Post by briarrose on Aug 2, 2015 13:39:39 GMT -5
Here is the setting....
Sugar stopped eating her regular feed 5 days ago. She is very heavy bred. She was having a bit of trouble with the heat so I moved her into a farrowing pen and have been able to keep her cool and comfortable. She could farrow anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. Now, Sugar is the one that was so fat I thought her bred and she was not. Put her on a diet and she is down to a nice healthy weight. She is not my friendliest nor my sweetest pig, but recently has become a 700lb pocket sow. She is not sick. I have narrowed it down to a problem in her mouth which makes things a little harder to deal with. She either has a bad tooth or since she was chewing on the boards in the corral, has a nail or a bit of wood jammed in there somewhere. If it were any of the other sows I could examine it easily and fix the problem. Sugar was not raised as a house pig but a pig that was going to be butchered. Due to the heat and her being so pregnant I have not put her into the farrowing crate which is the only place I have to restrain her for a dental consultation for fear it would stress her to the max. Even on a good day, putting her in the crate for vaccinating the babies drives her nuts.
So, I have been soaking my 14% cow feed with 1 gallon of milk and she seems to be eating most of it. She eats a little hay and haylege but does seem to spit some out like it is balling up and she can't swallow it. I also am giving her a boiled egg daily for her lycene needs. I have some frozen peaches that we put up and am thinking I could give her some of these. Sadly if I give her much fruit, not only is it really expensive right now, but she wont eat her grain and milk mash. I am a bit concerned that with all the milk she will pack the pounds right back on and have problems farrowing so maybe I will try just 1/2 a gallon if I can get the grain to mash in it so she will continue to eat it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Sugar stopped eating her regular feed 5 days ago. She is very heavy bred. She was having a bit of trouble with the heat so I moved her into a farrowing pen and have been able to keep her cool and comfortable. She could farrow anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. Now, Sugar is the one that was so fat I thought her bred and she was not. Put her on a diet and she is down to a nice healthy weight. She is not my friendliest nor my sweetest pig, but recently has become a 700lb pocket sow. She is not sick. I have narrowed it down to a problem in her mouth which makes things a little harder to deal with. She either has a bad tooth or since she was chewing on the boards in the corral, has a nail or a bit of wood jammed in there somewhere. If it were any of the other sows I could examine it easily and fix the problem. Sugar was not raised as a house pig but a pig that was going to be butchered. Due to the heat and her being so pregnant I have not put her into the farrowing crate which is the only place I have to restrain her for a dental consultation for fear it would stress her to the max. Even on a good day, putting her in the crate for vaccinating the babies drives her nuts.
So, I have been soaking my 14% cow feed with 1 gallon of milk and she seems to be eating most of it. She eats a little hay and haylege but does seem to spit some out like it is balling up and she can't swallow it. I also am giving her a boiled egg daily for her lycene needs. I have some frozen peaches that we put up and am thinking I could give her some of these. Sadly if I give her much fruit, not only is it really expensive right now, but she wont eat her grain and milk mash. I am a bit concerned that with all the milk she will pack the pounds right back on and have problems farrowing so maybe I will try just 1/2 a gallon if I can get the grain to mash in it so she will continue to eat it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.