What Do YOU Use To Treat For Worms?

[kuntrygirl]

What meds do you use to treat your sheep for worms? How many days do you use the meds? How often do you treat for worms? Do the meds that you use kill ALL worms?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Southern by choice]

You first must know what kind of internal parasite your sheep have.

There are different de-wormers for different parasites.

Having a fecal check by a vet is the best wayto know what kind they have.
There are also oocysts, cocci can be very dangerous, they are not worms and de-wormers have no effect on them.

Systematic de-worming is not good for sheep or goats, it builds a resistance to de-wormers and can ultimately cause the de-wormers to no longer work. There are certain regions that some de-wormers are completely ineffective in. Why- overuse, and systematic (scheduled) de-wormings.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have had sheep about 8 years and I have never had to treat for worms. I don't like using medications. My FAMACHA training talked about treating for worms and overusing when not necessary. That training confirmed my practices over the years of not giving them anything. I was curious to see what others do for worming.

 

[bubba1358]

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Knowing the parasite life cycle of typically ~30 days, I use movable electric fencing, and make sure the sheep never graze in an area more than 2 weeks, then never return to that area for more than 30 days after. This way, the worms cannot re-infect, and will eventually simply die out. There is no re-ingestion of larvae using this method, so while they very well may catch a worm here and there, the effect is minimal and they don't build up.

I also feed diatomaceous earth periodically to keep 'em clean in there, just in case. Usually 2-3 consecutive days every week or two.

 

[Southern by choice]

Remember though the FAMACHA method is ONLY for the barberpole... not for any other parasite. Also FAMACHA should never be the only method used. Many are unaware that a dehydrated goat can have bright red inner lids. It is better as a quick check and monitoring method. Also their are times a goat may be anemic from another issue and pale lids will result.

Fecal samples tell us a great deal about what is going on.

We do all our own fecals , we did straight slides now we use the MCMasters method for the most accurate EPG count.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Remember though the FAMACHA method is ONLY for the barberpole... not for any other parasite. Also FAMACHA should never be the only method used. Many are unaware that a dehydrated goat can have bright red inner lids. It is better as a quick check and monitoring method. Also their are times a goat may be anemic from another issue and pale lids will result.

Fecal samples tell us a great deal about what is going on.

We do all our own fecals , we did straight slides now we use the MCMasters method for the most accurate EPG count.

Are goat and sheep treated the same for parasites? My question is geared toward sheep not goats.

They showed us how to do our own fecals in our FAMACHA certification but I will take a sample of my sheep's fecal to the vet for peace of mind.

 

[BrownSheep]

We treat on a case by case basis. If their have trouble maintaing or gaining or have pale eyelids. Our adult ewes usually wormed every three years or so. None of our lambs, except 4-h / FFA, are wormed. I do have some runty bottle babies with a little bit of a potbellied look that will be wormed though.

 

[Southern by choice]

Remember though the FAMACHA method is ONLY for the barberpole... not for any other parasite. Also FAMACHA should never be the only method used. Many are unaware that a dehydrated goat can have bright red inner lids. It is better as a quick check and monitoring method. Also their are times a goat may be anemic from another issue and pale lids will result.

Fecal samples tell us a great deal about what is going on.

We do all our own fecals , we did straight slides now we use the MCMasters method for the most accurate EPG count.

Are goat and sheep treated the same for parasites? My question is geared toward sheep not goats.

They showed us how to do our own fecals in our FAMACHA certification but I will take a sample of my sheep's fecal to the vet for peace of mind.

Sheep and goats share the same parasites. So the info applies to both.

Of course there are many factors when it comes to parasites. Parasite resistance is moderately heritable. Having good stock to begin with is important. 20% of goats and sheep are responsible for 80% of the parasites in a herd/flock. Culling animals that are parasite problems in the herd/flock is best. Flock/herd management is also a key factor. Environmental factors also play a role. Some breeds do well in some areas of the country but very poorly in others.

When using a McMasters EPG (eggs per gram count) method there are vets that will disagree as to what number of eggs found warrants de-worming. I know one vet that believes 400 ( that would be 16 eggs found x 25= 450) and you should de-worm. He is a great vet BUT the only vet in all the vets I have ever worked with or any researcher I have ever heard speak on the topic, that thinks this. Most vets want to see well over a total of 1000 adjusted EPG. And even then, they will often coordinate that with a FAMACHA score.

Being careful also to not rush but monitor is good too.

We recently ran all of our goats and our 2 sheep... my partner has an 18 month old Kiko that has lived off the land and never been de-wormed. Every time we have run a fecal nothing to a few.... a few months back (at peak time, after a horrible wet winter) he had 38 eggs. Using the McMasters Method the eggs are counted and multiplied. so 38 x 25= 950 ...... he had never had that many eggs found BUT his FAMACHA score was still an A-1 .... We decided to hold off, according to every vet but the one, it really didn't warrant the use of a de-wormer. We ran another fecal 2 months later... same goat ... 5 eggs= 125 EPG.
We had another goat after kidding had 19eggs = 475 but she had a C-3 FAMACHA score.... These are the highest counts ever. All our other goats and our sheep were 0 or so few 1-2 it was insignificant. Our sheep are in with our goats and eat everything to the ground yet they had 1 egg each.

For those that can I think learning to do your own fecals to monitor your flocks health is very valuable. It tells you so much about what is going on in your flock as well as bringing in new animals, monitoring during their quarrantine and doing the necessary protocol will help reduce the incidence of creating "superworms".

Often when a fecal is sent in noone bothers to look for cocci. Cocci can be very serious, it is harder to see and uses a stronger magnification. We don't use any medicated feed, our sheep came from a farm that had a cocci problem and the animals were all on medicated feed. After quarantine we monitored closely. No cocci. We are always prepared to add in a med feed if we ever need to but why do it if it isn't necessary.

Hope this all made sense.