Pig Farm Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hiya, I'm Ferne.

Today, I'm in Kent to meet Teagan, her auntie

and their gorgeous pigs

who are getting a special visit from the farm vet.

I just love pigs!

And I'm Rory.

I'm at an alpaca farm in the Scottish Borders

to see how the local vet keeps them fit and healthy.

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story

# Of some poorly pets

# We will take them Show you how to make them

# Better at the vet's

# Vet tales These are our vet tales

# Vet tales Ferne And Rory's Vet Tales! #

Hi, my name's Teagan.

I love coming to see the pigs at my auntie's farm.

There are 11 pigs that live there.

Sybil, Sally,

and nine piglets.

The piglets are so cute.

Look at their curly tails!

I like helping to look after them.

Piglets really enjoy their mud bath.

Pigs are my favourite animals!

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hiya, Teagan. And you must be Auntie Helen.

-Hello.

-What are you guys doing?

-Putting acorns in the bucket for the pigs.

-Oh, they're going to love that.

-Shall we go and see them?

Yes, please, that would be great.

Hello! Hi, pig!

Oh, they look very excited to get these acorns as a special treat.

There's so many, Teagan! What age are they?

They're quite small.

-Three months.

-Well, except for this one, who's this?

-That's Sybil.

-Hi, Sybil. Is she a bit older?

-She's eight months old.

Oh. So these guys are still quite young.

-Do you know what young pigs are called?

-Piglets.

-Yeah.

They're really wonderful. Hi! What types of pigs are they?

-Berkshire pigs.

-Oh, that's really special, isn't it?

Cos they're quite rare.

You can tell they're Berkshires because they're all black

but they've got little white spots on their noses, their tails

and also their feet, and they look like they're wearing socks.

They love their tummies being rubbed.

Oh, you happy little piglet.

I think my favourite thing about pigs are their noses

because they're really, really good at sniffing out tasty food.

But I noticed there's one pig with a very special nose,

she doesn't have a blaze on it.

-Who's that?

-Blackie.

She isn't eating as much and she's much smaller than the others.

So is that why the vet is going to come visit today?

Yeah, hopefully he can help.

-Do you want to come and join us, Ferne?

-I would love to.

This is going to be interesting.

This is vet Nick.

He has been a vet for five years.

When he was training, he treated

a cheetah with two broken legs

and also helped a Labrador

who had eaten a toy dinosaur.

-Hey, guys.

-Hiya, Nick.

-Hi, Teagan.

-Hello.

How is little Blackie doing today, Teagan?

-She's all right, but she's not eating as much as the others.

-No?

-And she's a lot smaller.

-Oh, OK.

-Shall we have a look at her, then?

-Yeah.

So where do you need to start when you give a little piglet a checkup?

Well, I think we'll start from the front and work back.

Checking her nose.

What are you looking for with her nose?

-Bogeys?

-Yeah!

Check there's nothing running out of there that shouldn't be.

Just looking at her mouth now,

check that she's got all her teeth all right, there's nothing stuck.

-Great.

-And then just checking her eyes,

she if she's got any conjunctivitis.

She might have an infection or something that would hurt her.

Could be. Yeah, absolutely. A quick check of her ears.

And what are you looking for in her ears?

See if there's any wax or any discharge in there.

Her trotters look good as well.

What are you looking for with those trotters?

Just checking that their nails aren't too long

and that there's no sores on their feet.

So we'll just have a quick listen to her heart

-and to her lungs to check that they're OK.

-OK.

HEART THUMPS

How does her heartbeat sound?

It sounds really good, nice and healthy.

I'm just listen to her breathing.

Just to check that her lungs sound OK.

If they weren't OK, would you hear kind of like a crackle or a wheeze?

Yeah, they'd be a bit crackly.

-And how are her lungs?

-They sound good.

-Well done!

Lots of noises from eating.

Just going to feel her tummy and see if that's painful

by pressing on it.

She seems pretty happy.

What would it mean if you pressed on her tummy

-and it was sore?

-Just that she had a bit of a painful belly, really.

-Something that might stop her wanting to eat.

-OK. So,

she doesn't have any tummy ache, what else do you need to check for?

I'm just going to check her body condition,

because, Teagan, you're worried

that she's small and not eating too much.

So we're just checking to see if I can feel her spine and her ribs,

to see if she's underweight or if it's just that she is a small pig.

And everything feels good, so I think she's all right.

Great, so she's smaller than the others but she's still healthy.

-Yeah, appears to be.

-Well done, Blackie!

Blackie has had her checkup and she's doing great,

-so what do you need to do next?

-It's time to have a look

at the rest of the piglets and make sure they're OK

-and they haven't got any things like conjunctivitis.

-Perfect.

Conjunctivitis is an eye infection that makes

eyes itchy, puffy and a bit sore and red.

Sometimes, the eye will feel sticky, too.

It can be treated with medicine, often drops or cream,

to help clear up the eyes quickly.

It's important that it's treated by a vet

because it can spread to other animals easily.

Time for the rest of the piggies' checkups.

Who are you going to start with?

-This one.

-How about his little one here?

That little one looks good.

Just like with Blackie, vet Nick is checking each of the other

piglets from snout to tail.

And it's a great opportunity for an extra tummy scratch.

So, how can you tell if a pig has conjunctivitis?

So, you need to look in their eyes and see if they've got any red

along the edge of their eyelid.

And sometimes, they have a discharge as well, some gunk,

-like eye gunk.

-OK.

Let's have a listen to this one.

Vet Nick is now checking the pigs using his stethoscope.

-Do you want to come down here and have a listen, Teagan?

-OK.

HEART THUMPS

-What does it sound like, Teagan?

-All like...

