She weighs......

[Mitra]

.....a lot.

We measured Sophie, the big red Tamworth/Yorkshire/Landrace cross pig, per the instructions stickied at the top of the pig subforum.

She weighs 719 lbs! I knew she was a lot bigger than any weaner pigs I've ever raised (usually they're 250-300lbs when they are sent off). I didn't think she was twice that and then some.

She is a year and a half old and she is seven weeks bred as of today. I was thrilled about that until today when she crawled out of her shed on her knees. Both her front hooves are cracked and she's in pain. Being that heavy is only contributing to the problem. Part of the problem is due to lack of pig minerals in her diet. I was feeding her a homemade ration so it did not include the minerals that a pelleted feed would. That weakened her hooves and now with 719lbs baring down on them, well it's a prescription for disaster.

I HATE learning things at my animal's expense. I got her a 16% pelleted feed for gestating pigs and will switch her over to that and feed her less than she's been getting. I'm also giving her aspirin for the pain. I am very sad and feel very responsible. I said to DH that we now seem to be in the business of hurting our animals being as what we did to Helen with the excess grain and now this. It's one thing to kill chickens because you don't know what you're doing but big beautiful animals like cows and pigs, it's just not acceptable.

Here she is in January when Liz and family came to visit.

[missevelyn]

Oh, Mitra, forgive yourself, Sophie forgives you. You're fixing the problem. You won't make that mistake again.

I too have memories of that sort of mistake, the animals still speak to me, but it's hard to forgive myself.

Regina

[Liz]

Apr 1, 2009 15:44:06 GMT -5 missevelyn said:

Oh, Mitra, forgive yourself, Sophie forgives you. You're fixing the problem. You won't make that mistake again.

I too have memories of that sort of mistake, the animals still speak to me, but it's hard to forgive myself.

Regina

I agree with Regina--you are correcting it!
Hugs!!!
It will work out ok, hang in there.

[Mitra]

Here is an important lesson for anyone who makes up their own pig feed which includes eggs. This does not apply to pigs kept for 6 months or less, and intended for the freezer.

I was soaking cracked corn in milk or whey in 5-gallon buckets until the corn soaked up all the liquid and got really puffy. I'd feed Sophie 2 scoops of corn (scoop=quart-sized yogurt container) and to that I would add 2-3 eggs in the shell (duck eggs and or chicken eggs). In addition, she would get another yogurt container of kitchen scraps which would include carrot tops, bread crusts, celery, leftover salad etc. Over the course of most of the winter, I boiled barley for her and then soaked it in milk or whey and added the eggs just before feeding her.

For at least the last 6 months I've made up her pig feed this way and due to my own ignorance it did not occur to me that she would also need the minerals. But there's a double whammy with the eggs. One of the minerals that is critical for hoof health and a shiny coat is Biotin (also known as Vitamin H). The raw egg whites "bind" up any Biotin that is in the feed and it makes it totally unavailable to her system. During gestation there is an even higher need for Biotin (she's 7 weeks bred) and with all the raw eggs she's gotten daily, it's been unavailable due to this binding effect. It's only the raw egg whites and this would not happen if the eggs were cooked or if I was only giving her raw yolks. The cumulative effect has been a weakening of the hooves and hence the cracks.
In addition to the new feed which does contain Biotin, I have also added a biotin supplement. With about eight weeks to go in her pregnancy, I hope this will enough time to get a little weight off her and also improve her hoof health.
I may have the vet come out to check her this weekend. If she does need antibiotics, I'm hoping he can give her a shot versus trying to give it to her in her feed. She HATES the aspirins and it's very difficult to disguise them. Today I peeled two tangerines, broke the bolus in half and jammed each piece into the center of a tangerine. I thought I was very clever. She took the tangerine into her mouth, squeezed the juice and spat out the pulp and the bolus . She's still definitely in pain and can't stand for very long. We've added several inches of pine shavings to her path to the food and water and that seems to make it a little easier for her to stand but she still prefers to use her knees.
Anyway, thought I'd alert you to the raw egg whites issue and Biotin. Thanks Regina and Liz for your kind words.

[Shelley (whistlingtrain)]

Mitra, I have two comments:
1. pig weigh tapes and the calculating method commonly used to figure pig weight is designed for feeder pigs--pigs between 100 and 400 pounds. Pigs smaller than 100 pounds need to have adjustments made to the calculation, as do pigs at the larger end of the scale. It all relates to the proportions of the pigs. Big sows get taller and narrower than a meaty little barrow. My guess is that she doesn't really weigh 700 pounds, maybe closer to 600.

2. About two years ago I was accumulating problems with my sows. Specifically small litters and cracked hooves in almost all of the pigs two years or older. I was feeding a commercial, pelleted 16% feed with minerals added. I started adding a handful of kelp to their feed in one of their meals each day. It took a while to work all the way through, but after a year I was really seeing a big difference.

My litter size shot up to an average of 12 per litter (up from 6) and the hooves started repairing themselves. The problem with the hooves is that they are like fingernails and take a long time to grow past the cracks. Yes, they can be painful. And during the wet season cracked hooves are an invitation to rot. But mine were cured, and I'm sure yours will be too.

I'd lay off the aspirin unless she really, really needs them. Yes they are clever--I've found that if I tuck them into a crunchy apple it works really well. A yogurt-covered crunchy apple is even better. My old lady, Violet would eat anything stuck in a Snickers bar. :-) Try a sticky peanut butter sandwich too--she might not even notice, or care.

Interesting about the eggs though. You've still got 2 months to go, and if this is her first litter, she and the babies should be ok. Make sure you get her good and healthy before breeding her back though. Try adding the kelp though.

[Liz]

Thanks for the update Mitra!
That is really interesting about the egg whites binding the biotin.
Really critical too; thank you for alerting everyone to it.
My gut says the litter will be fine--as with human pregnancies I suspect the mother's body will feed the growing litter first, robbing the host rather than the developing next generation.
I also think you have gotten a great head start on correcting Sophies problem, she should be fine also.
I am looking forward to more updates and of course seeing the litter when it arrives!
Do you have kelp? That is an awesome suggestion.
Hugs!

[missevelyn]

Mitra,

I've had good luck getting aspirin into horses by crushing the tablets, then dissolving the powder in a little warm water. This is then mixed into a sugar syrup and poured onto the soft food of choice. Stale bread and pastry are popular here. Maybe this method would work for Sophie for meds.

Regina

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info about eggs! Shalali alerted me to this thread because I do feed my pregnant guinea hogs a lot of raw eggs. I'm wondering--do the egg whites only bind up the biotin when fed with other feed at the same time? It seems to me that once the egg white is broken down by the digestive system and has moved on out of the stomach that if other feed is offered at a different time then it would be no problem. Do you know more about this, or could you point me to your sources regarding egg white and biotin? Meanwhile I'll start cooking the eggs for my piggies. They don't usually eat all the shell anyhow.

By the way that's one impressive pig!

[Deleted]

Answering my own question: a quick web search revealed multiple articles about this issue and I found one that says that the reason that cooking the eggs is safe is because it makes the offending factor in the egg white (avidin) susceptible to digestive enzymes. In other words, the stomach won't digest the avidin and it will still be able to bind up the biotin even in the digestive tract. Guess it's hard boiled eggs from here on out! Thanks for the very timely info.

[Liz]

How is Sophie The Magnificent?

[marty]

I can't wait to find out what happens as I'm reading through this thread, but I'm getting tired. Hope this has a happy ending?