My husband Fred and I went out to do castrations yesterday on a litter of pigs. Eight in the litter, six males, four weeks old . Four of these little pigs are spoken for and the new owner has given us a two hundred dollar deposit on the four. We got the first one done, disinfected, worm shot, tail banded, turned loose. Picked up victim number two and, per routine, I was holding him upside down and Fred was searching for the plumbing. Finally after five minutes with a perplexed expression on his face, he says.... "I can only account for one." I say... "Oh..... bummer." This is not a unique situation. Not unheard of for a little boar to be holding an ace in the hole so to speak. We didn't get nervous until we turned him loose and got another just like him. We didn't become alarmed until the third one proved to be holding out as well. Naturally it's the three other pigs that have been half paid for already. Now before anybody says...well, put yourself in THEIR place....ha ha, this is not voluntary. If that was the case, only one male from every litter would be castrated, right? Questions as follows: Is it common to get more than one cryptorchid pig per litter? Is it genetic? Will the other one eventually drop? If so, at what point do we give up waiting?
if you lay him down on his back and massage his bag the otherone should either be able to be felt, and brought down, or it should pop down on its own
An undescended testicle can be genetic (just like problems with hernias), but three in one litter is as likely as holding a winning lottery ticket. I do not mean to be sarcastic, but when you're holding them upside down, you've got gravity working against you, and you haven't really prevented the little guy from wiggling around. Look at the pigs in the pen (when they're nursing), if you haven't weaned 'em yet. You should be able to see both nuts on all those boars. I've cut a lot of pigs in my time, and I like to cut em with them on their side. Push down right along side the nut so it protrudes some in the bag, make your cut through the skin the nut should pop out and then get a hold of it and make sure you don't have any hanging cords. Repeat on other nut. 4-week pigs are a nice size to cut, although they cut em now as young as 7-10 days. I'd dock the tails earlier than 4 weeks though, do it when you cut their needle teeth. If you cut pigs when there is a new moon (next Thursday), the pigs won't swell up much if at all. I know that sounds like an old wive's tale, but it's true. Watch the pigs tonight to see that there aren't any bleeders, no hernias and that they all come up to eat. They'll lay quiet for awhile after getting cut, but should be back in the game by night.
Well, like the editor of SMF says, theres no right way to do anything. To tell the truth, #1` Ive never cut a pig, and #2, ive never been on the cutting of one that small. All the old timers I helped, (yes, I did the catching AND HOLDING, was way over being wiened, anywhere gtom a copuple months to 1/2 yr. just whenever they got round to it. Maybe they just wanted to see what they would have for prospective new boars, or like my uncle, wanted those hog nuts to grow sos hed have mountain osters. Anyway, We ALWAYS held them on their back, held both legs, put a knee across their belly if they was likly to not want the publicity, push omne or both, Ive forgotton legs down, kinda like squatting yourself down. They would for some reason pop them out,. And thats how we did it
We always cut ours before they are 10 days old. It is just easier on all of us and their immunity is at its highest. Some have just one testicle. It is a genetically inherited trait but 3 in one litter is a bit over the top. In a few days ,they should be healed enough and if there is another testicle that you just missed due to gravity, you should be able to see it. Tana Mc
We cut on day 2 or 3.There is a hundred differant ways to get it done but what works for me is holding him like you would a football-with his head in your left armpit.Left hand holds and squeezes rear legs togeather,the pressure of doing this causes the nuts to bulge,cut with right hand.That way may be harder with older piglets.We cut the tails and nuts at the same time.We don't cut the needle teeth.We stoped doing that 12 years ago.
