A sow that won't let her piglets nurse 12-48 hours after farrowing ("walang gatas") is almost always MMA: mastitis, metritis, agalactia. Fever above 39.5°C, hot lumpy udder, foul vulval discharge, piglets crying nonstop. Untreated, the litter loses 40-70% in the first week. With prompt oxytocin, ceftiofur, and an NSAID, milk is usually back inside 24-48 hours.
Spotting MMA Before You Lose The Litter
In the first 12-48 hours post-farrow, watch for:
- Sow lies on her belly (sternal), hiding the udder, instead of on her side.
- One or more glands hot, hard, red, painful.
- Piglets squeal nonstop, look thin, fight for teats.
- Foul brown or yellow vulval discharge (lochia is normal 3-5 days but should be odourless).
- Off feed, fever 39.5-41°C.
A digital thermometer (₱150) decides this. Normal sow temp is 38.7-39.8°C. Take it rectally morning and night for the first 5 days post-farrow. Catching the spike early is the difference between a 24-hour fix and a dead litter.
The Four-Step Protocol
1. Oxytocin to force letdown
5-20 IU IM, every 2-3 hours, up to 4-5 doses. PH agrivets stock 10 IU/mL bottles at ₱150-250 / 50 mL. For a 180-200 kg sow, 2 mL IM behind the ear is the working dose. Onset under 5 minutes. Hold a hungry piglet to the teat after the shot. Cap at 4-5 doses.
Oxytocin opens the tap, it does not treat infection. If she is febrile, pus from a hot gland comes out with the milk. Strip that gland manually, discard, let piglets nurse on the rest.
2. Antibiotic for mastitis and metritis
Three options, ranked by PH availability:
- Ceftiofur (Excenel RTU, Zoetis), 3-5 mg/kg IM × 3 days. Best drug. ₱2,800-3,800 / 100 mL, mostly Manila, Cebu, Davao.
- Vetrimoxin LA (Ceva), 15 mg/kg IM, repeat at 48 hours. ₱900-1,400 / 100 mL. Most provincial agrivets stock it.
- Robipenstrep, 1 mL per 10 kg IM daily × 5 days. ₱350-600 / 100 mL. Backyard staple, works in most mild-moderate cases.
See how to inject pigs for IM technique. Withdrawal runs 4 days (ceftiofur) to 30 days (penicillin + streptomycin). Note it on the pen card.
3. NSAID for fever and inflammation
A febrile sow lies on her belly to hide the painful udder. Pull the fever, she rolls over, piglets eat.
- Meloxicam 0.4 mg/kg IM. ₱250-600 / 50 mL. Lasts 24 hours.
- Flunixin 2.2 mg/kg IM. ₱600-1,200 / 50 mL. Reserve for severe cases.
Aspirin in feed (10 mg/kg twice daily) is the ₱30 fallback.
4. Save the piglets in parallel
Do not wait 24 hours to see if treatment works. Start supplemental feeding if milk is not down by hour 6-8.
PH backyard recipe: 1 L cow's milk + 1 raw egg yolk + 1 tbsp glucose + 5 mL cod-liver oil. Warm to 38°C. Syringe-feed every 2 hours, around 40-50 mL per newborn piglet. The first 16-24 hours matter most for colostrum. See savaging guide and why piglets die in the first week.
Evaporated milk 1:1 with warm water plus egg yolk and glucose is a workable backstop. OptiLac is gold-standard but rare outside Manila and Cebu.
The PH MMA Kit
| Item | Use | Approx. PHP |
|---|---|---|
| Oxytocin 50 mL (10 IU/mL) | Milk letdown | 150-250 |
| Vetrimoxin LA 100 mL | Antibiotic | 900-1,400 |
| Robipenstrep 100 mL | Antibiotic (budget) | 350-600 |
| Meloxicam injectable 50 mL | Fever, pain | 250-600 |
| Digital thermometer | Daily checks first 5 days | 150 |
| Cow milk + egg + glucose + cod-liver oil | Hand-rear formula | 200-300 |
| Heat lamp or warm box | Piglet warmth (30-32°C) | 400-1,000 |
Under ₱3,000 with Robipenstrep + meloxicam; under ₱5,500 with Vetrimoxin + meloxicam. See pig vitamins and supplements for what to keep in the kit year-round.
MMA Or Savaging? Don't Mix Them Up
Both look like "the sow won't feed the piglets" but the fix is opposite.
| Sign | MMA | Savaging |
|---|---|---|
| Behaviour | Lies on belly, refuses to roll over | Bites, lunges, growls at piglets |
| Bite wounds on piglets | None (just thin and crying) | Yes, head, neck, legs |
| Fever | Often 39.5-41°C | Usually normal |
| Udder | Hot, hard, painful | Normal |
| Discharge | Foul vulval discharge | Normal lochia |
| Fix | Oxytocin, antibiotic, NSAID | Separate piglets, sedate sow |
Hot udder + fever = MMA. Cold normal udder + lunging = savaging. See the savaging guide. Reaching for Stresnil on an MMA sow wastes the drug and the piglets' hours.
Why It Happened
- Constipation in week 16. Add 10-15% rice bran and 50-100 g mineral oil daily. See feed economics.
- Long farrowing (over 5-6h) or assisted dystocia. Dirty hands raise metritis risk. See difficult farrowing.
- Dirty pen. Manure on the udder seeds the glands.
- Fat sow (BCS over 3.5). Harder farrowing, worse letdown.
- Heat stress. 35°C pens suppress prolactin. Wet sacks, fans, shade.
- Mouldy corn. Same zearalenone story. See swollen vulva and prolapse.
Clean dry pen, twice-daily rectal temps for 5 days, and a vial of oxytocin on the shelf prevents most second-litter cases.
Bisaya / Cebuano
Para sa mga mag-uuma
Kung wala mogatas ang anay pagkahuman manganak, naa hilanat sobra sa 39.5°C, init ug gahi ang suso, ug naghilak nga walay hunong ang biik, MMA na kana. Sakit kana sa suso ug matres dungan. Dili paghulat og 24 ka oras.
Una, hatagi og oxytocin 2 mL IM (kada 2-3 oras, hangtod 4-5 ka beses). Sunod, antibiotic: kung Vetrimoxin LA, 15 mg matag kilo IM, balika human sa 48 oras; o Robipenstrep, 1 mL kada 10 ka kilo kada adlaw sulod sa lima ka adlaw. Idugang og meloxicam 0.4 mg matag kilo IM para mawala ang hilanat.
Kung pagkahuman sa unang oxytocin, wala gihapoy gatas, sugod-i dayon ang manual feed: 1 litro nga gatas sa baka, 1 itlog nga pula, 1 kutsara nga asukar, 5 mL nga cod-liver oil. Initi sa 38°C, ipainom kada 2 ka oras.
Ayaw kalibog: kung walay hilanat ug ang anay mismo motuklaw sa biik, dili kana MMA, savaging na kana, lain ang tambal.
