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Earlier (June 23) we removed the creep space barrier -because it seemed it was not being used. However, because some piglets seemed to be getting a little cold -we replaced it, although in a slightly different position. Initially, somewhat halfheartedly -but No.One tried to remove it -and so we anchored it more firmly the second time.
However, everything at last seems to be nicely stabilized.
The established system should now run smoothly ......
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No night-time observation. Everything left to its own devices
Perhaps a bit too confident.... Disaster strikes -just when we thought all was going well.
The previously sick piglet got crushed.... Although apparently recovering quite well -it may have been weak.... Fatima says it was already drinking from the trough.... We simply don't don't know circumstances. Perhaps the sow was just too tired to respond, perhaps she was "hypnotised" by the suckling/belly rub reflex -or maybe she sensed something wrong with it.
Several days of rain -caused by a typhoon in the Northern Philippines has made everything wet.... No.Oe panting heavily again and digging up wallowing places -which makes everything wet and messy...
Trying to remove sawdust etc.... but too tired.
Slept by pen -trying to prevent crushing.... One other non fatal incident -piglet trapped by mothers head -not very responsive until prodded bu me....
More rain in the night.
Have put extra sawdust in creep space to keep piglets warm..... but trying to completely clear the rest of pen.
Also put dry Coconut branches in the main pen...... but everybody (piglets and people) seem tired and sleepy)..... One piglet throwing up....
Boar Butlig also under the weather.... Not eating and also throwing up....
Doesn't seem much we can do -just hope for the best....
Actually, I think we are not doing too badly at all.
The biggest problem is the uncertainty sometimes over the best reaction when things do start going a bit wrong..... and especially how one thing relates to another....
Things like, how much wallowing is good for the sow -and how dangerous is it for the piglets if she insists on them suckling in the wallowing area? If they get wet, do they have enough strength to resist the cold dampness -and the perhaps unsanitary conditions?Or, how much food does she need to keep the milk supply going -or is over feeding the cause of over-heating?
These are tricky questions that are perhaps only answerable by trial and error and more experience..... Being different from local practices means it is difficult to get outside advice... but that's the price of going it alone I guess...
Sunday night, I slept in a chair by the pig pen, trying to keep an eye on things..... and most of Monday I was removing much of the "mulch" from the pen..... I'm sure that Fatima was right and that the fermenting mess was generating far too much heat. No.One farrowed in a kind of wallowing place (with no water in it) and sometimes suckled the piglets there too. Filling it in was no use, because she'd dig it out again.....
Now that we've removed several centimeters of rotting mulch the ground is more even -and that gives more pace for suckling....
Indeed, I have noticed that sometimes No.One does not respond to a squealing piglet. Fatima says that No.One also makes a funny noise at times like that -perhaps she is confused -or perhaps she wants the piglet to fight its way free.... I don't know.
Ernst adds:
I think the crushing is caused by the trance she gets in when the piglets trigger the belly tickle reflex.
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Rain in the night -so still fairly cool. Quiet, sleepy, kind of weather..... Lightly sunny but slightly overcast morning.
Everything seems normal with mother and piglets.
Butlig is still under the weather... drinking but not eating much
Fatima read that wood ash is a great traditional cure all for swine illnesses of all sorts, so she gave him some of that and some activated charcoal powder.
We also gave him some baking soda in his drinking water as an antacid......
......and let him out for a walk in the garden, just to cheer him up a bit.
10 AM and I hear a few raindrops on the roof again.....
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This morning was fairly sunny -but not incredibly hot.
Butlig was drinking water -but still not eating.
The piglets seemed ok -and we went out to do essential shopping.
When we returned, the piglets seemed quite happy and active. Put new wood-shavings (from chainsaw) in the creep space so they will have a warm nesting place for the night.
Penny reported that there was one near crushing event (the Black piglet) but she was able to get No.One to move and there seems to be no serious damage.
Butlig was starting to eat small amounts of Mega-mix as well as drinking.... So, hopefully,the worst is over....
Around 4 PM moderate rain again
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Everything was going normally today, even Butlig was starting to eat again,
Then, about 5 PM, a really heavy rain caused flooding in the piglets pen. The piglet's creep space had lost its warm nesting material and there was some water in the creep space too. No.One's wallowing area was filling up with water and the area around the trough was also filling up.
There were several different causes:
The creep space was starting to flood because run-off from the temporary roof was running under the observers chair and into the pen. This was solved by digging a small drainage channel inside the creep space down to the wallowing area -allowing the creep space to dry out a bit. Then a strut was placed under the hanging roof flap -to push it slightly further away from the working area. A drainage channel was dug along thee line of the flap -so run-off could dissipate away from the working area. Finally a drainage channel was dug across the front of the working area -so the water would be channeled down past both the piglets's and Butlig's pens. Once the creep space was drained I replenished the wood shavings in the creep space -so the piglets would hve a warm nest.
Some drainage from the wallowing area was possible on the outside of the pen (where the dip actually undermined the fence) and the water was channeled down to the goat pen area. I didn't consider total drainage of the area a top priority -because I assumed the piglet's survival instincts would protect them enough.
Then I improved slightly the drainage along the from of the two pens -so as to slow water flooding into the pens. This was not difficult as the main torrent was past the pens and down into the garden.
Butlig's pen seemed to remain relatively dry. The floodwater sweeping past his pen and flooding the vegetable garden and the back of the goat pen.
The goats had been out grazing in the garden earlier and Penny had tied them all up in the goat house -which is on stilts, and so fairly flood proof.
Later, when the rain had stopped, Fatima and Penny went down and filled in the pool by the trough (using earth) and also put sawdust into the wallowing area.
By about 7 PM sow and piglets seemed reasonably comfortable. I'm not sure about Butlig -who was again fairly unresponsive. Hopefully, just a bit cold and miserable....
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Pig
keeping in the tropics
— Housing, breeding, reproduction, nutrition, healthcare, AD-1,
ISBN 90-77073-53-1, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
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