Pumpkin Seeds

[SLD Farm]

I have read that pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer. Does anyone use them for that purpose? How are they fed? Fresh, dried, whole, crushed?
Thanks for any input!

[jordan]

They are. I love this time of year because I hit up all the farm markets the day after halloween and buy hundreds of their leftover pumpkins to feed out to my goats through the course of the winter. Yes, they even eat them frozen, they just have to work harder at it! It costs me about $15 to fill the truck, and needless to say, I go back about 4 times! The pumpkins here that were frozen solid to the ground under ice and snow, seeded out and we've had alot of pumpkins already!
Lois

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have heard of them as a natural wormer for rabbits but haven't heard the same for goats until now. Mine just like them so I give what I have leftover, same with big zuchini's, etc. But I still worm as needed with my regular wormers.

[Joel12mi]

You just throw the whole pimpkin in there for them to eat?

Do you split them open?

[betsy h.]

Some break them open at first so the goats get the idea and when they do whole pupmpkins can be used-

Saving the seeds to season and roast in the oven for humans is good too!

[Feathers-N-Fur]

My goats won't eat pumpkins. So they all go to the pigs, who love them.

[jesse300]

There is a huge pumpkin patch down the road form and we get tons of pumpkins for cheap. We stack the good ones in the hay barn and toss the ones with cracks and soft spots out for the goats.

Once there field gets eaten down we will start tossing them out for them. I try to get them to crack in a few spots but they will drag the chunks around and eat most of it with in a few hours.

But yes pumpkin seeds can be used as a wormer. They need to be dried and ground from everything I have read. My goats seem to be able to break them down form raw, but don’t know if they need to be dried for them to get there worming capabilities.

[Briza]

The active principle is contained in the seed coat and is damaged by heating.
Raw Whole Seeds are the most effective.
B~

[jesse300]

That’s good to know Briza.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I don't know about the worming factor for ducks but my ducks are on there 2nd Huge pumpkin. I bust them open & they will eat it eventually till everything is gone. I know this isn't the poultry forum but just in case any of you have ducks.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

What worms are you trying to get rid of? Fecal, use the seeds then see if the number decreases. My goats love pumpkins also, I gather up all my families pumpkins for them, but I don't waste the seeds on them, we roast them for ourselves. What works or may not work for single stomached animals, us, our dogs our rabbits (and how exactly do your caged rabbits get worms? but in our ruminants it rarely works. Vicki

[SLD Farm]

I am not trying to get rid of any specific worms, just gathering info. "Knowledge is Power" and I like to know about alternative methods of animal management. I have no intentions of doing away with my current worming meds but if I can feed pumpkins cheaply and my animals benefit from it with a decreased worm load the better.
Thanks for all your help and advice everyone!

[Cannon_Farms]

Pumpkins are high in fiber that equals fat, and vitamines and minerals, so even if they held no deworming properties they are still good to feed.
I have never conducted a study on this, or know the chemical breakdown of the pumpkins, however I wonder if it came to be said by the fact pumpkins are a cool weather crop and worm loads naturally decrease in some enviroments when it gets cold enough.

[DQ]

Originally Posted by Cannon_Farms

pumpkins are a cool weather crop

pumpkins love warm weather and will be stunted below 50*, but they do become available near the end of the growing season when it is cooling because they are a long season sort of crop. so your theory makes alot of sense to me. It would be fun to experiment.