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Post by Farmer Annie on Feb 5, 2006 14:02:44 GMT -5
Ladies, please don't be insulted that I ask this for the sake of my pig!
My NZ Kunekune sow had her first litter of piglets back in August - a beautiful litter (if I do say so myself!), but before she had them, she lost quite a bit of hair on her back. As she was with my boar at the time and he was not affected, I felt it could not be caused by parasites or something infectious (though I washed the area with colloidal silver, just in case). I had to conclude it was hormone/pregnancy related. She is growing some hair back there now, but awfully slowly!
So my questions are - What herbs are good for preventing hair loss during pregnancy? And what herbs will encourage hair regrowth? What minerals could this suggest a shortage of?
I know hair loss during pregnancy is an issue for some women, and I'm sure I've read a bit about natural treatments for it, though I can't remember where. Thus I figure that someone here must have some ideas, or know where there might be some info handy!
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Post by Mom2boys on Feb 11, 2006 9:50:11 GMT -5
Do pigs have a thyroid gland?
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Post by marcia on Feb 11, 2006 20:28:14 GMT -5
Natural thyroid drugs are prescription thyroid hormone replacement drugs that are made from the desiccated thyroid glands of pigs. (according to something copied from my google search)
Marcia
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Post by Mom2boys on Feb 11, 2006 21:23:45 GMT -5
okay, then in humans that have a thyroid gland, I would stress a thyroid support during the last trimester and during lactation, so why not try it on your pig friend? Be sure to get actual thyroid gland in a capsule form. I'd love to hear how it works.
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Post by Farmer Annie on Feb 24, 2006 14:28:57 GMT -5
In other words, support the thyroid!
I'm not really keen on the idea of the thyroid gland supplement and I don't know how it would go with the regulations governing feeding pigs, but I guess it would be processed in some way that would satisfy the regulations here (meat and anything that has been in contact with meat has to be cooked/heated to a certain temp for a certain length of time before being fed to pigs) - I don't know!
We use Seaweed Meal (powdered kelp) with our stock, but I don't give it to the pigs enough, so maybe I will start with that. Actually it really makes sense considering iodine def. in goats can result in dead &/or hairless doe kids (F need more than M)! And pigs seem to have high mineral requirements, so maybe that tells me something about how active their thyroid glands are!
Thanks for the replys!
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Post by Mom2boys on Feb 28, 2006 15:20:19 GMT -5
Kelp would be a great thyroid support. Then you wouldn't have to worry about breaking any regulations.
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Post by Farmer Annie on May 29, 2006 15:12:37 GMT -5
Well, I don't know if it was the kelp, or putting a bit more fat on her, but she has grown most of the hair back again now - still needs to improve in length, but progress made. For some reason, probably summer infertility in my boar, my sow was not getting in-pig thru summer (probably a good thing if she needed iodine!), so I wasn't letting her get too fat, as then she might stop breeding entirely. I wonder if I didn't keep her fat enough! I worked at putting more condition on her as we came around towards April (inc. feeding her grain mash) and was very happy with what I saw. As far as I can tell, she got in pig successfully in April, and will be due mid-August! I suspect I have effectively 'flushed' her with the improved feeding coming up to conception, so hopefully she will have a good sized litter - she had 7 last time, which is good for a Kunekune pig! A photo link for anyone who wants to see her! img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/shepherdgirl/Kunekunes/Aug05litter/Aug22704.jpg |
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Post by Mom2boys on May 29, 2006 20:27:56 GMT -5
What amazingly cute piglets! I love the red and black spotted one on the left. It sounds like you really take good care of your animals.
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Post by Farmer Annie on Aug 18, 2006 15:11:29 GMT -5
Just a quick note. Trudy had NINE piglets on Thursday evening. Only lost the tiniest bit of hair on the top of her 'neck' in the last day or two before, which I have put down to her rubbing... so will try to get to the root of that. 5M, 4F. --- A black, white, and ginger boy (looks brown and white); a black and white girl; 3 plain gingers - 2 girls and a boy; 4 ginger with black spots - 3 boys and a girl. Mostly ginger in this litter! Here are a couple of photos! In this first photo, in order from Trudy's head end to her tail end: F, M, M, F, M, M, F, F, M. img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/shepherdgirl/Kunekunes/Aug06litter/IMG_20060818_17.jpgimg.photobucket.com/albums/v397/shepherdgirl/Kunekunes/Aug06litter/IMG_20060818_21.jpg |
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