A UK-wide questionnaire - available here - is being circulated by the Moredun Institute to gauge the behaviour of the livestock sector when buying and dispensing anthelmintic products.

Over 200 responses have been counted so far but the team behind the survey are keen to learn more from the pig farmers.

This is according to Moredun’s Professor Jacqui Matthews who says that, while worms are probably less of a concern for indoor pigs, a great deal can be learnt from the 40 per cent of the UK’s outdoor herds.

“It would be great to get more interest from pig farmers,” Professor Matthews told ThePigSite, who described the issue of pigs and worms as a “black box”.

“There’s not much research in the field of worms and pigs in the UK. We know what the worm species are and what the worms can do, but we don’t know how many pig farms are monitoring their worm situation.

“Currently there is a lack of knowledge on the current status of roundworm infections in outdoor pigs, the levels of worms in pigs managed under different systems and the sensitivity of these worms to the dewormers available.”

“We want to gauge whether pig farmers know whether or not the wormers are working and how wormers are being used.

“We want to know if farms are using wormers every six weeks and selecting for resistance that way or what kind of other approaches they are taking.”

Moredun plans to close the survey on 31 August, with a final report expected to be published in the autumn. Results from sheep, cattle and horse owners will also be analysed.

Wormer survey

Take part in the the survey by clicking here.