Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living One more time with the pig questions....

Getting a bit repetitive I know, but honestly its damned hard to get any good first hand information about this stuff! Trust me, I've been trying! Anyway, few weeks ago I posted about a sick pig. That pig recovered after a shot of penicillin. Anyway, about a week later a second shows same symptoms. I didn't wait this time, penicillin right away and better next morning. Another week or so goes by, and sure enough another sick one, same symptoms. I had talked to every vet in the area, asked around on a pig farmer group I'm on and even talked to a local farmer who has raised pigs. In the end, I finally found a website that let me enter in the symptoms they exhibited and it gave me the most likely cause as Erysipales. That would explain why the penicillin was so effective.

Anyhow, on to the present. The pig that got sick on Teusday is now apparently fully recovered, although he had a pretty rough morning. That leaves one pig that hasn't got it yet, and I'm off on a 2 week elk/moose hunt the week after next. Wife is up feeding them, but giving shots is a whole 'nother matter. If this disease is what they really have, they should have several days of treatment, but giving them shots once they are back on their feet is pretty well impossible. What if I used a water soluble penicillin for 3 days, so they all got a full dose? I mix them up a tub of fruit punch sometimes and they polish it right off, so thinking of mixing it in there. Good idea or not?

One more issue...the pig that got sick first is now eating really well and appears healthy, but I have noted that he has trouble getting up, particularly his back end. Once up he's fine, no apparent limp, but he doesn't stand long before sitting back down, dog-like, even to eat in the pasture. I got him up and felt along his back legs and hams, pushing and prodding to see if he had a tender spot. I did feel a small lump on one back leg but it didn't appear to bother him when I pushed it. This condition is something I've only noticed the last few days. I've read that a vitamin/mineral deficiency can cause this, does that sound likely? My feed consists of 50% milled oats, 25% hog grower and 25% mixed grains, all soaked together overnight. They have full access to a large pasture too.

I was worried about worms so I took stool samples in today and the vet said she was surprised at how clean the were,and not to worry about worming. Not sure if it was the weeks worth of garlic powder supplement in their feed or not, but at least worms aren't the issue.

Go get a Moose and an Elk.

If the Pigs have died while you're off getting em' , there's always next year.

Not trying to make light of this situation,....Have you talked to the folks at Alberta Ag, in Airdrie ?

...Been so long That would be my best recom.

Luck, and fine times in the high country !

GTC

Bad thing about counting to make a living on something that could die is that it will, advice from my granddad 55 years ago

If you're going to have livestock then get the equipment and facilities to handle them. All it would take in your case would be a small holding pen with a work chute coming off of it.
Or maybe a swing gate in the corner that you can crowd one with to give it a shot.
Sooner or later, they're going to see you coming with that syringe.

Funny you should say that, I'm actually off to do just that after next week. Got a 2 week elk/moose archery hunt to look forward to, by no means a sure thing but still decent odds. Will check out the place in Airdrie, had not heard of them before. Most vets,even these country vets seem to deal more with pets than anything else. Horses and cattle are far more popular here than pigs too, so nobody seems to have much experience with them. One vet clinic I called told me there is no oral penicillin to be had, only liquid for injection....makes it hard to put much stock in anything else they might have to say!

If the pigs die I'm not going to starve. It would make me very angry but only one is for me anyway, so in reality its not going to affect me that much. I just hate to see them sick, especially when I think I'm raising them as natural and clean as possible. I have learned a lot though, and it should be easier next year.

I have a separate pen that I managed to confine the sick one in this time, but couldn't with the other two. Trying to herd a sick pig by yourself turns out to be harder than it sounds. I also got a Slapshot syringe and that has made things somewhat easier.

Are you vaccinating these pigs for anything at all?

I don't think they got vaccinated. The guy I bought them from said he hadn't given them the deworming vaccine, which I wasn't too worried about but I'm thinking he didn't vaccinate them at all. Will definitely do it myself next time if it hasn't been done already.

Couple things, you should be worming these things every 30 days. If not, worms will catch up with you.

I don't remember the specifics of dealing with erysipelas when I worked in a hog confinement operation. But, if pen worked, I would treat the last pig with pen for a few days prior to leaving and maybe find someone that could treat the pig if need be when gone.

If you could find water soluble pen, then your wife could maybe use that if need be.

Finally, go to www.showpig.com and go to the forums. There is a health forum and a couple hog vets frequent that site. They aren't always super quick responding, but they are very good at questions like these.

be sure and keep messing with them giving them all sorts of crap, stuff them full of pen and stuff all the time, so when they ready you will (SURE) want to eat them!!!!YUMMO!!!!!!!!

One thing is FO SURE.

Your description in your location is dual-purpose.

Yeah, much better to just let them die right? I mean, penicillin is pretty much sure death for a human, ain't it? What sorts of "crap" am I stuffing them full of,exactly, and since when is one shot of pen "stuffing them full of penicillin"? You happen to know anything about the subject at hand, or you just like to shoot your mouth off from behind a keyboard?

Guy obviously has no clue. As long as you abide by withdrawal recommendations for drugs, you are safe to harvest the animal.

Also, anyone who hasn't been around pigs doesn't realize how quickly an illness can snowball into a terminal issue.

Yep raise them ever year for home meat,every year on new dirt. all the produce they can eat, pumpkins are a natural wormer. If I wanted all that other $hit in my meat i would just buy the $hit in the store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the way people always "sell the best and eat the rest" sicks and dyings yummy