Smellick
Chillin' with the herd
Do I treat all goats every quarter for worms? If you have a schedule for treating goats for worms and what treatment you use, please share it.
Goats and Worms
- Thread starter Smellick
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Baymule
Herd Master
Not a goatie, I have sheep. Different schedule. I can be corrected on this, but friends that have goats give a copper bolus twice a year.
Best thing is run fecal samples. If you don’t know how, then take them to a vet. Get nitrile gloves and a marker. If you can restrain the goat, put on glove and insert 2 fingers in anus and get a half dozen poop pellets. Turn glove inside out, write goat’s name on glove. Put glove in zip lock bag.
If you are grossed out by that, carry gloves in your pocket. When goat poops, pick up 6 of the cleanest pellets, no dirt or contaminations.
Put in refrigerator if you can’t immediately go to vet, but not more than a couple of days.
The vet can tell you if your goats are wormy and what to worm them with.
Best thing is run fecal samples. If you don’t know how, then take them to a vet. Get nitrile gloves and a marker. If you can restrain the goat, put on glove and insert 2 fingers in anus and get a half dozen poop pellets. Turn glove inside out, write goat’s name on glove. Put glove in zip lock bag.
If you are grossed out by that, carry gloves in your pocket. When goat poops, pick up 6 of the cleanest pellets, no dirt or contaminations.
Put in refrigerator if you can’t immediately go to vet, but not more than a couple of days.
The vet can tell you if your goats are wormy and what to worm them with.
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Correct, as above.
I do not work on a "schedule"....rather, as needed & per goat. But I have pastures & browse for them to use, move around and that rotation helps. If ever I feel I want "everyone" dewormed, the BEST time is a few cold days in winter. The freeze/frost will kill anything in their poop as expelled to ground....larva that may have been in grass is dead from cold. Next best, if no cold, 3 days before you move to new pasture and leave them there a month if possible.
Barring a fecal count -- next best is famancha color, and condition, especially of their coat. Brittle, rough, curling, fading -- worms &/or copper low. The copper does help in keeping worms from wanting to stay.
Most goats will have a few and can tolerate a few. Just saying, a "ritual" schedule creates tolerance to drug & worms won't die. And, if a goat is pretty heavy laden, two different types together or 2 days apart helps.
Ivermectin, valbazen.....work for me.
Also, I have dairy & meat goats. Since I do milk, those on the milk line have a different protocol .😁
I do not work on a "schedule"....rather, as needed & per goat. But I have pastures & browse for them to use, move around and that rotation helps. If ever I feel I want "everyone" dewormed, the BEST time is a few cold days in winter. The freeze/frost will kill anything in their poop as expelled to ground....larva that may have been in grass is dead from cold. Next best, if no cold, 3 days before you move to new pasture and leave them there a month if possible.
Barring a fecal count -- next best is famancha color, and condition, especially of their coat. Brittle, rough, curling, fading -- worms &/or copper low. The copper does help in keeping worms from wanting to stay.
Most goats will have a few and can tolerate a few. Just saying, a "ritual" schedule creates tolerance to drug & worms won't die. And, if a goat is pretty heavy laden, two different types together or 2 days apart helps.
Ivermectin, valbazen.....work for me.
Also, I have dairy & meat goats. Since I do milk, those on the milk line have a different protocol .😁
- Thread starter
- #4
Smellick
Chillin' with the herd
Thank you!
rachels.haven
Herd Master
Famacha check too for barber pole. Also watch body conditon and always watch for scours.
Less is more for goats and worms. The higher percentage of goats in your herd healthy that you can leave untreated, the larger percentage of worms in goats and on pasture unexposed to the wormers, the less wormer resistance you should have to deal with.
No scheduled worming.
Less is more for goats and worms. The higher percentage of goats in your herd healthy that you can leave untreated, the larger percentage of worms in goats and on pasture unexposed to the wormers, the less wormer resistance you should have to deal with.
No scheduled worming.
- Thread starter
- #6
Smellick
Chillin' with the herd
Thank you! Culling worm prone goats and keeping the healthiest ones.
Baymule
Herd Master
That’s how we do it! Bear in mind, in times of stress, worm counts spike. This includes birthing and weaning. So just watch them closely, some will over come it and the worm count goes down, some will not and they get run down. They need worming.
