Bottle raise a piglet?

bulldog · #1 04/11/09, 10:40 AM

I am wondering what you all think about bottle raising a piglet. The way my place is set up I need all my animals to be really handle able. I would plan on harness training it, a sow only! Do pigs do OK with bottle raising or is it a problem? And if it does not work how workable are sow raised piglets? Thanks!

**highlands** · #2 04/11/09, 03:56 PM

Sow raised piglets can be very workable. Bottle raising is a _lot_ of time and effort and not as good a result. If you are determined to bottle raise then let the sow do it for the first two weeks so the piglet gets the colostrum and a good start. Three to four weeks would be better.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
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ozark_jewels · #3 04/11/09, 03:56 PM

We bottle-raise a runt for a friend once....he lived in our shower in a box to start with.LOL! He had no problems with being bottle-raised on our raw cows milk. Don't know about future problems because she took him back after about four weeks.

tinman1 · #4 04/11/09, 07:47 PM

We just bottle raised a litter last month...It was a real pain in the a.. They also seem to be growing a little slower than normal, but not much..All our pigs are very handlable ,even our boar,we just spend time with them while they are very young..My son can actually sit on our 700 lb. sow, and she walks around with him on her back! These are our breeding stock of course, not our feeder pigs for sale or the freezer..Pigs are very intelligent,and can be raised to be easily handled..

lisarichards · #5 04/12/09, 06:55 AM

It's an amazing amount of work. I did it last year (because I had to) and to be honest, I've done it now and hope to never do it again.

She's a year old now and just had a litter of her own, and while she is friendlier than the rest of my girls, the rest of them are plenty friendly. I spend a good amount of time with them, making sure to chat with them for a few minutes twice a day when I feed, and that's enough, really. I don't think you need to bottle-raise a baby to get friendly pigs.