How to Raise an Orphaned Piglet

When I lived in the city I knew very little about farm animals. Yes, I'd seen them at the agricultural shows and given them a pat, remarked at how much they smell and then went off to wash my hands and buy an icecream. If I had only known then how much joy farm animals would one day bring into my life, I would have absconded with a piglet right then and there.

We have already established how much I love sheep. Sheep are beautiful, good natured and gentle creatures for the most part. Yes, you do get the odd Enoch to come along and spoil their record of sweetness. And in the paddocks sheep can be downright inconsiderate to each other. But we must expect that. After all humans are often downright inconsiderate of each other- how can we demand better behaviour from sheep than we do from ourselves!

This is the story of Rufus the Red and Dolph the Dark- two little orphaned piglets who stole my heart, figuratively speaking of course! According to all sources I read, raising orphaned piglets is not easy and they often die. We were very lucky and both out boys survived the attentions of farming amateurs like us!

Here they are on first arrival, under the heat lamp keeping warm. They cannot control their own temperature, lose heat quickly and must have a heat source kept at between 27- 30 degrees celcius available. Give them room to move and they will move towards the lamp when cold and away from it when too hot. They also need to be kept out of draughts and kept dry. We had them inside a pen filled with straw, inside a shed.

                                         Sweet, tiny creature. Old looking battle weary hand

Initially Rufus (now simply called 'Red') and Dolph  (now nicknamed 'Black') were excess piglets from a large litter of a friend's sow. The poor sow had so many piglets she didn't know what to do, and probably didn't actually care too much, if the truth be told.  So we were asked if we wanted a couple of 'extras' and we thought: "Why not?".  This was the beginning of our undying admiration for pigs.

We started them off on a bottle, feeding them sheep milk replacement, but they quickly dispatched of several teats with their very sharp little teeth in the first few weeks (making us feel very sorry for the sows of this world!). They required feeding every 2 hours at first, after a week every 4 hours was enough. We started off with small amounts (about 3 tablespoons) and increase slowly.

After doing a bit of research I discovered that piglets can be trained to drink from a bowl from a very early age, and so this is what we did. By dipping their snouts in the milk a few times they soon taught themselves to sip up the milk and they were away! The piglets got the hang of drinking from a dish very quickly and after a few days we started them on a  mash of Gerber baby rice cereal mixed with milk. We were unable to find sow milk replacement so they made do on sheep milk replacement. Cow's milk is not recommended as it can cause diarrhoea. Diarrhoea can cause death. Therefore it is best to avoid diarrhoea! Actually, it is always best to avoid diarrhoea, no matter what the circumstances!

Over the next few weeks we increased the cereal until the mix was quite thick. They started drinking water from a dish at the same time, initially boiled and cooled water, but we soon realised that this was probably unnecessary as they would stand in the bowl with muddy trotters and then drink it anyway! As piglets can be trained to drink from a bowl from a few days old and this is what most pig sites on the internet recommend  if we did it again, I would also dispense with the bottle as soon as possible and use a bowl. It is just easier for everyone- man and pig!

Most internet sites recommend weaning at 28 days but our boys were weaned at 6 weeks. By then they were eating quite solid 'mash' anyway and so went straight onto pellets, which they took to straight away.

As piglets are low in iron at birth, it was also recommended that piglets be given an iron supplement as a paste or be allowed to nibble dirt that other pigs had not contaminated. We chose the latter and the boys nibbled through small amounts of soil on the floor of the shed. Some sites recommend an iron injection, some advice against it, saying it may cause diarrhoea. We chose not to give the vaccination as scours is often fatal to a piglet as they dehydrate quickly. Luckily, neither of our pigs developed diarrhoea while they were on milk substitute. I have to say, once they were weaned we breathed a huge sigh of relief and proclaimed :"Hurrah, we didn't kill them. We are the champions of the world!"

Below: Feeding Rufus and Dolph

Below: Soon they had learned to drink from a bowl and feeding time was a lot easier and safer. The risk of aspiration from a bottle is higher for a piglet! I recommend training your piglet to drink from a bowl at just a few days old. They can learn to do it and then regulate their own food intake safely.

