Castration of a 2 month old hog?

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This forum is a real GEM!!! We recently bought a 2 mo. old runt Yorkshire hog, he hates being touched or messed with so we were wondering about castrating him. In the book Backyard livestock it tells how to do this procedure ON 5 DAY OLD PIGLETS! Is it the same, or not; how hard will it be to restrain him? ? And how dangerous is a full grown boar, so that we can mate him with our sow ? Thanks Much, God bless!

-- Greg & Chandler (thewibles@yahoo.com), October 27, 2001

Answers

We recently bought a 4 month old boar from a neighbor, and since we wanted to put him in the freezer in December, we had him castrated. There was NO WAY we were going to attempt such a feat ourselves - we took him to the vet. It didn't cost much, and it sure would have been WAY more than we could have handled ourselves.

Unless you have a very safe and secure way to hold the boar still, I wouldn't even think of trying it at home. If you do, however, best of luck to you and I hope it works out well for you. As far as I could tell, the procedure is done exactly the same way, regardless of the size of the boar. (OUCH!)

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 27, 2001.


May I suggest thet if you don't know what you're doing, for both your's and the pigs sake, have it done by someone experienced. I have held and castrated hogs up to 120 lbs. by myself, but I knew how. An amature can really mess it up. The sooner you have it done, the better. Don't keep a runt for a boar. Always be wary of mature boars and sows with pigs. They can both be very dangerous. Every pig has a distinct personality; they are both intellegent and interesting animals.

-- gary (gsimpson@hotmail.com), October 27, 2001.

Greg and Chandler, I have raised many a feeder pig and have had to castrate them when they were much larger too. I vote with Gary and Cheryl, take it to the vet. Make sure it is a livestock vet and not a cat and dog vet. The latter can do it, but the former has LOTS of experience, and can do it in a flash. It will be much easier on all of you. You don't want a runt for a boar and you don't want to keep a boar for one sow. By the way, the sow with a litter can be much more dangerous than a boar.

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), October 28, 2001.

We used to raise pigs, and never took one to the vet for anything. We always waited until they were a bit bigger to castrate, as my husband thought it was too hard on the little babies. We did clip their teeth when they were very little. When we castrated, my husband did the holding and I did the cutting. Im sure your book describes the cuts, there is really nothing hard about it. We used regular flour on the area after the "operation" was over, it helped with what little bleeding there was, and we never had one get infected at all. And we raised a lot of pigs. A 2 month old pig would not be hard to do, if you choose to do it yourself. Just get a couple of "holders" in addition to your "surgeon".

-- Phyllis in the Texas Panhandle (tmblweed@wtrt.net), October 28, 2001.

Is there any reason people aren't mentioning "Elastrator" rubber rings? At that age, that's certainly what I would be using. Holder sits him up on his backside on the edge of something (say a rail fence); another person slips the rings over testicles with one hand, checks with the other to make sure BOTH of them are there, or manipulates until they both have slipped through the ring, then releases the holder. Done - easy.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 29, 2001.


Don , that method is not recommended for pigs .Not sure exactly why but the vet even told me no .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 29, 2001.

i had a friend help castrate two 200 pound pigs neither of us are professionals but three people would be better . first you need a fence or gate about three to four feet high catch his hind legs one in each rope pull himup so that he has backlegs over the fence he will pull forward as i pulled down he cut two slits one on each testicle pulled it out cut of washed with lysol and let go watch for infection but they should have no problems

-- leroy hamann (yorel_56714@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

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