30 April, 2009
Graham, our four-year-old senior Berkshire boar, has gone lame in his front right leg.
There are no obvious injuries, there’s little swelling and his trotter is intact without tears or uneven wear.
He was stiff in the joints this winter, but now that the weather has warmed up he had been moving freely again.
I’ve already separated Graham from the herd as he was having difficulty moving around and will bring him down the byre later.
I’m hoping it’s something treatable as he will have to be put down if it’s not. (Keeping a pig with sore legs is not an option for welfare reasons—pigs can’t function properly and behave naturally without good legs.)
Given Graham’s stiffness in the winter, we were already considering culling him in late autumn this year to give us time to breed a replacement and start bringing it through.
But I’d prefer to keep him on if possible as he’s a very successful boar with an excellent temperament.
When I needed to check his leg, Graham stood patiently while I felt and probed it.
When I found a sore spot, he’d shift about and swing his head gently to look at me but nothing more.
And when I need to check his other legs, he obligingly laid down on command and lifted each leg in turn for me to inspect.
Obviously, I still have to be very careful as he’s a big animal, with tusks, and is in pain but his temperament does make the job less risky and much easier.
The vet will be out this afternoon to give him the once over, so fingers crossed.
Poor old chap. I hope it’s not bad news.
everything crossed for Graham, he sounds a real gentleman, just what you want with the ladies and the children, though I know you never push luck where boars are concerned. Hope it isnt a serious problem….
Will cross fingers for Graham (not in the least because it is a relative of mines name, to be honest l would rather have the pig as a relative) Maybe a nice poultice assuming he doesn’t eat it will help or a needle-o-stick in the rump will offer some relief.
Any chance of a picci of Graham… please
I did take a couple of photos, but am too tired to post them tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.
Sounds like a lovely animal. Hope it’s good news for Graham! I wish my kids were that easy – you should see me holding them down to put eye drops in now that we are in full-blown allergy season here in northeast Ohio. I should show them this post and say, “Lookit, the PIG holds still. Get over yourselves!” Hee hee.
The vet has diagnosed osteochondrosis in the articular cartilage and the epiphyseal plates at the shoulder, most likely because of fast growth. It could also be down to boron deficiency or hereditary factors, but she thinks this less likely.
It’s a degenerative disease, so it’s only going to get worse and Graham will have to be put down sooner rather than later.
However, the vet believes Graham should be able to continue working through until the autumn if we treat him with an anti-inflammatory once a week. She injected him with an anti-inflammatory while she was here, but is going to check on one that can be used in-feed and is normally used to treat horses.
If she believes it suitable, we’ll treat Graham with that and keep him through until late summer/early autumn. He’ll then have to be put down.
If it’s not suitable, we’ll have to put him down within the next couple of days.
It’s a shame as Graham has a lovely temperament, performs well, and is relatively young (pigs can live to 10-12 years, although a boar’s working life is about six years).
Still, we have our fingers crossed that he’ll be able to enjoy a last summer and we’ll have a couple more litters from which to select his replacement.
Speaking of temperament, the vet was amazed (even though she knows our stock) when Graham laid down, calmly let her check all his legs, including the bottoms of his trotters, and accepted a thermometer up the bum without a blink. I knelt at his head, talked to him reassuringly and rubbed the underside of his jaw. He enjoyed it so much he started to snooze!
It took a bit of persuading to get him up, as he was just too comfortable. He then walked into the crush, helped by slices of apple, and calmly stood while I slid the rope twitch over his snout and teeth. He grumbled a bit when I tightened it and again when the vet probed his shoulder hard but otherwise accepted it. Even when he was injected, all he did was blink and growl once.
And that’s why I look for temperament even before conformation and why I handle all parts of all our pigs on a daily basis. It makes it much easier and much safer for everyone, although we still had three people working with Graham, with boards, plus the crush and twitch.
Poor Graham. I think my boar’s reached the end of his working life, as it were. Like Graham, he’s a real gentleman, far easier to handle than my girls.
Hope it’s not a daft question, but will you be using the meat?
We won’t be able to. He’ll have the anti-inflammatory drug right through his system. There would be a withdrawal period—the gap between last administration and when the meat is fit to eat—but that would mean taking him off the drug for days. I’m not prepared to see him suffer for that long just so we can get a bit of extra meat.
Of course, didn’t think of the withdrawal period for his drugs. Hope they’re starting to work.
They were working within hours, so he was soon out bossing his girls around again. He looks fine this morning—even breaking into a lumbering trot at one point. (He leaves anything faster to the sows and gilts!)
The temperament and trust Graham has in you is a testament to your welfare of your animals.
I don’t have pigs, just dogs, cats and chickens, but when my golden retriever ended up with a wound on his face that was five inches long and part of his skin was hanging freely in the wind, my vet was able to staple the wound without any kind of anesthetic four times whilst Charlie looked lovingly into my eyes. Hence my name, mandycharlie.
I hope Graham has a wonderfully warm summer and given time that the anti-inflamatories do there work.
thats a shame.. poor Graham. hope his good temperament is passed on
How frustrating for you and what a shame for Graham. A fabulous temperament was why I kept an old ram for so long, but he too had to be put down when his arthritis became too bad for comfort during another winter. You could see how the warm weather lifted him.
This does lead to a serious question though, and one I’ve been trying to investigate more thoroughly for a long time. The issue of boar taint – myth or reality? We have frequently taken boars of 8 or 9 months to the abattoir to have the slaughter men suck their teeth and tell us we’d regret leaving the pig so long before killing and it would be sure to have boar taint. I’ve no idea what they were going on about – the meat has always been sweet. So, what about a more mature, sexually active boar? Are there taint issues? Does it make the pork inedible, or is it just a rural myth? Opinions on a postcard gratefully received.
P.S. and in your opinion how old would a pig have to be, to be completely turned into sausages as too tough for pork/gammon?
Ah well Graham. You have had a good trot fella, great home, lots of special times with the ladies. I will raise a glass to you and hope your last months are as great as the ones you have had before. Shame I never got to meet you.
Regarding boar taint, I think it’s something some people taste and others don’t. But I expect others know more on this topic
There’s more to it than that, but I haven’t had time to answer as there’s a lot of detail to go into. Soon. Hopefully!
As a livestock owner our duty is for the welfare of our stock, it is hard to kill your one of your best friends the ones whom provide you with an income but at the end of the day STONEHEAD you will know you gave him a great life up there in sunny Aberdeenshire
Graham is continuing to move around well, so it does look like he will get his reprieve through to the end of summer.
That’s great news, hope it’s a good summer for him (in every way a pig could want
)
Good news and glad that you got a picci of Graham “reclining”