One of the piglets has died. The little one. He had pneumonia. Pigs show no signs of pneumonia until they are far advanced. No coughing or runny nose. Not even a hot nose actually. Just a creeping lethargy I suppose. Lack of appetite and then eventually no appetite at all.
I noticed the night before yesterday that he was not eating, this triggered a memory of thinking he was often coming out late to eat. Sleeping more than the others. He was standing alone with his head and ears down. I took him aside and his coat was dull, his head heavy. I offered him water and he would not even duck his head in so I started feeding him water and molasses with a stock syringe every half hour until we could get in to see the vet, which unfortunately was not until the late afternoon.
Pneumonia takes them very fast. The vet gave him antibiotics and wormed him but it was too late. He died quietly late last night. I hope you are not beginning to hate being in the Fellowship – we are having a hard year.
The pneumonia was exacerbated by a parasite that we have not seen before here and that cannot be handled by organic wormers like VermX which is the one I use. This parasite is collected from the soil and should not be here, we are a closed shop and this land has not had pigs on it since the 20’s. But moving them onto the pasture actually caused the problem. Like almost all parasites it is species specific and does not affect other animals, only pigs. All the other piglets have been wormed against it now so they can stay outside. So much learning to do as we feel our way through this mire of threats.
But now I know the signs of swine pneumonia. This particular problem will not get the better of me next time. I wish I had known these signs before. But frankly I am not feeling like much of a farmer at the moment. At the moment I want to be Our John and just grow the tomatoes.
But there you are. I am at a loss. Poor wee fella. There is a biblical quote about all Gods creatures, I can’t remember it at the moment. I have to admit I am not part of any organised or disorganised religion but each little creature has his place. Some lives are short and some long. Number Seven’s life was short and taught me an important lesson. But once again the cost is too high.
I have increased the amount of apple cider vinegar that goes in everyone’s water. And the pigs will be shifted to a new hopefully clean pasture. And I will clean and lime their quarters again, though they are already clean and dry. We have to go up a gear on the parasite watch. I probably need to increase the barn flock too, they spread the manure and peck and scratch through the pens, keeping things clean, maybe some of those older chickens who have stopped laying can join the barn flock.
I am determined to learn or teach myself all the things that a regular farm wife knew in the 20’s. But they knew so much instinctively. She learned all these things as a child and young woman from her own people. I have to find other ways to learn all this. Plus I guess she worked as part of a team, and I am working alone. I need to sharpen my eyes.
On another subject I have worked out a deal with the local feed mill and have ordered half a ton of feed mixed just how I want it, without any pig by-product additives. It is shockingly cheaper than buying it a bag at a time, but I need to pick up today. I was hoping that Our John would not have to work today (Saturday) though he has worked 6 days a week all summer so why I thought that he could help me I do not know. I was hoping he could drag the trailer over to this town, an hour away, and help me pick this feed up. But he is working.
But that is OK. ( Although I want to spit and stamp my feet and chomp down on my teeth.) I am going to call the guy at the feed store this morning and ask if they can break the pallet and I can pick it up in two trips with the little white truck. One day I promise I will learn how to drive pulling a trailer and reversing it and all those things. But not today. Today I am tired. This is such a tiny problem, but I had so much else to do today..
Good morning, the sun is almost up. Time to climb onto the tractor and drive out into the sweetcorn and collect the animals breakfast. I always feel better after feeding out in the morning.
Oh and the little chicks are growing fast, they are doing very well. Soon I will shift them into bigger quarters.
Now you all have a lovely day. For me. I promise I will look for loveliness today too – after all I am surrounded in it.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
89 responses to “Pneumonia takes Piglet.”
We all know that these things happen, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. All that we CAN do is to learn as we go along and yes, take the time to appreciate all the things which are going well, the small things that make us smile and of course the beauty of Mother Nature all around us. That sky at the top of your post must certainly have helped to lift your spirits.
