Deworming pigs

[NH Homesteader]

Okay.... The current debate/question in my household. My husband's pig raiser friends all deworm their pigs before butchering. He's always been told you "have to" do this. I don't particularly see why I would need to add chemicals to my meat when my pigs look perfectly healthy and are gaining weight well.

I lean towards what this guy says:
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/10/03/to-deworm-or-not/

What do you do?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I dewormed my mama pigs when they were pregnant...and I used one of those 'natural' wormers. Have no idea if it worked, lol. I had been going to try it on some goats who would have nothing to do with it - and the pigs ate it ...

Actually have no idea if the natural wormers work on the goats either. I just had such a horrible spring last year fighting parasites that I thought I'd use some of the natural wormers in between chemical ones and then test fecals. Turns out I only tried it once - goats wouldn't eat it so pigs got it. I still have a bunch of that 'natural' stuff sitting in my goat cabinet....

However, I kept the runt gilt from the last litter and she just wasn't growing well - so I gave her some ivomec paste a couple days ago. I don't plan on eating her, so I wasn't too worried about it. Never wormed the boar we had butchered.

 

[Beekissed]

Okay.... The current debate/question in my household. My husband's pig raiser friends all deworm their pigs before butchering. He's always been told you "have to" do this. I don't particularly see why I would need to add chemicals to my meat when my pigs look perfectly healthy and are gaining weight well.

I lean towards what this guy says:
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/10/03/to-deworm-or-not/

What do you do?

My grandma never wormed hers, but she would provide them with charred wood to chew on and also would slop them with her dishwater...she used lye soap for dishes. Said it always kept the pigs healthier. I don't think she knew that the soap acts as a surfactant, dissolving the protective layer of oils on a worm's skin, allowing the gastric juices to then kill them.

I've used the same two things for preventative measures for sheep, though I didn't use lye soap, used Basic H instead.

You could also feed ginger root, which will kill both round and flat worms. Said to even kill liver and lung flukes.

 

[tortoise]

Adding a note of caution that we don't know appropriate withdrawal times for natural/organic treatments, but the emerging evidence suggests withdrawal is a concern. DH (a veterinarian) went to a conference on medicine within the certified organic parameters and I've been picking his brain since. I think it was maybe oregano oil that the withdrawal time was recently studied? I don't recall exactly. I dunno, I don't like unknowns!!

Overuse of dewormer is a big concern for increasing resistance. In agriculture, the goal is never that animals be free of parasites, but that the parasite load doesn't affect wellbeing and performance. Over here, we run a fecal if an animal looks unwell and if the fecal count is high, then the individual animal is treated. We have also done individual annual fecal for each animal to determine heavy shedders. In ideal herd management, heavy shedders should be culled. Somehow MY GOATS THAT HE DOESN'T LIKE are always the heavy shedders. Huh, maybe I should run those fecal counts myself.

 

[Beekissed]

http://littlepigfarm.com/natural-worming-for-pigs/

 

[NH Homesteader]

I bought a microscope this winter to learn to do fecals on the goats but the idea of doing it with a big old hunk of pig poo makes me a bit queasy...

 

[baymule]

My pigs had lice. I was horrified because I want my animals to be healthy and happy. A itchy pig is not happy. I researched it and used apple flavored horse ivermectin. I make bread pillows by folding the bread with the ivermectin inside. I smushed the bread edges together to seal it and tossed one to each pig. I repeated 2 weeks later-no lice. I split one tube between 3 pigs. Of course, it also wormed them. This was months ago and they have been healthy, gained weight and I saw no reason to give them more. We are slaughtering pig #3 tomorrow.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yay slaughtering! Lol, we are doing ours one of these days... Ugh. Sick of pigs. They're being moved to one more little section DH wants cleared and then (supposedly) they're freezer bound.

We've never had lice with pigs, but glad you found something non-invasive to treat them with (I cannot imagine giving pigs shots).

 

[baymule]

Not slaughtering now, it's raining. Maybe later today if it blows through.

 

[lcertuche]