The Berkshire's virtues — fast growth, generous marbling, a calm appetite — become its liabilities in old age. A senior Berkshire will happily eat himself into a weight his knees, hocks, and heart cannot support, while arthritis quietly shrinks his world to the distance between bed and feeder. Care changes toward measurement: of feed, of movement, and of how willingly he still gets up to live his day.
Ration by the scoop, not by habit
Weigh or scoop his feed rather than pouring by eye, and review the amount against his body shape monthly: you should be able to feel his ribs under a smooth covering, not excavate for them. Spread part of the ration in clean straw so he works and roots for it, which stretches both the meal and his legs. Cut back gradually if he is heavy, and keep treats as rare events; sudden dieting stresses a pig, but so does another season of gain. Fresh water within an easy walk matters more as joints stiffen, because a pig who drinks less eats and digests worse.
Bedding is joint medicine
Give him deep, dry straw he can burrow into, on ground that does not turn to skating mud at the doorway. Raise the dry lying area if his pen floods, and watch the route he walks: a pig who starts avoiding a step or a slope is mapping his pain for you. Hooves overgrow quickly once activity falls, so trim little and often, and check the skin where leg meets body for pressure sores on a pig who spends long hours lying on one side.
Tusks, skin, and sun
Boar tusks keep growing and can curl toward the face, so check them at every handling and have them trimmed by the vet or an experienced stockperson before they press skin. A Berkshire's dark back tolerates sun better than a pink pig's, but ears, snout, and any pale patches can still burn, and wallows double as sunscreen as well as cooling. Keep the wallow clean and shaded, and look over his skin for thickened patches, persistent scratching, or wounds from pen mates that heal slowly on an older animal.
Watch the getting-up, not just the eating
Appetite is the last thing a Berkshire surrenders, so judge him by movement: rising smoothly, walking to water without stopping, and choosing to root around his pen. Reluctance to stand, panting or open-mouth breathing at rest, a hot swollen joint, or sudden aggression from a normally placid pig are all reasons to call a veterinarian promptly. Pain in pigs hides behind appetite, and by the time a senior Berkshire refuses food the problem is rarely new.
A lifetime on one page
Pet pigs and smallholder breeding pigs alike accumulate scattered notes — weights, farrowing or service records, hoof dates. Enrichment keeps a senior Berkshire honest about movement: rotate rooting boxes, scatter a portion of his ration in fresh straw in different corners, and site his water so the day naturally contains several short walks. A pig who designs his own exercise this way holds muscle and interest far better than one fed, watered, and left in a single spot.
KinsLe Pet Passport gathers his records into one packet, so the vet seeing him in old age can read the whole story of the pig.