pigs with round worms...how does it affect everything else??

[2stormeyseas]

I'm sorry, but this may get a little long winded...I don't want to forget anything.

We have had 3 pigs since July (were 25lbs each). 2 gilts (Bridgette & Gretchen) and a barrow (Bacon). They are mostly Berkshire and siblings. Bacon is intended to sell for meat the girls to breed. They are penned outside in a 30x45 hog panel pen with a shelter and moved every 2-3 weeks. Anyway, they were moved Saturday and Sunday I noticed a worm emerging from Bridgette. Called my sister (a vet) to identify and went to TSC for dewormer (safeguard). Safeguard says there is no meat withdrawal time. They have grown a little slow, but we attributed that to getting TONS of veggies in the fall and not eating as much grain/protein. All 3 were treated.

Now for the questions...

1. In mid-October they were put in the garden for about 5 days to clean it up. I assume they had worms then and we did not know at the time. Can I still safely use this space as garden, or am I asking for everyone to get worms if I do? Are there some veggies that would be safe and others to plant elsewhere, or should the entire garden be moved?

2. Wednesday they escaped from their pen. I believe they read the thread recently...someone asked if they should get pigs...everyone commented on good fencing. 1st escape we've had and dd18 has been doing 4H pigs for 2 years. Anyway, 2 were bribed back to the pen fairly easily with a bowl of raw eggs, but Bridgette knew what was going on...she wanted to check out the barn...so I locked her in one of the 2 8x8 pens in there. I needed her contained so I could go get the kids from school. She stayed there until today (Friday) when I had assistance during daylight hours. These pens in the barn are where we put the ewes/does during lambing/kidding (to start in mid-January). I assume the pen Bridgette was in is now contaminated with worm eggs. What is the best way to De-contaminate it? Floor is concrete and pen sides are 2x6 and hog panels.can I just scoop out the mess and clean with bleach water, or will that not kill the worms? Also, the scooped out mess should not go on the regular compost pile...right?

3. Their pen is in the woods...lots of nuts for them to eat, leaves to play in and dirt to dig. We freeze pretty hard here in MI and the area gets sunlight during winter, filtered sunlight during summer. I was going to try to grow pumpkins and beans here in the spring (for the animals). Will that be OK or will they get worms again? How long till it is safe to put pigs back in this area? What about other animals? Do I need to worry about the chickens that free range during the day?

4. I plan to move them in 2 weeks, and again 2 weeks after that. Do I need to retreat them in 30 days or so? I didn't see anything about that on the bag-I need to read it again. And move them again before spring? The ground will be frozen soon making it hard to pound posts in.

5. Today I saw a worm emerging from Bacon. When the dewormer kills the worms, is it normal to see them? Does it only kill the adults? Or does it kill the eggs too?

At this point I don't know what else to ask...what else did I miss?

[suzorse]

you may need to use something better than safeguard, you can give Ivermect injectable
as there is 1 for pigs and give it orally
Suzanne

[milkmaid]

www.merckmanuals.com/vet/digestive_system/gastrointestinal_parasites_of_pigs/ascaris_sp_in_pigs.html

I'd say ask your sister.... that said though they're zoonotic, visceral larval migrans occurs when parasite eggs are ingested in egg form. I don't see any reason they'd be *in* vegetables. I would thoroughly wash the outside of all veggies however.

Should be ok if chickens eat them. I don't know of any evidence that they infect other animal species.

It is normal to see worms emerge following deworming. Check to see if they're dead however.

[haecklers]

I've read you can get roundworms from eating raw produce where pigs were kept within a year. The worms hatch from the eggs and spend a week-month as some sort of larvae before they are infective, and you catch them from eating the soil they're in.

Once in the pigs, they migrate through their body, so the ones you can make leave the pig with the Safeguard are only the adults, but there are more at different life stages that will still emerge into their intestines in the following days/weeks.

[jerseylovinliz]

Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth, that Safeguard stuff (the pellets) isn't worth the packaging it came in IMHO. I've never used it & seen any sort of difference at all (& I do before/after fecal where they check numbers).

Life cycle is about 21 days so even though you wormed the eggs are still hatching, larvae maturing, worms laying more eggs, etc. In a case where you see live worms you really need to be intentional about treating them once & a follow up at 19-21 days.

[2stormeyseas]

I chose safeguard because Bacon is about 180 lbs now and as soon as he gets up to ~235 he is going to the processor. Safeguard has no withdrawal time. I will keep searching the net for more info.

milkmaid some things I'd rather not ask my sister...she is the vet who asked if you need a rooster to get eggs... Sometimes not the brightest crayon in the box. She is also a small animal vet who is very into all the high tech treatments(cancer)...I called her only for basic ID. It's also hard to trust a vet with no animals of her own and she used to be very stringent about eating organic, but now with kids...their packed lunches are often "lunchables". A lot more goes into it, but I don't always trust her opinion.