piglets weaned, mums tearing shreds out of each other!

[camillitech]

our two tamworth girls have allways got on great, we got 4 as weaners and kept the 2 that got on the best. they both had fine litters a week apart and proved to be great mothers, we weaned brambles last week and have just taken bracken away from hers with no trouble. that was until we put her in the same field as bramble whereupon bracken laid into bramble big style taking a few chunks out of her in the process is this normal and will they settle down? they've always got on fine in the past.

cheers, paul

[Stonehead]

our two tamworth girls have allways got on great, we got 4 as weaners and kept the 2 that got on the best. they both had fine litters a week apart and proved to be great mothers, we weaned brambles last week and have just taken bracken away from hers with no trouble. that was until we put her in the same field as bramble whereupon bracken laid into bramble big style taking a few chunks out of her in the process is this normal and will they settle down? they've always got on fine in the past.

cheers, paul

Quite normal, I'm afraid! It doesn't always happen, and it doesn't always result in big chunks coming off one, the other or both. But it does happen as the sows reassert dominance.

We put the sows in pens or runs alongside each other for at least a week before bringing them together in a third pen (ie not territory owned by either sow), which helps most of the time, but not always.

When we do bring them in together, we spend a lot of time keeping an eye on things and either split them up or spray them with Ukadex (anti-biting and anti-pecking spray). if there is a problem.

Ukadex has a truly vile smell and taste. If you spray it on their rumps in particular, only the most absolutely determined pig will bite the sprayed animal. (Use disposable gloves when spraying as the stink will stay with you for days and your OH will banish you pronto!)

But even then, some sows never quite settle with each other again and you have to keep them separate.

One trick is to put them both in with the boar, who will then sort things out, but the problem then is that you get two litters very close together again.

Oh, and check the wounds carefully. Most just need a spray with iodine but one of our sows did quite a bit of damage to another one's vulva, which required the vet and lots of stitches.

[camillitech]

They settled down nicely stoney, well apart from Bramble jumping a fence today to get at some food ( think there's a bit of kangaroo in her )


cheers, Paul