How to assist newborn piglets during farrowing and administer medication for treatment?

SummaryWhen the piglet's head emerges from the birth canal, the keeper must immediately assist the delivery, then use a clean towel to wipe away the mucus from the mouth and nose, and then dry the whole body. Some piglets are wrapped in fetal membranes, which need to be torn open immediately. For beginners, intramuscular injection is recommended; for anti-inflammatory treatment, you can inject houttuynia mixed with cephalosporin, or separately inject ofloxacin injection, once a day for 3 consecutive days. If manual assistance was used during delivery, also use Gongyanjing to flush the uterus.

I. How to assist sows during farrowing

1. Assisting the delivery of normal piglets

When the piglet's head emerges from the birth canal, the keeper must immediately assist the delivery. After the piglet is born, first use a clean towel to wipe away the mucus from the mouth and nose, which helps the piglet breathe with its lungs as soon as possible, then dry the whole body. Some piglets are wrapped in fetal membranes, which need to be torn open immediately.

2. Rescuing falsely dead piglets

If a falsely dead piglet is found, it needs to be rescued promptly. With the lungs as the axis, bring the front and rear body together inward and then pull them apart, repeating several times at a frequency of 20 times/minute, or grasp the piglet's hind legs and hold it upside down, pat its chest several times to help it resume breathing.

3. Reducing body heat loss

You can use dry powder agents such as Mistral or Shuangleshen to coat the piglet's whole body, forming a layer of insulation on the body surface, which helps reduce body heat loss and can achieve an insulating effect.

4. Standardizing umbilical cord cutting

After birth, the piglet's umbilical cord will automatically detach from the sow. If it does not detach from the mother, it must never be pulled forcefully to avoid heavy bleeding. First gently pull out the umbilical cord, and only cut the cord when the piglet's umbilical cord stops pulsating. First squeeze the umbilical cord blood toward the piglet's abdomen, tie it off with sterilized fine thread 4-5cm from the base of the umbilical cord, cut or snap it off outside the tie, disinfect the cut end with 5% iodine tincture, and then leave it for more than 3 seconds.

5. Standardizing the clipping of canine teeth

(1) When piglets are born, they already have sharp canine teeth. To reduce damage to the sow's teats and lower injuries to littermate piglets during fighting, the canine teeth need to be clipped after birth. However, be careful not to cut the canine teeth too short, so as to avoid damaging the gums and tongue and allowing pathogens to invade the piglet's body.

(2) Before and after tooth clipping, the tools must be disinfected to avoid cross-infection by bacteria. The tooth-clipping scissors need to be sharp, and when clipping, be sure to cut flat to avoid producing sharper edges after clipping, which would cause greater damage to the sow's teats. For piglets with poor development, there is temporarily no need to clip the teeth.

6. Standardizing tail docking

(2) Use sterilized tail-docking pliers to cut the tail at 5cm of the pig's tailbone, and disinfect the wound with iodine. For piglet tail docking, under normal circumstances the wound is small and will not bleed much, but still be careful to avoid excessive bleeding. Do not cut too short; the end of the vulva and the middle of the boar's scrotum can be used as marking lines for tail-docking length.

(2) Each piglet's tail docker must be disinfected before and after tail docking to avoid cross-infection by bacteria. Do not use the same tail docker for tail docking, and do not dock the tails of weak piglets to prevent aggravating stress and causing death.

II. How to administer medication for treatment after sows farrow

For beginners, intramuscular injection is recommended; for anti-inflammatory treatment, you can inject houttuynia mixed with cephalosporin, or separately inject ofloxacin injection, once a day for 3 consecutive days. If manual assistance was used during delivery, also use Gongyanjing to flush the uterus. From 5-6 days before farrowing, use 5% glucose, VB6, VC, ATP, and coenzyme A to supplement energy; for anti-inflammatory treatment use 0.9% sodium chloride and ceftriaxone sodium; for clearing heat and detoxifying use Qingkailing or astragalus. Under normal circumstances, intravenous drips are not needed.