7 Deworming Pigs For Beginners Old Farmers Swear By

You’ve done everything right. Your pigs have clean water, good feed, and a space to root around, but one of them just seems… off. Maybe its growth has stalled, or its coat looks a little rough. Often, the culprit is an invisible freeloader: internal parasites. Managing worms is one of those fundamental tasks that separates a struggling pig owner from a successful one.

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Why Regular Deworming is Crucial for Pig Health

Internal parasites are silent thieves. They live in the gut, lungs, or liver, stealing nutrients directly from the food your pig eats. This means your feed dollars are nourishing worms instead of growing your animal.

A pig with a heavy worm load will grow slower, have a weaker immune system, and be more susceptible to other illnesses. You might see a pot-belly, a rough coat, or diarrhea, but sometimes the signs are subtle until the problem is severe. It’s a constant drag on their system, preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Think of a deworming strategy not as a cure, but as essential maintenance. Just like changing the oil in a tractor, it prevents bigger, more expensive problems down the road. A proactive approach keeps your pigs healthy, your feed costs down, and ensures the meat you eventually harvest is from a thriving animal.

Administering Medicated Feed with Fenbendazole

Using a medicated feed is one of the most straightforward ways to deworm. You simply buy a feed that has a dewormer, like fenbendazole, already mixed in. You’ll typically replace their regular ration with the medicated version for a period of three to twelve days, depending on the product instructions.

The beauty of this method is its simplicity. There’s no need to handle or restrain the pigs, which can be a real challenge. You just pour it in the feeder. The critical part is making sure every pig gets a full dose. In a group setting, a boss hog might eat more than its share, leaving less for a more timid pig. Watch them at feeding time to ensure everyone is eating.

The main tradeoff is the withdrawal period. After the last dose of medicated feed, you must wait a specific amount of time before the animal can be processed for meat. This is non-negotiable and is listed right on the feed bag. You have to plan your deworming schedule carefully around your processing date.

Using Pumpkin Seeds as a Natural Vermifuge

For those leaning towards a more natural approach, raw pumpkin seeds are a classic tool. They contain an amino acid called cucurbitacin, which is thought to paralyze worms in the digestive tract. The pig can then pass the stunned parasites naturally.

This isn’t a "one and done" treatment. You would typically grind up raw seeds—shells and all—and mix them into the pigs’ daily feed. It’s best viewed as a preventative measure or a gentle nudge for a very light parasite load, rather than a powerful cure for a serious infestation.

Let’s be realistic: pumpkin seeds alone are unlikely to solve a significant worm problem. Their effectiveness is best when combined with other smart management practices, especially pasture rotation. Think of it as one part of a holistic health system, not a magic bullet.

Pasture Rotation to Break the Parasite Life Cycle

This isn’t a treatment; it’s the single best prevention strategy you can implement. Most internal parasites have a life cycle that depends on the pig ingesting eggs shed in the manure of another infected pig. When pigs are kept on the same piece of ground indefinitely, that soil becomes saturated with parasite eggs, guaranteeing reinfection.

By rotating your pigs through different paddocks, you move them off the contaminated ground. The old pasture gets a chance to "rest." Sunlight, weather, and time work together to kill off a large percentage of the parasite eggs and larvae in the soil. By the time the pigs return to that paddock weeks or months later, the parasite load is drastically reduced.

Of course, this requires more space and fencing than a simple permanent pen. It’s an investment in infrastructure and management time. But the payoff is immense: healthier animals, far less reliance on chemical dewormers, and even improved soil fertility from the pigs’ tilling and manuring. This is the foundation of a truly sustainable pig-raising system.

Injectable Ivermectin for Broad-Spectrum Control

When you need a reliable, powerful, and broad-spectrum solution, injectable ivermectin is a common choice. Its major advantage is that it treats both internal worms (like roundworms and lungworms) and external pests (like mange mites and lice) in a single dose. This two-for-one action is incredibly efficient.

Administering an injection requires catching and restraining the pig, which can be a rodeo if you’re not prepared. You’ll need to calculate the dose precisely based on the pig’s weight—too little won’t work, and too much can be harmful. The injection is typically given in the muscle of the neck, just behind the ear.

Injectables are a serious tool, not a casual treatment. They come with a significant meat withdrawal period that must be strictly followed. Many small farmers reserve this method for new animals arriving on the farm to clear them of any existing parasites, or for tackling a confirmed, severe infestation that isn’t responding to other methods.

Adding Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth to Rations

You’ll hear a lot of talk about Diatomaceous Earth, or DE. It’s a fine powder made from the fossilized remains of tiny aquatic organisms. The theory is that on a microscopic level, the particles are sharp and abrasive, physically damaging the bodies of internal parasites, causing them to dehydrate and die.

If you choose to use it, you must use food-grade DE, never the kind sold for swimming pools, which is chemically treated and toxic if ingested. It’s easy to administer; you just mix a small amount (typically 1-2% of the total ration by weight) into their daily feed. It’s inexpensive and readily available.

The scientific proof for DE’s effectiveness as a dewormer is thin, and many vets are skeptical. However, generations of farmers swear by it as a daily preventative. It’s best to view it as a low-cost, low-risk supplement that might help keep parasite loads down, but it should never be your only line of defense against a known worm problem.

Incorporating Crushed Garlic Into the Daily Diet

Garlic is another staple in the natural farmer’s toolkit. It contains sulfur compounds, particularly allicin, which is released when the clove is crushed. These compounds are believed to make the pig’s digestive system an unpleasant place for parasites to live.

For this to be effective, you need to feed fresh, crushed garlic regularly. The potent compounds degrade quickly, so adding it to the feed right after you crush it is best. Like other natural methods, this is a long-term supportive strategy, not a quick fix.

Garlic is great for boosting overall immune health, but don’t expect it to wipe out a heavy infestation of roundworms. It’s a piece of the puzzle, not the whole solution. Use it alongside clean living conditions and a good rotation plan to help your pigs’ bodies naturally resist parasites.

Fecal Testing: Deworming Only When Necessary

This is arguably the most important strategy of all. Instead of guessing or deworming on a rigid schedule, you can find out exactly what’s going on inside your pigs. A fecal test is simple, relatively cheap, and gives you invaluable information.

You just need to collect a fresh manure sample and take it to your veterinarian. They will perform a "fecal float" to identify the type and number of parasite eggs present. This tells you two things:

• If you need to deworm.
• What you are fighting.

Armed with this knowledge, you can choose the most effective dewormer for the specific parasites your pigs have. This data-driven approach saves you money on unnecessary treatments and, more importantly, helps prevent the development of dewormer-resistant parasites on your farm. Treating only when you have a confirmed problem is the smartest, most sustainable strategy for the long term.

Ultimately, there is no single "best" way to deworm pigs. The most resilient approach combines preventative management like pasture rotation with targeted, informed treatments. By observing your animals closely and using tools like fecal testing, you can move from simply reacting to problems to proactively managing the health of your herd.