Keeping Berkshire Pigs

[George Collins]

Not wanting to start any more projects until Monday, and since I am sore all over from the recent fence building, today was a day of relative rest. To fill the down time, I decided to do one of those things that's been on my mind for a while now: weigh Linda and Lou. Because I see them everyday, they look the same to me as they always have. That is until recently. I started noticing how dang thick they have become. It was their thickness that prompted me to want to weigh them.

The formula I used was:

Heart girth x heart hearth x length (measured from base of tail to middle of ears)/400 = live weight +/- 3%.

Using this formula gave the following results:
Linda weighs 331 pounds
Lou weighs 345 pounds

They are only 9.5 months old!

Wow! I knew they'd grow fast but dad gum.

[boo]

I loved the story about the goat, George! Thank you for sharing.

[George Collins]

Over the last couple days, I've become quite adept at giving a pig an injection. A couple weeks ago, right after I moved Linda and Lou in to the pasture in which they currently reside, I noticed one tilt her head to the side as if she might have been experiencing a bit of ear pain. Her appetite and behavior all appeared normal so I resolved to watch her closely. Over time I noticed Linda would act like she had ear pain one day and Lou would the next and then the next both would seem fine. The next time out to feed them and the pattern would repeat.

This kept on till yesterday morning. When presented with their normal feed, Linda dove right in but Lou stopped short, laid down and wouldn't even try to eat.

I summoned Youngblood to render his medical opinion. His diagnosis: "That is one sick hog."

His prescription: "Pennciyan."

His prognosis: "She'll prolly be a'ight."

We made a run to the feed store, purchased the penicillin and upon returning home, I administered my first ever injection to a pig. Because she was so lethargic, when I jooged her she barely even protested.

I gave her another dose last night right before dark and by this morning, she was eating again. Better still, she reasserted her dominance over Linda by running her away from her preferred fed trough.

This morning, I talked to my eldest daughter and she told me she had seen all of our hogs acting like they have been experiencing ear pain in the recent past. Reading that early intervention is the key to successfully resolving strep (the likely cause of all recently pig maladies), I decided to go ahead and give all pigs a weight appropriate dose this morning.

Good thing too because by early afternoon, all were acting like Lou had been her first day but by the time for the evening feed two had already rebounded and were at their trough eating albeit with less gusto than is typical.

Hopefully by the day after tomorrow all will be through with their course of antibiotics, on the mend and all will be back to normal.

All total I've given nine injections so far. So far, I've been able to get it in em and get the needle back out fast enough that by the time they turn to see what it was that bit them, the injection is long over.

[matt walker]

Good for you George, that's always been one of the hardest parts about animal husbandry for me. I'm not so good at giving all the lambs and calves all their shots and whatnot. Doing so on good sized pigs would give me pause for sure. I'm glad to hear you nipped it in the bud though.

[George Collins]

All pigs seem to be perfectly over their ailments. They are now on a 10-day course of oral antibiotics to make sure that any and all buggies and their nasty little egg/spore/thingies are D.E.A.D.!

Funny how they all reacted differently to thir shots. I love to anthropomorphize my critters so allow me to do so to paint the picture of their different reactions. When I gave that first shot to Lou, she was feeling so poorly, the only reaction she could muster was to look back over her shoulder and give a weak grunt as if to say, "That hurted my bottom."

And as long as they were in the midst of their fever, all of them reacted about the same. However, as they all started eating again and feeling better, getting popped with that 16 gauge needle elicited highly variable reactions.

Linda and Lou, because they are in a pen together can't afford to stay distracted for long so their reaction to the needle was akin to what it would have been had they been bit by a horsefly.

When I hit Bingley with the needle he danced like a youngun getting a good switching. Once he actually caused the needle to come away from the syringe and I had to chase him down to get my needle back.

Mr. Brewer though was the one that had the most memorable reaction. When I hit him that last time with the needle he jumped around and if his grunts could be translated into the English language, he would have surely said:

"Hell naw! HELL NAW! You pop me in the butt nary-nuther time and I'm kickin your ass! That best not NEVER happen again! I'm a hog. I WILL eat you. You can take your little poker thingy and jam it I yer own butt but don't let me see you no where round me with anything sharp in yer hand. I'll kick yer ass. Don't you never, NEVER . . . I'll . . . man, I'm mad! HELL NAW! Punk! I'll kick yer ass. Did I mention I'm a hog?! I'll eat you if you ever try to get cute with me again. Don't you NEVER . . . [at this point the profanity got to such a point I dare not repeat it].

Fortunately, that was the last shot I had to give Mr. Brewer.

[George Collins]

Linda and Lou experienced their first paddock shift today. Following Joel Salatin's model, a new paddock was first erected. Once all was made ready, the electrical wire common to both paddocks was reeled up, Linda and Lou were enticed to cross the line and the previously reeled wire was replaced. The only difference between Mr. Salatin's method and what we did is that I think he uses some sort of gate because of hogs' natural reluctance to cross a spot where they know a hot-wire has recently been. And truth be told, the girls were a bit reluctant to cross the line but the mud hole we were making for them was just too much of a temptation.

I believe it was Walter Jeffries that suggested that hogs be rotated every 18-21 days. The rationale is that this is the longest time they can stay in one place and still interrupt the parasite cycle. While I violated this rule by a few days, the three week rotation is the goal. One thing that surprised me about this experience was just how non-destructive to the land they were. For instance, there were several volunteer oak saplings that could not have been more than a year or two old and it doesn't appear that they destroyed, or even harmed, a single one. The only place that did look worse for the wear was the area immediately around their feed and water troughs.

[pa_friendly_guy]

That is Great News George. The fact that they did not harm oak trees that may some day be a sources of food is huge. The fact that the land was not harmed with your 3 week rotation is also HUGE, in my opinion. Keeping the pasture in good condition, keeping the Land in good condition is what we all should be shooting for. It seems that you have accomplished that in your 1st attempt.

[Lollykoko]

George, I'm taking notes. I'm also hurting from laughing so hard about Mr. Brewer's reaction! Really!

[mannytheseacow]

I went around doing my herd check this morning and noticed my tamworth didn't come around. She was down and wouldn't get up. Not interested in food and she had a rash of hives all around her neck.

Luckily, my lady friend happens to be a vet. She knocked her with a shot of penicillin and a steroid to get her up... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Couple of things I wanted to include here- my girl said to give the injections in the neck and not in the butt. It hurts the muscle and the neck is a lesser cut than the rump. Especially in my tam, I want that ham as good as possible.

Also, slightly off subject- I was out at a dairy last week and I asked about being organic. They had about 120 head and I could tell they took very good care of their animals. The owner said in order to be certified organic if they get a sick animal they can't treat it- they have to put it down or remove it from the farm. She said their animals are like their kids and if one gets sick they're gonna take care of it. Now, I don't have much use for doctors and pills and medicines and snake oils, but I really respected that. And when my pig got sick, you betcha I treated it. Kind of neat seeing life from different perspectives~

[Myrth]