PIG AILMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1939, Page 3

PIG AILMENTS

INDIGESTION A COMMON COMPLAINT. It can be fairly safely said that most of our pig ailments can be traced to indigestion. It is, of course, one of the most common complaints with our pigs today, but is often not noticed by the farmer until it reaches a stage when it is quite obvious that something is wrong. The symptoms are many, but if the pigs are not making the progress they should be making and have rough coats or arched backs and, furthermore, show a tendency to scour, the trouble can probably be traced to indigestion. Indigestion can be brought about by too sudden a change in the diet, weaning before time, over feeding, dirty conditions, unclean troughs and milk containers. Just after weaning is when to look for cases of indigestion for this is a very susceptible period. Quite frequently it is found that where skim milk is pumped to a central container that this has a thick lining of putrefying milk adhering to the sides. Nothing is more likely to bring about indigestion in the pigs than this state of .affairs and immediate steps should be taken to remedy the position. When any of the little pigs are found to be suffering from indigestion it is a good plan to remove them to. a separate pen where corrective treatment can be undertaken. The pigs can be dosed with castor oil at the rate of one tablespoonful to a sow and a dessertspoonful to the wcaners daily for a few days.