Worming lambs and moms

[Southdown]

They get their share of apples around here (all you can eat buffet). I feed them apples throughout the Winter as well and they really think it's a special "treat." They have learned to recognize the word "apples." If I say it in the Winter, they all come running and wait expectantly. It goes from quiet to noisy very fast and all from one little word. They are allowed to clean up our orchard and we've never had anyone get ill from eating too many apples.

 

[Royd Wood]

I'm going to feed my sheep some summer squash this year now! They do like the Winter squash and I feed that to them in the Winter. Some of the sheep like it more than others. Our ram and his suffolk friend especially like Blue Hubbards. Our ram also has a particular flavor for our Honeygold apples. We have an orchard and he will intentionally go eat those apples. It's kind of cute. The summer squash seed idea...it reminds me of how you can feed chickens diatomecous earth and that's supposed to be a natural wormer too. I haven't tried it yet because my chickens are quite young.

best dewormer in the world is a cup full of apple seeds-- course you'll kill the animal from the arsenic found within... but atleast it's an organic dewormer.

 

[bonbean01]

Our sheep love crabapple branches with the leaves and apples. We don't give them tons, just a little a day for a treat...when they see us at that tree they come running and wait...too cute. But, we don't give them a cup full of seeds...now seriously, you know no one would do that. Before pooh poohing natural worming methods, look up the research...it is now (at least for hair sheep) recognized as valid and effective with no parasite resistance.

Southdown, I sent you an email for the information you asked for

Oh...and I might add...this year we fenced in the peach trees too...they are very young, but with the sheep keeping the bottoms grazed and bottom off shoots down, the trees are doing so much better...go figure!

 

[Southdown]

Our sheep love crabapple branches with the leaves and apples. We don't give them tons, just a little a day for a treat...when they see us at that tree they come running and wait...too cute. But, we don't give them a cup full of seeds...now seriously, you know no one would do that. Before pooh poohing natural worming methods, look up the research...it is now (at least for hair sheep) recognized as valid and effective with no parasite resistance.

Southdown, I sent you an email for the information you asked for

Oh...and I might add...this year we fenced in the peach trees too...they are very young, but with the sheep keeping the bottoms grazed and bottom off shoots down, the trees are doing so much better...go figure!

That's how we got into sheep in the first place. We needed our orchard mowed while we were at work all day. Although you can't have dwarf trees, it works great. I could go on about it. You can take some hay with manure from your barn floor and use it to mulch around the base of your fruit trees. It's working great on our young "Sweet Sixteen" apple tree. Of course they keep the root suckers away and also the lower branches, which aren't good for fruit production anyway (too much fungus, not enough sunlight, etc). As for crabapples, our Suffolk liked the crabapple a lot. Thank God that one is a standard.

 

[bonbean01]

We've had no problem with sheep in with our young orchard...see it as a win-win One of our ewes was trying to reach higher up on a tree and was standing on her back legs and doing a little jump...hilarious...then she gives up, but her lamb went and did the exact same thing

 

[kfacres]

Don't know anything about this site; but from what I have read-- they are exactly correct-- as I remember it from my days as a Forestry major at the university.

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/apples.asp

 

[bonbean01]

Yes, I've been aware of this, however the key here is moderation I believe. As a kid I liked to crack open apricot or peach pits for the almond tasting nut inside and my Mom had fits and poison was the reason for that, so didn't do that anymore.

The tapioca is something I'd not heard of before. Thanks for the post.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Been out of the loop for a few days on this thread - sorry! I had NO idea that sheep would eat squash so I have certainly learned something there. We are actually attempting to grow pumpkins & squash this year for the pigs (don't care for it much ourselves) so I guess the pigs will have to be nice & share with the sheep!

As bonbean01 said

the key here is moderation

We wouldn't think of overdosing ourselves on a medication just because we thought we had something, or at least I hope we wouldn't. The same should be the same with our critters and if we can breed hardiness into our animals I think we should.

Liz

 

[Southdown]

Just read this article:
The Risks of Global Worming

For decades, the overuse of antibiotics has encouraged the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria, which, though they have never broken out and caused an epidemic in the way that was once feared, have nevertheless been responsible for many deaths that might otherwise have been avoided. Now something similar seems to be happening in agriculture. The overuse of drugs against parasitic worms, which infest stock animals means that these, too, are becoming drug-resistant. That is bad for the animals' health and welfare, and equally bad for farmers' profits.

This, at least, is the conclusion drawn by Ray Kaplan, Ph.D., a parasitologist at the University of Georgia who has just published a review of research on the problem. His results, which appear in Veterinary Parasitology, make grim reading.

Sheep and goats are the worst affected. Studies in Australia, Brazil and the United States suggest that animals in half or more of farms in many parts of these countries are infested with drug-resistant worms. In some cases, the parasites are resistant to every drug that can be thrown at them.

Cattle, too, are afflicted. Kaplan cites work done in Argentina, Brazil and New Zealand. And horses suffer as well, with resistant worms turning up in both America and Europe.

The root of the problem is what Kaplan refers to as "global worming"--giving drugs prophylactically to all livestock rather than reserving them for use as a treatment when an animal actually becomes infested. It is common sense, of course, to try to prevent infestation rather than merely treating it once it has arisen. Unfortunately, such promiscuous use of drugs is the best way to put selection pressure on the worms and encourage the evolution of resistant strains.

What is needed, says Kaplan, is more selective drug use and better management. Worms are not evenly distributed. Instead, a minority of animals play host to most of them. Aiming treatment at those animals would reduce the likelihood of resistance emerging without harming a farmer's ability to control infestations. Better husbandry might help, too. Not grazing so many animals on a given patch of land would discourage transmission.

No one farmer is to blame. This is a tragedy of the commons, in which sensible individual decisions have led to a collective difficulty. But it might behove farmers to think more about how they use anti-worm drugs. If they do not, they may find that those drugs have become useless.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Thanks Southdown,

This article makes total sense. It is what is happening in humans too - WAY too much overuse of antibiotics hence the Superbugs. AND if you are eating commercially raised meat from the grocery store then you are most likely feeding yourself antibiotics & goodness know what else! Not a very pleasant thought. If the consumer really woke up to what is going on there would be a lot more folks moving to the country raising their own meat.


Liz