Question about dewormers

[Southern by choice]

No, but the best way to see if the dewormer you are using is working is to start with a fecal and get an EPG count
After your full course then recheck- you want 95% reduction or better.

Without doing EPG counts you really don't know.

If a sheep or goat is extremely infected and anemic as well, care needs to be taken as sudden dispelling can cause other issues.

 

[Baymule]

If you have no corral, build one from cow panels and T-posts, it will go up quick and is fairly cheap to build. I cut cow panels in half and make quick swing gates. I use hog rings to put them together. You can build a treatment chute pretty easy with cow panels. Place the first ones fairly wide apart, then narrow down to single file. A pallet at the end makes a good stop gate, drive a T-post in one end so you can swing it open or shut.

We recently took lambs to slaughter and slapped up an cow panel loading chute and my husband backed the trailer up to it.

 

[Sasmith]

Yeah those things are amazingly handy to have around. One thing I found out the hard way is if you use bolt cutters to cut them make sure you file off any sharp edges or they can cut you pretty bad.

 

[Sasmith]

This weekend I was able to worm all the sheep but one and get them on a fresh pasture. Hopefully now I'll be able to rotate them every 5-6 day onto pasture that hasn't had anything (domestic) on it for years. My question is would y'all recommend redosing them or do you think rotating them frequently will be enough of a preventative?

 

[Latestarter]

If you wormed them and immediately moved them, then they are going to shed the worms/eggs into the pasture you moved them into. Might have been better to leave them where they were (already contaminated) for a few days, then move them to clean pasture. Different types of wormers have different requirements. Some require multiple dosings others don't. Sometimes you use one type then follow up with the same or a different dewormer several days to a week later (depends on which one you're using 1st and 2nd). It's best if you follow the directions or the recommendations of a knowledgeable vet in your local area who knows what works and what doesn't.

You might also consider having fecals run a week or so after the dosing to see what is left and if/how the initial dose worked. Ideally you're looking for a 90-95% parasite kill.

 

[farmerjan]

@Latestarter is right. You don't worm and then immediately move. In fact, it is best to worm them either while in the pasture they have been in, or move them to a dirt lot like a smaller pen of sorts, and let the wormer do it's thing thru their system. We leave whatever we have wormed; cows/sheep/calves etc. for 48-72 hours minimum in the catch pen/barn lot after worming so the expelled worms and eggs and larvae or whatever is in their gut tract is expelled. I usually figure 3 days, but 2 is minimum. It depends on the wormer also. Once the eggs etc are shed in the dirt lot, the lots are cleaned and spread on a hay field where there will be no animal contact for 6 months, if ever. Often it gets piled and sorta composted until we can get to manure spreading and that is usually after a frost in the fall. Then the nutrients gradually feed the ground through the winter.
Over the years we have culled to try to keep animals that are more resistant to worm infestations, and we use DE in all our feed and mineral and have found that the fecal counts are VERY low. To me that is better than worming because they don't get a chance to go up and down the cycle; cheap insurance I think.

 

[Sasmith]

If you don't have a drylot available and they're left on a contaminated pasture for a couple days after worming wouldn't they just injest more parasites? In any case I had to move them when I wormed them because it was the only day I had help. Unfortunately I also didn't have time to get a stool sample from any of them before worming but I got one today. Anybody have an idea what an acceptable count for barber pole worms would be? I'd say our sheep are pretty resistant we've never lost an adult (to worms at least, children leaving doors and gates open killed a couple) but we lost 2 out 6 or 7 lambs. Not great statistics

 

[Latestarter]

Leaving them in place when worming, their systems are full of the poison, so anything they ingest while still there should be killed as well. What they expel should be (mostly) dead, so no issue re-ingesting that. Then after all the nasties are out of their system (2-3 days) you move them to clean pasture.

Lamb deaths are most likely not due to worms as they are too young to have time to develop a killing load. Normally if you lose a lamb it's coccidia (cocci) which requires a different process to eliminate. Cocci is not a worm.

 

[farmerjan]

Since the wormer will be in their system for a few days, the chance of them ingesting any new parasites is low and they would more than likely be expelled or killed through the action of the wormer. Also, the larvae will cling to the blades of grass. If the pasture is not over grazed, they will normally eat the "tops" of the plants and not be as likely to ingest many larvae. Otherwise, being grazed down to nothing or a dirt lot is better. Letting them graze short pastures of 2-6 inches is where you get into the most trouble.

I fully understand the " this is the only day I had help" thing. You do the best you can. Don't beat yourself up over it. Also, a trick to worming is if it is possible, dry lot them a couple of days ahead, HAY ONLY, then worm. The hay diet seems to help them to expel the worms a little better; maybe because of the bulk?? We have just found we get better results that way. Might be a figament of my imagination!!! HaHa. I don't know of what is considered an acceptable count for barber pole worms. They are a real b$#@% to keep under control it the weather is even a bit wet like ours was this past spring/early summer. We do the FAMACHA thing, with pale eyelids/gums etc. Plus our lambs will get alot of manure around their butts when they are wormy.

 

[farmerjan]

Have to disagree with @Latestarter about the lambs and not having a killing load of worms. That is the number one cause of death in lambs in this area due to the lambs starting to graze some at a very young age and the barber pole worm problem here. Have seen lambs as young as 3 months so full of worms that it would make you sick. Took a couple years ago to the state lab and after going through the whole spiel of age, pasture conditions, feed, you name it; they said it was doubtful it was worms. When they opened the lamb up the worms were so bad they couldn't believe it. And we had wormed the ewes at about 2 months fresh so the lambs would get some benefit through the milk.
Our White Texas Dall lambs are grazing alot at 2-3 months, we usually wean the ram lambs by 4-5 months because they can be sexually active. So yes, worm loads can be very severe at young ages.