I am helping a friend clip her childs hog and she will not be still for nothing? Is there anything safe to give her that would just calm her?

All pigs are different. Some are calm right away, some calm down after 10mins or so. We put them in a small pen or trailer, where they can't get too far from you. You can try to put down some food, but the best way is to just stay in there and they will calm down with time. Be patient.

Bo

yeah its very true, hogs are all different. whats helped me in the past is that when i'am going to sheer i usaully skip the feeding,example if i'am going to sheer them in the afternoon i'll skip their am feeding and that sometimes works as well.

Other thing i do is that my daughter has them all spoiled and she entertains them with marshmellows and the just stay their while i sheer them.

other technique is the fastest and a little bit noisy is to snare them from the snout and sheer away, they will squeal for a bit but thats the quickest way i can possibliy think that will help you.

these are the ways i've done my sheering but there might be a faster way or someone out there might have a easier or fast way to sheer.this are my opinions.
Hope this helps,
Jay

I was lucky ours laid there and let us do anything to them, they did not even flinch when I did their ears. I also thought about the snare, but don't think my ears or nerves could take the noise. The feeding thing won't work with hers, because it is on a full feeder 24/7.
I think if we get her in a small enough place, she will have to lay down sooner or later...hopefully sooner. Thought I was getting away with just doing our pigs this year....things we do for friends!!!

Thanks for Ideas ;-)

We have a set of ear muffs with a built in radio. We snare them, put on the radio ear muffs and go at it, it only takes 10-15 min. per hog. We clip on a rubber horse mat in case they fight the snare, so they won't injure themselves.

2-3 Beers and 30 Minutes... really.

2-3 beers for the hog or for yourself?

You are funny! The pig, of course!

Just Checking, cause if you had to clip 8-10 at a time as we do, you would be wasted!

We had a mama that was a "biter" two years ago that would not accept any of her babies. Granted, the 6 babies she had were HUGE and I am sure she was in quite a bit of pain afterwards. Gave her some banamine and waited to see if she would settle down. When that didn't work, we sat down in lawn chairs, opened the ice chest, and began to ponder what we were going to do. She stood there looking at us like she wanted to bite our heads off. This was 11:00 at night and we were very tired. I told her to chill and poured a beer in her feeder. She sucked it up. I gave her another one...same thing. I believe that I only had to give her 2 of them. After about 30 minutes, she began to close her eyes and sleep standing up and swaying. At that time of night, it was quite entertainnig. She finally gave it up and laid down. Waited a few more minutes, then let one baby out. When that seemed to be going okay, we opened the box and let them all wander out. She was fine after that. I think she was hurting and unfamiliar with what was happening. Not all of them are natural mothers. Fortunately, this one took to her little ones after a couple of "night caps". Good luck to everyone this farrowing season and best wishes at the 2011/2012 shows!

James, nice seeing you in Belton! Hope you found what you were looking for!