Fig. 292.
Fig. 293.
CONTROL OF PIGS.
No difficulty is usually experienced in controlling young pigs, either when standing or cast, only one or two assistants being required, but aged animals are more difficult and more dangerous to deal with, and by their tusks sometimes inflict severe wounds.
In the standing position they can be partially fixed by passing a running loop behind the canine teeth of the upper jaw, but should the examination to be carried out prove to be of a difficult character it is best to cast the animal.
A strong assistant grasps one of the hind limbs by means of a running loop, fixed, for example, above the right hock. He rapidly slides his left knee towards the front of the left side of the chest, passes his left hand over the withers, and by the combined use of his knees and arms throws the animal on its left side, controlling as far as possible the struggles of the right front and hind limbs, which he grasps with his hands.
The animal is then further secured by rapidly passing a thin rope in figures of eight around the front and hind limbs. If necessary all four legs may be brought together and fastened by a rope passed round the region of the pastern; a muzzle can afterwards be applied to prevent biting.