They are affectionate and friendly creatures and truly enjoy human company and will jump up to see you. Either that or Dolph is thinking: "This place sucks, get me out of here"

 They grew fast and at about 2 months no longer needed their heat lamp during the day, and at 4 months no longer needed their lamp at night. Give us a break- It was winter! (but the truth is we are just soft and liked them to be happy and comfortable, but it was no doubt some serious overkill on our part!) I had to sell a kidney to pay the electric bill but it was worth it and anyway I have another kidney. Soon they were able to go and live outside permanently in the home we had made them. One thing about pigs- they have toilets. Pigs poo in one or two areas of their pen and keep the rest clean. Pigs are actually very clean animals, and do not smell much if allowed to move about and stay out of their own faeces. They do like to make wallows and get into water though, and this makes keeping their water bowls full of water and free of mud very difficult!

Transporting the pigs from shed to yard was not easy as they were too heavy to carry and would not follow us obediently from shed to yard. Trying to put a leash on them and lead them was a disaster of which I refuse to speak. We needed to devise a method of transportation, and after coming up dry, in a moment of desperation we thought: "What about the wheelie bins?" So we lay these on the ground, put some food inside, waited until the pigs were half way in and then pushed them in the rest of the way. We then wheeled them over to the new yard and let them out, none the worse for the experience!

'The boys' new home. A large yard with many tall shady trees and a house full of straw for them to sleep and get out of the wind, rain and sun. They do a lot of sleeping.

   The cows examining their new neighbours. The new neighbours examining their food bowls

   Petting the pigs. The pigs thinking: "Is she edible?"

 They grew very quickly, probably because they ate a lot and slept even more

And grew.....and by this time should have gone to the abattoir and been made into a nice ham and some bacon. But, as usual, they were 'the boys' and so will remain with us until God summons them.

 ....and grew some more and are now too big to eat, even if the whim took us. Who wants a pork chop so large that it needs to be served up on a platter? Look at Red in his fine winter coat. Could you kill this lovely creature?

Now, let me tell you about the joys of caring for pigs. There will be some of you who no doubt already claim to care for pigs. I am talking about the four trottered kind and not the two footed kind. Believe me, the four trottered kind may (possibly) smell a little more, but they are never mean natured and always a delight to encounter.

Pigs are similar to dogs. They don't like to poo where they sleep or eat and so can be house trained. They will play with a ball, such as a semi deflated football or basketball, picking it up and tossing it around. They enjoy a rub and are quite safe to be around if you handle them regularly. Pigs will be as pleased to see you as your dog, albeit without the tail wagging. But be aware, as with any other animal with teeth- they can bite. They also have poor vision and so may mistake your hand for a snack. If you hand feed them, watch your hands! I would not recommend entering the yards of  large pigs on your own, just in case you collapse from a heart attack and end up unconscious on the ground. Pigs are omnivores and may, after an initial nibble, decide that you are quite tasty!  It is a good thing that they can be easily fed from over the fence!

Feeding Swill:
In Australia it is illegal to feed pigs swill or household scraps of meat and meat products, and for very good reasons. Be responsible and feed your pig pig pellets and /or grain. Vegetable scraps are fine to feed your pig, just no scraps containing meat, no dead animals (you'd be shocked at how many simple minded farmers feed their dead stock to their pigs!)

Read about the risks to the agricultural economy by feeding swill and meat products to pigs
http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/animals-and-livestock/pigs/swill-feeding-banned

Teeth clipping and tail docking:

Our piglets did not have their teeth clipped because they were not nursed by their mother and therefore could not damage her teats. I am in no position to argue for or against this practice, as my experience is very limited. Having seen what they do to a silicone teat in a few short minutes, I hope I am never reincarnated as a sow. However, I do think that in nature the sow would not have piglets with clipped teeth and so what would she do? Some people are for it , some against it. I would need to examine the evidence more closely to form an opinion, but I always prefer to cause the least amount of pain possible, to either piglets or sow.

As for the tail docking, I do not see why you would need to do it. Keep the pigs in a satisfactory and healthy environment where they do not suffer stress and I don't think tail biting would be much of a problem. If a pig gets his tail bitten and it is serious, maybe then surgically remove the tail under local anaesthetic. I think animals should keep all the bits they are born with if it is possible! The less pain inflicted, the happier the animal and the less we have to carry on our consciences!

Below: The "Pig Boys" all grown up