Author Topic: worming and genreal well being (Read 2459 times)

gavin davies · « **on:** February 20, 2013, 09:26:13 am »

hi everyone now that the pigs are settling in well and the land is finally solid for them to walk on not like a bog anymore after a few nice days of warm weather i would really like to know how often they should be wormed and also is there any other medical things i need to do not sure when they were wormed last as i tried to contact the person i had them off and he has gone away for 2 weeks any information will be a great help as i dont want them to get sick or anything thanks

JMB · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:51:28 am »

Hi. They'll be someone more experienced along no doubt. But I think you worm maybe every 6 months? However last time we did an egg count (bought from smallholder supplies) and we didn't need to treat them.
I was advised to do a faecal egg count every 6 months.
Ours are also on land formally occupied by sheep so they get an annual jag of Lambivac.
I know some people vaccinate against erysipelas but again, we only have 3 pigs and I was told this wasn't necessary.
When we did worm we gave them fasimec duo, which we had in for our sheep, but is ok for pigs. We use this because we also can get fluke here and pigs, although less susceptible, can get it
Hope this helps
J xxx

Hassle · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:54:20 am »

worming is every 6 months by injection decotomax type or you can get a food additive which has a different course of treatment not sure on it's worth; others i'm sure will advise. If you have not given injections you need help! I would recommend the vet you named when you applied for your herd number with animal help. Let him show you you can then continue in the future. If he goes to put the needle into the pigs bum .... get a new vet!
As to vaccinations you vet again will advise you on what protection you require different parts of the UK more or less also if you decide to show in the future mention that.

Tala Orchard · « **Reply #3 on:** February 20, 2013, 11:03:22 am »

I would strongly recommend vaccinating against erysipelas for 1 pig or 50 it does not matter. The bacteria that causes erysipelas is found around the tonsils of pigs however it is the build up in the soil that produces the infection normally eating the soil through their normal rooting, the bacteria will remain in the soil for some time some state 6 months however i have seen a report thtr it is over a year.

This can be fatal in your pigs as we found out to our cost, we had 3 GOS sows for which we use IVF well we had 5 lovely piglets from our sow Blossom one girls and 4 boys when they were 12 weeks old they all contracted erysipelas, the sow and her litter they all went of their food stopped eating for a few days we had separated the sow and the girl from the boys at this time but they all contracted the disease we lost the sow and one boy immediately. the other 4 seemed to recover however the gilt was left with acute arthritis and was in continual pain and had to be destroyed, one of the boys hung on but died a few weeks later. The two that survived were both nice looking boys and after 3 months were perfect in every way although they were sterile for about a month they soon got stuck in and one impregnated a gilt OSB and the other did the same to one of the original GOS sows.

But the trauma and heartbreak of losing our first sow and her young will remain engraved on our hearts so please vaccinate against erysipelas.

Tala

kja · « **Reply #4 on:** February 20, 2013, 11:09:35 am »

gavin are these pigs for the freezer ?

gavin davies · « **Reply #5 on:** February 20, 2013, 12:41:23 pm »

hi no these are pets not for the freezer

Tamsaddle · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2013, 12:53:05 pm »

Three of our 4-month old Tamworths got erisypelas, and all three of them had had the normal double injection starter course as 6 and 10 week old weaners. The outbreak arrived out of the blue - one day all were fine, the next day one of the boars could hardly move, wouldn't eat, had lumps and lesions on his skin and a very high temperature. The vet confirmed at once it was erisypelas, despite having been vaccinated. Fortunately I was able to collect and inject penicillin within 2 hours, and although he remained very unwell for the rest of the day, within 24 hours he was almost back to normal. The other two started to get high temperatures and the diamond shaped lesions too, so they were given penicillin as well and recovered completely within 2 days. I would definitely vaccinate against erisypelas, even though it did not work for us in this case (our first failure in 5 years). If you can get penicillin in really quickly they make a full recovery, but it is a horrible disease, either fatal within a matter of hours, for example overnight, or long term pain and arthritis. And definitely get an injectable wormer, as they control far more organisms than the oral versions - Tamsaddle

Mrs Snoodles · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2013, 01:10:05 pm »

If they are pets then wormer and then erysipelas. There is no rush, wait a couple of weeks and see what your seller says. let them settle. They are on fresh land which is healthy and the erysipelas threat is really a late Spring, Summer issue.

I do inject mine, but I have come across many people who don't medicate at all.

hughesy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2013, 02:22:59 pm »

We don't vaccinate as ours is a closed herd and there are no other pigs nearby. Also our land had not had any livestock on it for a number of years. We do worm regularly though. Piglets are done at weaning, adult pigs every 6 months by injection.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #9 on:** February 20, 2013, 07:15:39 pm »

We have pigs in concrete runs and run a virtually closed herd. Incoming boars are isolated for three weeks and wormed the day after they arrive and have a pour-on in case of lice, but otherwise we don't medicate at all. We may have to change this later in the year as we're thinking of offering GOS boar hire for visiting sows. Fortunately we already have an approved isolation facility.