Natural Remedies

[bonbean01]

A drench with gelatin...happened to have the non flavoured one, but any jello flavoured powder would have been okay...helped firm things up. I happened to have the non flavoured plain gelatin on hand since I used to cook my own glue for binding handmade books.

Worked like a charm! Bet Strawberry gelatin would have been a hit with her

And kstaven...yes...this can become a heated debate...your point is well taken.

 

[kstaven]

And kstaven...yes...this can become a heated debate...your point is well taken.

Part of the reason I continue to moderate these forums is because I hate to see the sharing of information that could possibly aid a person be stifled because a person doesn't agree. It is pretty rare on BYH these days. But early in the history of BYH it was getting out of control and did a lot of damage.

 

[greybeard]

Honestly I see the "home remedies" as they are referred to more of a management practice. In other words using more of a natural approach to husbandry, and preventing illnesses. I am definitely NOT OPPOSED to any kind of "modern day medicine". I do think the availability, although I am glad we have it, of all these different drugs allow people to somewhat be lazy and not practice the best husbandry. It's as if though too many people are resorting to "well, I'll just give 'em this".

I completely agree with you Grazer on seeking veterinary care. Unfortunately there are less and less "farm vets". One of the best vets for goats/sheep/llamas charges $200/hr and $75 farm call fee. There are a few around that are great and charge far less, but always swamped. This is heavy agriculture in our area. Dairy, both goats and cows, hogs, and cattle. We have an adequate amount of vets here but there are so many places that don't. So this to me is why people share what has worked for them.

The whole BoSe issue is a problem... most people do not know that by giving it when an animal really doesn't need it it will have the same symptoms of an animal needing it.

Personally, I would never keep or breed any animal that needs constant interference with drugs wormers etc.

Nor do I or would I. Those will be culled and sent to salebarn instead of sold as breeding stock, but in the case of internal parasite problems, this is almost always a case of management practices being not up to modern standards regarding pasture and structure maintenance coupled with lack of a good understanding of parasite life cycles. Parasites are in the soil of every farm in the world--even hobby farms and backyard farms. Even here on mine and they will be in all our animals if we don't take care of them. In the old days of our grandparents and before, it was accepted that animals would always have parasites, but with today's science and education, there's no reason to have to accept that it is part of farm animal life, even on a hobby farm. When was the last time you actually heard of a human catching trichinosis? It's rare anymore but used to be very common as people ate pork from infected animals. A cow herd infected with grubs to the point you could see the larvae by the dozens on their backs just under the skin? I have, but not in many many years since modern warber(heel) fly control has been initiated, and that control doesn't include popping the larvae out with a glass coke bottle like I've seen posted in some places. Parasites affect breedback rates, weight gain, birth weights, mobility, ease of birthing, and overall feed costs, rumen effeciency and nutrition loss. I saw my grandfather in the 50s and early 60s on more than one occasion feed a plug of Brown Mule chewing tobacco to each of his milk cows--said it prevented and killed worms. It didn't, but someone had told him it did, so that's the route he took. Probably, his father had told him that. Don't try it. Doesn't kill pin worms in human toddlers either. Actually, they "can" kill worms in animals, but there is a very fine line between the tobacco dose that kills the worms and the dose that kills both worms and animal.

Nothin wrong with home treatment as long as it's sound treatment. But like everything else on the internet, it must be taken with a grain of salt and often, what worked for one person didn't really work at all--the natural or vaccine supplied antibodies in the animal did the real work. It's why a lot of times these suggestions that seemingly worked for one person had poor results for someone else. Keep an open mind when writing or reading these type things. If you have a cure/remedy that worked, try to find out WHY and HOW it worked before posting it. The results of that research just might surprise ya. Good luck.

 

[kstaven]

http://www.goatbiology.com/parasites.html

 

[Cricket]

Pig Wormer: mix 2 tablespoons of Diatamaceous earth in the pigs feed once a day. It takes almost 1000 pounds to get a pig from weaning to butcher weight so a 20 pound bag per pig from weaning to butcher. Once a month, for a 7 day period, add 2 tablespoons minced garlic and rosemary. http://littlepigfarm.com/natural-worming-for-pigs/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2005/10/14/worms-au-natural/ This is a discussion on natural worming. Note that DE should be food grade--the kind used for pools/filter is superheated. Mentioned that if you already have a heavy worm load or a new pig, you may want to chemically worm @ 21 day interval.

Pumpkin Seeds. The hull of the seed contains a chemical that paralyzes the roundworm. You should also have some kind of flush following feeding the seed. (Maybe like pumpkin?) Have seen some recommendations that you should grind seeds. Also the seeds need to be raw.

 

[elevan]

Moved this thread to the all new Natural and Organic Husbandry forum.

 

[Beekissed]

It's wonderful to see this thread here! Finally! I love sharing and learning about all natural livestock management and have great faith in these basic, time honored approaches to raising animals.

And, yes...as a nurse I used home remedies for my children before ever contemplating going to a doctor. Most common and simple ailments can be treated with good diet, rest and a few home remedies.

 

[OneFineAcre]

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[OneFineAcre]

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[goatboy1973]

It's wonderful to see this thread here! Finally! I love sharing and learning about all natural livestock management and have great faith in these basic, time honored approaches to raising animals.

And, yes...as a nurse I used home remedies for my children before ever contemplating going to a doctor. Most common and simple ailments can be treated with good diet, rest and a few home remedies.

I am a nurse also and always have leaned toward the natural remedies in conjunction with the conventional or modern medications. For instance, I give my Spanish goats Copasure copper particle blouses every 6 months to help combat internal parasites and have pastures with Lespediza (high in tannins which are natural dewormers), but I also use Cydectin pour-on as an oral drench to deworm my goats once or twice a year as needed. I use a high protein diet, quiet calm comfy stalls in the barn, and as a last resort, antibiotics for colds and respiratory stuff for my goats. A good diet, adequate draft free shelter, and a continual supply of fresh clean water at all times can prevent a multitude of illnesses.