June 26, 2009– A Victorian Pig
Despite her 600 lb frame of solid muscle, our sow Willow apparently has a delicate constitution. She frightened me by not getting up for breakfast on Tuesday, a very bad sign for a pig. I keep reading that when pigs don’t eat they are dying. The last time she didn’t eat she was quite ill with an infected leg, requiring antibiotics and homepathics. I had noticed her drinking much more than she normally does (typically we never see Willow drink, while her buddy Wilma can down a bucket of water in two minutes flat) but I could see no other sign of illness.
I started Willow back on her homeopathics in case she had an unseen infection, and also began treating her for heat stroke, even though she hasn’t been in the sun much. I took her outside, made a mud pit for her, and thoroughly hosed her down with cold water. We cleaned out her stall and made a cool place to lie. For the last few days I have been “watering my Willow,” sprinkling her with a watering can while she lies, yawning, in her stall. Rusty and Wilma are still jumping around for food, but Willow either slowly lumbers to food and doesn’t get her share, or remains lying down while I bring the food over and hand-feed her.
As it turns out, Willow does not have an infection. Willow doesn’t like heat. After thunderstorms rid the province of its 40 degree celcius heat, Willow is up and about again. I guess we will have to be vigilant about keeping our Victorian lady cool during the hot summer ahead.
When we had barn animals stressed by heat, we put block ice in front of a fan and blew it across the pens. You can make blocks in pans and milk cartons. Think of it as Fred Flinstone central air.