Bottle Feeding Piglet

One of the ten piglets is looking a bit droopy and can’t seem to suckle so I have decided to bottle feed her.

Unfortunately the poor little piglet has been stood on a couple of times by the sow and has injured her legs. This has made standing to suckle difficult and the piglet scrum for the teats is a real challenge for a piglet with a few cuts on her leg.

I have made up some milk and given it to the piglet using a syringe. The piglet has been drinking the milk. Everytime I go to give her a drink I will make sure that I hold the piglet to the sow to see if she will start to suckle.

We need to keep our fingers crossed for this little one. I’ll keep you posted. Got to dash to the pig maternity ward!!!!

1. I hope the little one thrives soon. This is so exciting, 16 piglets, I am thrilled for you.

   Comment by Cottage Smallholder – November 2, 2007 @ 9:15 am

2. Hi Cottage Smallholder. thanks for your thoughts and best wishes. I will let you know how the little piglet gets on.
   Thanks for visiting and commenting.
   Sara from farmingfriends

   Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends – November 2, 2007 @ 10:33 am

3. Hi Sara, I can just see those peachy soft little piglets now. I used to always love the runt of the litter when I was a little girl, I do hope the little one will be OK, although it is always a worry, especially if the others in the litter are larger and more dominant. Louise x

   Comment by THIS IS MY PATCH – November 2, 2007 @ 11:45 am

4. Hi This is My Patch,
   The piglets are so cute they are black with a pink band around them. So cute, but they can certainly squeal. I think we should have fostered two of the ten onto cagney who only has six, but it’s easy to say with hindsight!
   Thanks for your thoughts and wishes for the lovely little piglet.
   I’ll keep you posted.
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends – November 2, 2007 @ 12:07 pm

5. Good luck with the tiny one – I’m sure she’ll thrive with your attention and energy – fingers crossed. Are the mothers taking to it too?

   Comment by paula – November 2, 2007 @ 8:59 pm

6. Hi Paula,
   Thank you for your best wishes and words of encouragement. They mean alot. Both Cagney and Lacy are good to deal with and are doing well. They are excellent mothers now.
   Thanks for visiting and commenting. Sara @ farmingfriends

   Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends – November 3, 2007 @ 6:27 pm

7. THIS IS MY FIRST TIME BOTTLE FEEDING A PIGLET AND I’M VERY EXCITED TO DO IT….DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE ON WHAT’S BEST OR WORST WHILE DOING THIS ? I’VE GOT THE MILK REPLACER AND BOTTLES AND EVERYTHING I THINK I’LL NEED TO DO IT, I JUST AM A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT THE POOR LITTLE THING. IT’S UP AND WALKING AROUND BUT IS SKINNY AND NOT REAL ACTIVE…GIVE ME SOME HINTS PLEASE..I JUST WANT IT TO LIVE AND BE HEALTHY…THANK YOU

   Comment by KELLY – February 1, 2008 @ 1:15 pm

8. FORGOT TO MENTION..IF ALL GOES WELL WITH THIS PIGLET, I WILL HAVE MORE TO FEED LATER ON. THE FARMER IS AN AWESOME PERSON AND REALLY CARES ABOUT HIS ANIMALS…I WANT TO GET AS MUCH EXPERIENCE AS I CAN BOTTLE FEEDING SO I KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. I SHOULD HAVE THE BABY HERE WITH ME THIS AFTERNOON…I’M JUST SO EXCITED TO DO THIS. I DID GET TO WATCH TWO BE BORN YESTERDAY…IT’S ALWAYS A TREAT TO WATCH LIFE BEGIN…NO MATTER WHAT LIFE IT IS…

   Comment by KELLY – February 1, 2008 @ 1:20 pm

9. Eithier Sow Milk Replacer or Goats Milk is a very good suppliment for a piglet. Try to keep it about 80 degree’s the first week of the piglets life, as the piglet get’s older you can gradually decrease the tempature. Try to get some warm milk in it as soon as you can and you might want to give it a Calcium shot. About the worse thing you can do is suddenly change it’s milk, once we were bottle feeding a baby squirrel and it was healthy and happy when suddenly we had an earthquake and all the store’s shut. We couldn’t give him the formula he was used to and so we had to feed him cows milk, in the morning he was dead.
   Hopefully your little piglet lives and thrives!

   Comment by Rachel – April 19, 2008 @ 7:20 pm

10. WE HAVE PIGLETS AND I READ ON A WEBSITE AS SOON AS THE PIGS TURN 2 WEEKS YOU CAN GIVE THEM GERBER RICE CEREAL YOU ALSO CAN TEACH THEM TO EAT OUT OF A CLEAN(OF COURSE) ASH TRAY AND THEY WILL LEARN TO EAT OUT OF IT WHEN YOU FEED CEREAL YOU NEED TO MAKE IT RUNNY AT FIRST AND THEN MAKE IT THICKER AS THEY GET A LITTLE BIGGER

    BY THE WAY HOWS THE PIGLET DOING

    Comment by ANDIJO 76 – July 21, 2008 @ 3:39 pm