pig lice

Anyone have any experience with pig lice? I just bought 2 feeder pigs for the first time and when I got them home I noticed that they had some type of bug on their skin. Did a little research and concluded that they were pig lice. I was thinking maybe diatomaceous earth but I couldn't find anything on anyone using it for that.

I'll get back with you on that. The guy I buy my pork from was complaining about that a month or two ago. He brought in some 'outside' hogs for diversity in breeding and had to keep them quarantined until he could get rid of the parasites. I can't remember what he used. I think it was some sort of chemical because he doesn't normally use those things and didn't want the main herd exposed to it.

I haven't tried diatom earth on pigs but I used it on a range of other animals to get rid of lice. It worked well on chickens, quail, pet rats and cats (although that wasn't lice on the cats, but worked anyway). Can't see why it wouldn't work on pigs. If you have some just give it a try, it won't do any harm to the pigs unlike some chemical....

Sigh, a subject close to my heart. We now have 8 pastured pigs (having reduced from 18) and we are in a constant battle with pig lice. We have tried everything organic but nothing worked and the pigs were seriously infected and getting very miserable so sadly we have had to resort to a sponge-on chemical. We burn all the bedding after we sponge them and move them onto new pasture straight away. I think because we have wild boar circling our girls all the time, they must drop off the lice into the next lovely bit of pasture - grrr. I would LOVE to break this cycle.