggy parts in a long time, but this doesn't look right? (And googling this topic is sending me too many places I don't even need to know existed) The laying down photo makes it look off to one side, but it's dead center.

 

[jhm47]

Looks pretty normal to me.

 

[Cricket]

Thank you--that saves me an extra vet visit and a whole lot of razzing! I'm having him out in a month to disbud a calf and some vaccinations and can have him take a look if I'm still concerned. Appreciate it!

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Have you tried squeezing it? If so does pee come out? It looks to me like a tight sheath. We see this once in a while here. NOTHING you can do about it but you should not use him to breed from. He'll do fine as a feeder pig.

Thanks,

Liz

 

[Cricket]

Nope, no pee. I poked and prodded so much that he was starting to roll over everytime I touched his side--I'm done. I was going to use him to breed one of my sows, then butcher him, but none of the offspring will be bred on. Depending on everything functioning correctly! At this point I'm just happy he's survived my bungling and his guts appear in their right place.

I help my stepson and his family move every couple of years--2 years ago it was across the country. Can't even contemplate across the world! Will you still be farming (and on here, I hope!)

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Can't even contemplate across the world! Will you still be farming (and on here, I hope!)

We hope to get back to farming over there eventually. The thought of having to go back to buying everything from the grocery store is not one that appeals! We have raised all our own meat for more than 7 years now. For now though we have to get over there. NZ is NOT an easy country to get into but we are pretty determined & Richard does have qualifications that they are looking for. We are not able to take any livestock in with us so will start again over there. Of course that is the land of sheep so plenty to choose from & they do have limited Large Blacks so we will see. I will keep checking in on here & certainly let you all know once we actually get there.

We have kept a few LB feeders back in case it takes a while to sell this place & the Christmas Turkey is running around outside for a few more days

Liz

 

[Cricket]

Update on Pig Red and his too-big sheath. I butchered one gilt and put him in with my other 6 1/2 month old, who I thought had been in heat a few days before. Made NUMEROUS wrong assumptions. 1. He's so mellow it's going to take him awhile to get with the program. I need to stop comparing young boars and 3 year old Jersey bulls for attitude. 2. Didn't think his parts were going to function right. 3. Didn't think she'd be back in heat right off (or she never had been).

First night they figured out who's boss. Flip won--see photo of Pig Red's ear, now scalloped. By the next day, she was in full heat, he knew EXACTLY what to do and all his parts work just fine. So hopefully she's not bred so early that she has problems. They are best buddies now.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

LOL! Glad all is working well She may have a smaller litter due to her young age. You don't want to overfeed her BUT you also want to make sure she gets enough nutrition to enable her to continue to grow. That is one problem with breeding too young - it can stunt their growth.

Liz

 

[Canadiannee]

lol, I'm not feeling the whole pig thing yet for my own livestock pursuits... but golly, I just had to jump in here and say "WOW", what a nice picture of boy piggy on a snow covered rock! He certainly looks VERY proud of his accomplishments!

 

[Cricket]

Actually in the photo he's eating hemlock needles and his big accomplishment was finding the 'steps' up the rock. He's kind of disappointed that his other accomplishments aren't going to be a daily part of the rest of his life, but handling it with good humor.

I'd add pigs to your list--this whole pasturing thing is just a blast--more like having outside dogs. (Except the eating part).

And welcome to BYH!