Christine
So sorry to hear about the piglet. You are doing your very best and sometimes these things happen. Hang in there.
So sorry to hear of your loss of #7. I know it is heartbreaking, especially when you are trying so hard to give them a good natural piggy life. Don’t be too hard on yourself, catching a sick animal at the beginning of the illness is a skill, a learned skill. Many who are very good at it learned by spending time with their elders in caring for the animals as soon as they were big enough to be of some help. As for where it came from, it may have caught a ride on Charlotte and Sheila. Their breeder may routinely worm and vaccinate against it and it never occurred to him that you wouldn’t do the same since it is known to be present in the soil. The best thing to do is to take some time every day (with dairy cows it use to be suggested that 15 minutes at every milking to observe the herd as a whole) to just watch the piglets. Have a checklist in your mind: are they all hungry, anyone lethargic, anyone coughing, limping, crabby, have runny nose or eyes, any new cuts, bites, scrapes, etc, Fresh/different food is big indicator for pigs because even if they don’t want to eat it right then they still all have to stick their snout in and check it out. Hope the rest of your day goes smoothly.
Thank you jeanne and yes I am a great leaner and watcher, being a photographer makes me very aware of changes in patterns, another reason why I am very annoyed at myself for not picking up on this. When I add a new workload (preserving, new chicks) I need to be extra vigilant as my routine has a lot to do with my awareness of changes. Very good point that you bring up, thank you.. c
Sorry you feel discouraged, Celi. What I see is you doing your best to learn from this how to protect your remaining pigs and going on even though you do not feel like it at the moment. You are strong and good-hearted and have the support of many people, near and far. Sending love.
I’m so sorry about Seven. I think I could farm beautifully and efficiently like the 20’s too if I had a brother or sister helping me pull the weight, and a wise old grandmother in the kitchen waiting with advice and a biscuit, and parents who had done it all before ready to jump on any problems I’ve missed!
I’ve had a lot of loss on the homestead because I just didn’t know what I was doing as well as I could if I’d had years of experience. We’re all just kind of muddling through this on our own. It’s important that we make sure that the information is out there for others to learn from. Right now our family is the community we live in and other people muddling through who can share their information with us.
Next time you’ll never miss a pig with pneumonia. And hopefully when I get pigs I’ll remember this and I won’t miss it either. And, well, if you ever decide to keep rabbits, goodness knows I’ve delt with a lot of issues with that for you to learn from! We’ll just keep muddling through it together!
I do hope you are able to have a pig on your property, they really are worth it, but the balance is so tenuous between health and illness… c
Hugs.
I am so sorry about your loss of piglet. I too have occasionally missed something I haven’t seen before and lost an animal who couldn’t tell me something was wrong, or perhaps who didn’t know either. We do the best we can and we move forward. Thank you for sharing your adventures on this blog.
You re very welcome, I get great advice and support here too which is lovely.. c
The ‘like’ is, of course, a ‘don’t like what happened but sympathize’.
The common image of a farmer as being fairly dim is completely dim itself. A good one has to know more things about more things than most city slickers can even dream about!
Hear Hear!!
Was this little piglet always the smallest in the litter? I remember when my mother used to breed dogs, that if there was a noticeably smaller puppy in a litter, it was often more vulnerable to problems/picking up infections. Maybe, if pneumonia hadn’t got little piglet, something else would have. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re doing brilliantly with your farm. Concentrate on your successes.
yes he was the smallest but not always the smallest, Charlotte stepped on the tiniest one.. but he has always been slowest and smallest, always last out of the shed. c
I see that this has already been touched on, but I am going to second it, the key when free ranging and with large groups is to take the time to lean.. lean on the fence post, the wall and watch, feeding time is perfect for this, ideally, if you can call and put the food out, and then watch, at first you need a good amount of time to on the learning curve, then afterwards you can break the watching into parts or into shorter time frames.
