# white spots on liver



## JHinCA (Sep 20, 2003)

Hi,

A guy who bought GOS cross feeder pigs (@ 8 weeks of age) from us butchered one the other day, phoned us and said he found that there were white spots on the liver, round-ish, up to the size of a dime, a little less white in the center than around the edges. He also said the pigs he got from us were not doing as well as other pigs. The one he slaughtered was only about 70# live weight at 14 weeks old. He thinks our pigs have worms.

I talked to the woman who bought the other 4 pigs out of that same litter and she says that hers weigh about 150# now. She has noticed no signs of worms, but will check more carefully now that I have alerted her. 

Possibilities are:
The pig with the white spotted liver and his slow growing litter mates had a problem when they left our place that their healthy litter mates did not have.
The pigs developed their problem at the buyers place.
The pigs all have the same issue, but the way the healthy pigs are managed prevents it from being a problem. 
The not-so-good pigs are less aggressive than the other pigs they are with and aren't getting their share of the feed. 

Healthy pigs are in a large pen with a shelter, fed mostly pre-consumer produce from a salad bar, other waste vegetables and fruits and whey from goat cheese. They also get some organic pelleted feed. The owner has little experience with pigs. 

No-so-good pigs are on pasture with I don't know how many more feeder pigs and also getting organic pelleted feed and some waste vegetables. Don't know what kind of shelter they have. From what I know, the farmer is very careful about rotation and has a lot of pig experience.

We currently have a five week old litter that seems to be thriving. Have not done fecal checks, but have seen no obvious sign of worms in our adult pigs.
Our pigs are on pasture, not rotated often, but have a lot of space. They get cow's whey and skim milk and a lot of apple pulp from a local cider mill as well as some organic pellets.

We are in central coast CA, have had some rain so the grass is green, have had low temps in the high 20s/low 30s, but more recently lows in the low 40s.

Any ideas? We want our buyers to be happy with the pigs they get from us and want to prevent this happening again. Guy with problem pigs has bought a fair number of pigs from us over the years and is usually satisfied.

Thanks in advance.

Jean


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

> He thinks our pigs have worms. ... Any ideas? We want our buyers to be happy with the pigs they get from us and want to prevent this happening again. Guy with problem pigs has bought a fair number of pigs from us over the years and is usually satisfied.


It is his responsibility to worm the pigs. It is really that simple. Commercial wormer, grazing management and natural herbal worming are all management techniques but he needs to be doing it.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I believe this is caused by a parisite. I worked in a locker plant when I was young. Around 1 out of 15 would have these spots. I've also seen a couple since then. I don't recall any general unthriftyness in the pigs that had them.


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

In rabbits, white spots on liver can be a sign of coccidiosis, I believe.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Jcran said:


> In rabbits, white spots on liver can be a sign of coccidiosis, I believe.


I don't think pigs get cocci, do they?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

highlands said:


> It is his responsibility to worm the pigs. It is really that simple. Commercial wormer, grazing management and natural herbal worming are all management techniques but he needs to be doing it.


When I sell my weaner pigs they are all wormed before they leave my property. I take the attitude that I am asking good money for them and the purchaser should have healthy, clean pigs from the outset. 



tinknal said:


> I don't think pigs get cocci, do they?


Yes, pigs can get coccidiosis and this article gives some information on it:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/21205.htm&word=coccidiosis

It doesn't describe the liver once the pig is killed and I wouldn't like to say if this was the problem or not but could possibly account for the unthriftiness in the pigs concerned.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Even if you deworm them they can still get wormy again at his place. This is why good management (e.g., rotational grazing) and observation are important. If the buyer observed them not thriving he should have evaluated and likely wormed based on the facts.

A keen eye is important. Pigs aren't quite plug and play. 

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
Save 30% off Pastured Pork with free processing: http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project: http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop


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## JHinCA (Sep 20, 2003)

Thanks for the responses. I found a link to a photo of the liver of a pig with ascarides and the guy with the unthrifty pigs says it looks like what he saw.

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/merial/Ascarids/images/Asc16bF.gif

Jean


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