Tapeworms are gross. They come out in segments in the poop. Safeguard or Panacur, same thing, is the treatment for tapeworms. I don’t know if it’s safe for pregnant females. Anybody?
Youngsters usually are the ones affected. Some say treat, some say don’t treat, but I treat for it. The youngsters usually outgrow it and build up resistance, so don’t rush them to auction unless they are older and get tapeworms every year. Give 3 or 4 pumps of Nutridrench after giving the wormer. Panacur tastes nasty, the Nutridrench serves two purposes, it is vitamins and molasses and gives them a boost and it tastes good. Takes that nasty Panacur taste out of their mouth. ❤️ I can get a big bottle of Panacur from the vet cheaper than a little bottle at the feed store.
- Thread starter
- #8
Smellick
Chillin' with the herd
- Thread starter
- #9
Smellick
Chillin' with the herd
Very helpfu! Thank you!
rachels.haven
Herd Master
Panacur/safeguard is safe for pregnant does and kids (feel free to fact check me, my Internet is spotty right now)
Finding ways to strictly keep poo and feet out of feeders, hay and water will also get you far. It's worming before the worms can start!
Also learning those key "stressful times" will help as well.
I've been able to mostly not worm around kidding by giving red cell the week before and after labor. If they don't perk up on their own or they really need it then I can worm key ones hard. I also expect worms (especially bankrupt worms) and sometimes the protist coccidia on and off where I live during hot seasons from kids while they are growing the fastest. Once they mature it becomes rare, although during the worst hottest and wettest weather any of them can break out because that weather is hard on everyone-you included.
I've learned I have to be patient with the young. Growing is very stressful and immune compromising, especially growing fast. And it seems to be a lottery which kids suffer first. I've only sold one adult for having light eyelids...and she may well have had something wrong with her or had weird pigment in her eyelids because she didn't act wormy. She was an aspiring spicy boss with an attitude problem. (You could also sell off all the kids and adults you've had to worm outside of kidding season, but after moving my herd down south that it seems like it is sometimes everyone in years like last year where summer went on forever, although in reality id probably have a few lucky kids left and most adults I brought down and those are the ones you'd keep if you wanted to breed for residence-and do this for breeding bucks especially)
Sounds weird but having a herd larger than say 10 just for example will also help you fight wormed resistance. If you have to worm one you still have say, 9 pooping non resistant/and still susceptible worms than if you had 2 or 3 goats and you wormed a third of them. (And in that context, commercial producers of goat and sheep products have hundreds which I do not recommend especially at first...) Most just starters have only a few goats, don't know the tricks to keeping poop for the most part out of hay, grain, and water, and will worm everyone at once over and over or on a schedule, and THEN they struggle
Finding ways to strictly keep poo and feet out of feeders, hay and water will also get you far. It's worming before the worms can start!
Also learning those key "stressful times" will help as well.
I've been able to mostly not worm around kidding by giving red cell the week before and after labor. If they don't perk up on their own or they really need it then I can worm key ones hard. I also expect worms (especially bankrupt worms) and sometimes the protist coccidia on and off where I live during hot seasons from kids while they are growing the fastest. Once they mature it becomes rare, although during the worst hottest and wettest weather any of them can break out because that weather is hard on everyone-you included.
I've learned I have to be patient with the young. Growing is very stressful and immune compromising, especially growing fast. And it seems to be a lottery which kids suffer first. I've only sold one adult for having light eyelids...and she may well have had something wrong with her or had weird pigment in her eyelids because she didn't act wormy. She was an aspiring spicy boss with an attitude problem. (You could also sell off all the kids and adults you've had to worm outside of kidding season, but after moving my herd down south that it seems like it is sometimes everyone in years like last year where summer went on forever, although in reality id probably have a few lucky kids left and most adults I brought down and those are the ones you'd keep if you wanted to breed for residence-and do this for breeding bucks especially)
Sounds weird but having a herd larger than say 10 just for example will also help you fight wormed resistance. If you have to worm one you still have say, 9 pooping non resistant/and still susceptible worms than if you had 2 or 3 goats and you wormed a third of them. (And in that context, commercial producers of goat and sheep products have hundreds which I do not recommend especially at first...) Most just starters have only a few goats, don't know the tricks to keeping poop for the most part out of hay, grain, and water, and will worm everyone at once over and over or on a schedule, and THEN they struggle
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