# Castration Injury? - Never seen anything like this



## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

We picked up a boar and a sow that some friends of ours gave to us. We were supposed to get 4 feeder pigs also but after loading the big ones, we didn't want to risk them getting out. Something seems to have gone wrong when they castrated them and I wanted some opinions on what it may have been. I can't find any pics of anything similar.

Where the cuts had been made to castrate, many of the males had these protrusions that looked like sausages hanging out of them. Probably 2.5" across and some were about 6 to 8" long. Not all of them were this bad. Some only had 1 spot and it was minimal. Some were downright scary looking.

I have tried to find pictures of scrotal hernias in swine but haven't found any. The hogs themselves don't seem any worse for the wear. They are just as fat and happy as their counterparts. They did say that most of them were like that and that some have had the "whatevers" fall off.

They are about 75lbs - very chunky and otherwise healthy looking.

I'm unsure at this point if we will go back for them. Opinions?


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

It's hard to say without a picture, but my first thought was intestines. Once my husband & I did a bad job castrating a piglet- we made the cut too high & the end result was the intestines came through the cut. The piglet had to be put down. Some of my concerns would be possible infection down the road and the other pigs biting at the "protrusions".


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

I know of a fellow that gets free pigs from the commercial hog farms. Basically he gets the ones that suffer from a poor castration job and basically their intestines hang out. The commercial farm was giving them to him, because they wouldn't make it to butcher weight or the other pigs would gut them and they didn't want to have to discard them or go through any of the extra trouble. So he would pick them up and turn them to sausage, since he didn't have a size standard to achieve.

The fellow picking them up, said some would grow out fine, just slower. Others still would go downhill fairly quick. This is only what I've heard, and not what I have experienced.


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

I didn't have anything to take a picture with but it doesn't seem like intestines to me - they don't form a loop - just blunt on the end . Another reason I don't think it's intestines is that she was saying that many of them were like that and some of them have had them dry up and fall off. 

Could it be the vessels leading to the testicles that have become swollen and maybe infected?

It may have to just remain a mystery...

If it matters they were born the first of Sept and castrated just after Thanksgiving...so they have been like this for 5 weeks.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

It sounds to me like the cords have not been properly striped out. if this is the case they may be OK, but I wouldn't buy them until they heal up.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I like my animals that I buy to look regular, normal, and healthy.


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## Sharedspirit (Aug 16, 2008)

Could it have been fat?


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

My first thought is hernia resulting in intestines hanging out. VERY bad.

The lack of loop is puzzling though. Could well be very badly infected tube tissue.

This is probably a time for antibiotics. If the pig is losing ground I would slaughter it. If suspect then I would not eat it.

I have had two cases of hernia with intestines shooting out during castration years ago. This was why I looked into how to stop castrating. We haven't castrated in years now. Boar taint is not usually there. Breed it out, Manage it out, Feed it out.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Tinknal is probably right, I've had a cord drop out and swell up once in awhile but never the whole bunch. Some body botched the castration job, sounds like they just clipped the testicle off instead of pulling the cord out.

If they was mine I would cut it off next to the body if they were already healed around it. I have caught them a few days after castration and simply pulled them out.

If it was intestines the pigs would be dead already.


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## HeritagePigs (Aug 11, 2009)

Perhaps use an elastrator? Just a thought.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

My theory is that if the animal doesn't look normal and I don't know what it is, I pass on by.

If it's your own animal, you have to deal with it. If it is someone else's animal, don't make their problem into your problem.


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## rockbottomranch (Dec 23, 2010)

Did u bring em home?


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

I have not brought them home. 

I think that it's severely infected tube tissue. The tissue around the body where the cut was make looks healed.

I have told her that I would take them after they are healed up. They don't appear any worse for the wear but I'm not going to take them home just to have them die on me. I do think that they just did a poor job castrating and they were too big to handle easily by the time they did it. The woman just had 1 person helping her who had never done it before.

Thanks for all the input.


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## sprite (Mar 28, 2008)

someone did a poor castrating job. If there is a little tissue left, it can fall outside the incision, preventing it from healing completely. The healing incision doesn't put enough pressure on the tissue for it to completely die and slough off, and the incision won't ever fully heal. 

I've seen then grow up fine to butcher weight like that, but it IS gross, and a potential source of infection.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I`m with some of the rest of them, I need a picture. As Allen W. stated ,if it was a hernia, the pigs would be dead. I use to have the vet fix these for me, but one day learned how to do them myself. Hernia`s are more times than not a genetic problem, we had a boar pass this on one time, had many of them at one time. And also one man and a good dog can cut a bunch of pigs in a few hours, trust me I know. > Thanks Marc


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## roneil76 (Dec 11, 2006)

This is an interesting thread.
I Would wait like you said your gonna. maybe let the women know what you found out here as well.


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## theporkstork (Dec 31, 2005)

Tinknal is correct in identifying the problem. It is a result of poor castration job. Some of the cord wasn't cut short enough and eventually will hang out of the incision. It can be removed and will heal up well if it is cut close enough to the line of the skin. I have "repaired" several of these over the years. You MUST tie off the cord at the skin line before cutting it off. I don't know if you would be able to get an elastrator band close enough to the skin line. I use cotton suture which will eventually rot off. If you are not experienced at making tight double throw ties with suture, you should have a Vet or experienced person do it for you. The key is to get it done ASAP before the pig get any bigger. The whole process will set the pig back for only a few days and will eliminate any risk of the cord becoming infected or bitten by the other pigs. Within a week, you'll never know there was a problem.
Theporkstork


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

Well we brought those pigs home. I felt like it was the good thing to do. They were in a tight spot and they had given us their breeders for free. So I figured the $120 I would be out for them wasn't too bad even if the little ones didn't make it. Still a good deal on the sow and boar.

We banded the two hogs that were the worst and gave them a shot of antibiotic. The one that was the worst has not had the swollen cords fall off yet but they are shriveled and will probably be gone in a day or two. By the time we had gotten there to pick them up, one of them was healed up already.


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