-Dum, dum, dum...

-Yeah?

-Is it fast?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? A good, strong heartbeat.

It's important to check that each pig has a healthy heart and lungs.

How does that one's heart and lung sound?

They sound good as well. They are excited about their food.

And finally, vet Nick checks the piglets' body condition.

They all seem to be very good.

Feeling along their back...

Not too much squish.

They're a good...a good weight.

We're almost done,

but it's not easy trying to examine lots of greedy piglets.

-Oh, no.

-Oh, no.

Well done, pig.

While we give this piglet some well-deserved tummy rubs,

let's see who else vet Nick has been checking up on today.

It's not just the piglets being examined by vet Nick today.

His next patient is a lot bigger.

This is Sally, she's the piglets' mum,

and we're going to give her a quick check over.

Nick examines Sally and checks her body condition.

Then he listens to her heart and lungs.

And Sally is a healthy pig.

Vet Nick also gives eight-month-old Sybil a general checkup.

All the pigs are healthy and free to go back to their mud baths.

There you go, piggies.

Teagan, I have had a wonderful time meeting you

and all your gorgeous pigs.

Do you think it would be all right

if I came back soon to see how you're all getting on?

-Yeah, that would be really nice.

-Thank you.

I wonder what Rory's been up to.

CAR HONKS

This farm in the Scottish Borders is home to lots of adorable alpacas,

and I've come to meet with Stuart, who looks after them.

-Hi, Stuart.

-Hi, Rory, how are you?

-Good.

And look at all these beautiful guys!

How many alpacas have you got here, on the farm?

We've got 26 adults and four cria.

-And cria are the babies, of course, right?

-Yes.

Alpacas are originally from South America,

and they're usually bred for their amazing coats.

It comes in lots of different colours, it's incredibly soft

and also is great for people with allergies,

so it's good in clothing as well.

So, why do you keep these alpacas,

apart from the fact they're very cute?

We keep them for their fleece. They get sheared once a year.

And we also do alpaca trekking with them.

-That sounds like amazing fun.

-That's great fun.

-Now,

I'm noticing there's a couple of different coats that these

alpacas have, so you've got this one here,

which is slightly longer.

Both of these guys, actually. And it's a bit more curly.

-This is a suri alpaca, right?

-That's correct.

And these guys with the softer, looks a bit like a teddy bear...

Hello, I know.

And that's a huacaya alpaca. So two different kinds of coats.

Well, these guys are looking great, but I understand one of your

alpacas has been having a wee bit of trouble.

Yes, Ringo has got a little bit of a skin problem,

so we've asked Pete, our vet, to come out and have a check,

and just make sure he's OK, so Pete is waiting with Ringo

in the stable as we speak.

-Great, I'll pop over there now.

-OK, no problem.

-Cheers. See you later, Stuart.

-Bye.

-Hey, Pete.

-Hi, Rory. So this is Ringo,

and we're looking at him today

because he's got a problem with a mite infestation.

You can see he has lost the hair over his ears there.

-So quite a bit of the hair has come off there, hasn't it?

-Yeah,

so this is caused by a little mite living on the surface of the skin,

and it causes damage just the hair follicles and the hair comes out.

Mites are tiny bugs, no bigger than the pointy head of a pin,

and they're in the same family as spiders and ticks.

They can bite alpacas in the skin and also lay eggs under it as well,

and it can cause a lot of itchiness and problems.

So how are we going to treat that, Pete?

So we're going to get him a course of injections. It's important

we treat the rest of the alpacas in the herd as well,

so they don't keep spreading mites back and forth to each other.

Hopefully, with these injections, we can get it cleared up.

So, how do we get him ready for these injections?

-If you could hold on to his lead rope there.

-Yeah, sure.

And then, I'm going to put it under the skin, behind his leg.

So this injection will help get rid of the mites on Ringo's body

and help him to get better. This won't hurt at all,

just a scrape, like us getting an injection?

Exactly. He'll feel the needle going through the skin,

but it won't sting at all.

Good boy, it's OK.

That's fine, that's all done there.

What a good boy, he did so well!

OK, we can let him back to his friends in the field.

Oh, that's great. Ringo, you've been so good,

you've definitely earned a wee treat. Here's a carrot.

What a good boy!

Pete, thank you so much for introducing me to Ringo.

Not long ago, I met Teagan and her gorgeous piglets who got

a very special visit from the farm vet.

Today, I'm back to see how they're all doing

and to hopefully get some piggy cuddles too.

Hiya, Teagan, hi, Helen.

-BOTH:

-Hi, Ferne.

-What are you doing?

We're collecting acorns for the pigs. Do you want to help me, Ferne?

-Yes, please.

-Let's go.

-Over here.

-Here's some.

Oh, look at this super one.

So, how any acorns do we need to collect for these piglets?

A lot, to feed all of them, cos they eat lots and lots and lots.

They're really hungry.

-Shall we take these to the piglets?

-Yes, I think we've got enough.

-Hi, pigs!

-Here are your acorns, piggies!

They love them, don't they?

-They eat loads.

-They definitely do.

How have they been doing, Teagan?

They've been doing really well.

Blackie's been getting a bit fatter and eating more.

-I think that Nick will be happy to hear that, won't he?

-Yeah,

-he will.

-Well done, Blackie.

Hello, pig!

Teagan, thank you so much for having me, I've really enjoyed it.

I hope you've had fun too,

finding out all about these gorgeous piglets.

See you next time for more Ferne And Rory's Vet Tales.

-BOTH:

-Bye!

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story

# Of some poorly pets

# We will take them Show you how to make them

# Better at the vet's

# Vet tales

# These are our vet tales

# Vet tales

# Ferne And Rory's Vet Tales! #