Watch them come to the food, learn the way they move, learn how they carry their heads, their tails, learn their natural gaits, learn what their coats look like in different season’s, and on hot days and on rain days, the books often talk about checking eyes and noses and backsides, and of course I agree with that for clear basic issues..
But what I rarely read them talking about it is watching for minor coat changes, watching hoofs or claws (as they grow they can tell you a great deal on if anything is missing from the feed, or the land itself), watching and learning the gaits, the movements, the way the body looks itself.
Once you have spent the time to see how they move, then it will take a lot less time to see the “off” and ideally, you will see the off before its a issue.. Don’t just watch the animals themselves, watch their herd mates.. know the structure of the groups.. if boss number 2, normally eats at this place on the line or feeder, and she is pushed down the line by one or two or chooses to go to the lower sides, why? what is wrong with her today, that she is losing rank etc.
I am very sorry to hear about the piglet, even more sorry that you have combined loss and that the piglet was already sold, a double whammy.
As for the worms, it happens, when I had my first litter of piglets, I cleaned everything, I made sure that the pig I had brought in where both tested and had their deworming, I did everything I could to clean and prevent, like you it had been years before pigs where on the farm till I brought mine in, and as I had raised weaner to butcher age without any issues, when I butchered out my own born and raised piglet at suckling age, you could have knocked me over with a feather, when I saw hard and clear proof that round worms where at a very, very high rate in the piglets.
I would have never known from the health and active level of the piglets, but needless to say, I had to do a round of piglet deworming, and talk about the issue with those that bought some as weaners.
We all learn as we go, if you can honestly ask yourself if you did everything you could have with the knowledge you had before, and the answer is yes, then let the guilt go.. and if the answer deep inside was no, I got busy, or I coulda, or shoulda, then take a deep, deep breath and let it go with a promise to yourself to find the time to fix what needs to be fixed in the system.
Be that more regular soil checks, be that more regular stool sample checks, be that a different worming program for the wee piglets, be that shifting things around as to when the piglets are born at what time of the year (example, I lamb in winter so that the lambs are a certain age before the spring thaw as it stops many issues) to have a wee bit more time to spend with the piglets, be that the piglets need to come into the barn and pen in the evening, get a meal in the morning and get watched for five and then go out for the pasture all day, so that you can for the first six or ten weeks have a much more closer relationship with them.
Only you will know what those answers need to be..
Get your man to give you a big old hug! and hold on for a while.. Have a cry if needed and then up by the bootstraps and look at it with fresh eyes.. HUGS!
All excellent advice, the piglets are free to come into the barn at any time, so i do spend a lot of time with them, plus their field is right out my kitchen window so i watch them then too. But you have brought up some excellent points. i shall be observing more critically from now on. And so far they are all galloping in when I call and eating well, plus playing and being mischievious.. so far so good i think..c
You make us forget that this is a bit of a rough road you’ve chosen here, Celi. One that isn’t without great rewards, but one that on a day to day basis clearly shows the highest highs and the lowest lows of our human experience and our experience with this worlds’ creatures and lifecycle. The way you meet these challenges with such courage, honesty, passion and curiosity is truly inspiring to us all. I would dare anyone to say you aren’t a farmer, in fact I would say you are a rare breed of farmer…hopefully one of the first in a long line to come.
That’s a shame, though it’s all part of nature. I know you did your best 😉
So sorry for your loss. We too lost a goat to pneumonia this summer. It’s tough. Hang in there. The animals at your farm are very lucky to have you!
Very sorry to hear about the little piglet. I wouldn’t be able to be quite as stoical which is amongst the reason that I am not a farmer. Full of admiration, as always for your determination and application. I was looking at some French schoolbooks from the the 1920’s. The drawing on the front was of the farmer’s wife doing the accounts by the light of an oil lamp. Even though they left school by the age of 13, they had mastered their arithmetic and language skills to enable them to carry out the cerebral work demanded of a farmer’s wife. There was a deep respect for such a position in those days.
Sorry to hear of piglet’s demise. 😦