How to Adjust the Large Size Gap Between Strong and Weak Piglets? A Detailed Guide to Practical Methods
How to Adjust the Large Size Gap Between Strong and Weak Piglets
When there is a large size gap between strong and weak piglets, the following adjustment measures should be taken:
Separate the strong from the weak and feed them in turns on schedule. Divide a litter into one pen for the piglets that are growing well and are physically stronger, and another pen for the lighter, poorly developed piglets. At first, they can be placed in baskets with lids, and in cold weather straw should be spread inside and a cotton quilt placed on top. Rotate them to nurse from the sow every 1 to 2 hours; after 1 week, feed them in turns every 3 hours, and after 1 month, feed them in turns every 4 hours.
Fix the teats and make sure they get good colostrum. Weak piglets, because their limbs are weak and they move with difficulty, often cannot find a teat in time, especially in cold seasons, when their bodies become stiff from the cold and they cannot suckle. Therefore, after the sow has finished farrowing, place the weak piglets on the front teats, which have more milk, and let the strong piglets suckle the teats with less milk, leaving no teat empty. This can promote the development of the sow's mammary glands.
Introduce solid feed early and wean in stages. Seven days after birth, piglets can be enticed to eat with feed. Put the feed in your palm and bring it to the piglets' mouths to let them lick it. After 2 to 3 days, the piglets can feed freely from the trough. The feed should be given dry, not mixed with water into a paste, so as not to reduce its effectiveness. After feeding, provide plenty of clean drinking water for them to drink freely; in winter, use warm water. Use wooden sticks to divide the trough according to the number of piglets, so they do not fight over food. Forty days after farrowing, the sow's milk secretion gradually decreases. If the two litters differ greatly in weight, the strong, heavier litter can be confined in baskets to be weaned, with feeding and defecation done outside the baskets. Leave the weaker litter with the sow to continue nursing for 15 days, and the two litters can reach the same weight. Within 2 months from separation, do not let them mix together, so as to avoid fighting.
Prevent disease and inject vaccines. Within 30 days of the piglets' birth, feed the sow 1 to 2 spoonfuls of livestock oxytetracycline mixed into her feed every day, which can effectively prevent and treat piglet white scour. If piglet white scour is found, immediately grind 2 sulfamethoxazole tablets finely, mix with 2 spoonfuls of water, and administer orally; generally 1 to 2 doses will cure it. When administering orally, pick the pig up, clamp it firmly between your knees, give it a wooden stick to hold in its mouth, and feed it in with a small spoon one spoonful at a time. Within 40 days, piglets should be injected once with the triple vaccine and piglet paratyphoid vaccine. If piglets are seen to like burrowing into straw nests, have high body temperature, vomit, pass watery diarrhea, drink more water, and move slowly, piglet paratyphoid can be considered. This disease spreads quickly and has a high mortality rate, so the sick pigs should be isolated immediately and 5 milliliters each of veterinary chloramphenicol and enrofloxacin should be combined and injected in one shot to cure it.
Separate the strong from the weak and feed them in turns on schedule. Divide a litter into one pen for the piglets that are growing well and are physically stronger, and another pen for the lighter, poorly developed piglets. At first, they can be placed in baskets with lids, and in cold weather straw should be spread inside and a cotton quilt placed on top. Rotate them to nurse from the sow every 1 to 2 hours; after 1 week, feed them in turns every 3 hours, and after 1 month, feed them in turns every 4 hours.
Fix the teats and make sure they get good colostrum. Weak piglets, because their limbs are weak and they move with difficulty, often cannot find a teat in time, especially in cold seasons, when their bodies become stiff from the cold and they cannot suckle. Therefore, after the sow has finished farrowing, place the weak piglets on the front teats, which have more milk, and let the strong piglets suckle the teats with less milk, leaving no teat empty. This can promote the development of the sow's mammary glands.
Introduce solid feed early and wean in stages. Seven days after birth, piglets can be enticed to eat with feed. Put the feed in your palm and bring it to the piglets' mouths to let them lick it. After 2 to 3 days, the piglets can feed freely from the trough. The feed should be given dry, not mixed with water into a paste, so as not to reduce its effectiveness. After feeding, provide plenty of clean drinking water for them to drink freely; in winter, use warm water. Use wooden sticks to divide the trough according to the number of piglets, so they do not fight over food. Forty days after farrowing, the sow's milk secretion gradually decreases. If the two litters differ greatly in weight, the strong, heavier litter can be confined in baskets to be weaned, with feeding and defecation done outside the baskets. Leave the weaker litter with the sow to continue nursing for 15 days, and the two litters can reach the same weight. Within 2 months from separation, do not let them mix together, so as to avoid fighting.
Prevent disease and inject vaccines. Within 30 days of the piglets' birth, feed the sow 1 to 2 spoonfuls of livestock oxytetracycline mixed into her feed every day, which can effectively prevent and treat piglet white scour. If piglet white scour is found, immediately grind 2 sulfamethoxazole tablets finely, mix with 2 spoonfuls of water, and administer orally; generally 1 to 2 doses will cure it. When administering orally, pick the pig up, clamp it firmly between your knees, give it a wooden stick to hold in its mouth, and feed it in with a small spoon one spoonful at a time. Within 40 days, piglets should be injected once with the triple vaccine and piglet paratyphoid vaccine. If piglets are seen to like burrowing into straw nests, have high body temperature, vomit, pass watery diarrhea, drink more water, and move slowly, piglet paratyphoid can be considered. This disease spreads quickly and has a high mortality rate, so the sick pigs should be isolated immediately and 5 milliliters each of veterinary chloramphenicol and enrofloxacin should be combined and injected in one shot to cure it.