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Herbal dewormer

936 Views 22 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  K.B., 
K.B.
So I finally ordered an herbal dewormer and it turns out my goats absolutely hate it. I don't know what to do to make them eat it any suggestions?
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K.B.
I did try the Molasses treat trick turns out my goats don't like molasses.
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EJskeleton
Make some goat treats and put the dewormer in them. I make some goat treats that are covered in Slippery Elm Bark, and my goats will only eat them if they are covered in it.
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FizzyGoats
My goats don’t really like molasses either. You could try top dressing it on their food, see if any take it that way. Maybe try mixing in some healthy oil or ACV with their feed and see if they’ll still eat it, then it would make top dressing easier because it wouldn’t all fall to the bottom of the bowl.

When you tried molasses, we’re you making the dosage balls? Mine wouldn’t eat them unless I made them super tiny, like pea size. Now I just throw it in their food. So much easier.
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K.B.
Yeah I made big and so.e smaller for the little ones, the big goats wouldn't even eat the smaller ones the brats
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Dandy Hill Farm
I use Molly's (I will be switching to Land of Havilah though after I finish the rest of Molly's up). At first my goats absolutely hated it!!!! Now my goats love it soooo much they just think it's a treat and not a dewormer! I don't remember doing anything besides forcing it into them! Sorry! Lol! All I do is mix the herbs, flour and water to make a soft dough and they go crazy!! I have even made a whole bunch of balls ahead of time and stuck them in the freezer. That way, when it's time to give it to them, I just have to put them on the counter to thaw a bit before treating (get it?) the goats. I think I did add some peanut butter and/or molasses to the dough to make them like it at first, but now I just skip that part and they don't seem to mind! Just keep trying!! Hopefully, they will eventually like it! If not, then I would probably look into drenching it into them.
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K.B.
Good idea @Dandy Hill Farm
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MellonFriend
I used mix it with my goats grain ration. They didn't even notice it was in there and eventually they ended up enjoying the flavor and licking every bit out of the dish. Spritzing the food with some water helps it to stick and not fall to the bottom. Now a days though, I mix four teaspoons of herbs to one tablespoon of honey to make a dough and then split up the four doses and make balls and then coat them in crushed up alfalfa pellets. They run after me for more! That is for LOH though, not sure which ones you are using.
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K.B.
Thanks @MellonFriend
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happybleats
You can mix each dose in water and drench or if you want you can make a tea. I do a tea by boil water ..I boil enough to give 30 cc a large goat and I adjust down as needed. I then add a dose of herbal per goat based on size. I allow it steep until cool. I then blend up g fresh raw garlic and ginger root in my blender and add any eos o choose to use. Once blended I use a drenching syringe to drench each goat the amount based in size. 30 cc for adults..and 20 or less for kids. I use every drop and the goats (all but Genevieve) live their tea. Genevieve we have to sneak up on lol
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Ella Ruby
My goats tend to be hesitant about new foods until they tried it a few times.
Lots of creative ideas here, I might try some myself! Here is what I do:
I mix Molly's or LOH dewormer with molasses (you could try honey instead), EOs, coconut oil or some other healthy oil and water then give as a drench. I Measure out the total amount of herbs for all the goats I will be treating (i.e. 1 teaspoon of LOH for two minis) then mix it with the other ingredients and divide the amount of mixture left between however many goats I plan to treat (i.e. if I end up with 30cc of the mixture for two goats then I will give 15cc to each). I have found that adding oil makes it more palatable to them, I think it probably makes the herbs/EOs less spicy.
You could also try mixing the herbs with yogurt or applesauce or mashed banana…
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FizzyGoats
There’s always one, lol.

Mine now just think it’s part of their feed and like MellonFriend said, they’ll lick the bowl clean. I have my one exception too, I have to entice her with a few sunflower seeds once she’s done with her meal to get her to lick the dish clean, but it’s still easier for me than the dosage balls were, especially since my goats never really liked them.
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MellonFriend
I also think you have to be persistent sometimes. My kids didn't like dosage balls at first, but after repeatedly offering them, they eventually came around. The way I did it was to go out with raisins, and then try to sneak in a little raisin sized herb ball. 😉
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TCOLVIN
I just add a little water to my drench gun and unscrew the plunger out add add herbals then fill with warm water so it dissolves, screw plunger cap back on and shake it up good. I always leave about 3/4 inch space with filling so I have some shaking room. Once shook good insert the needle end of gun under warm water and draw until full. I use a 30cc drench gun so they will get the full 30cc. Shake up some more. Insert the drench gun needle inside of rear jaw and slowly drench so as to let them swallow as you rub their throat. It’s best to put to rear jaw on out side of rear teeth. Don’t strangle them by drenching too fast as it will get the drench in their lungs and can cause pneumonia. Works for me
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21goaties
Here is how we do it: How do I deworm more than ten goats?!
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K.B.
21goaties said:
Here is how we do it: How do I deworm more than ten goats?!
Click to expand...
I tried peanut butter too, their so picky
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DDFN
Raisins! That's the only way mine will take theirs. Zip lock bag out herbal wormer in and add enough raisins that they get a nice coated outside and hand feed. They actually fight over it so I have to feed one at a time by hand. Using Molly's, tried LOH once and mine hated it even on raisins so changed back to Molly's. The loh they wouldn't finish all the raisins but Molly they would take a triple serving if it in raisins if I allowed. They won't take as a grain top dressing and if I try to drench they act like I am poisoning them. Needless to say I have a Sam's club member ship just to buy raisins for these goats lol.
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K.B.
That's an idea
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FizzyGoats
Mine did not care at all about the switch from Molly’s to LOH. If you just keep at it, you’ll find what works for you and your goats. Luckily, everyone here is so helpful on giving suggestions on things to try, eventually one will work. I just got lazy and decided to put it on their food and when that worked, I was so relieved.
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K.B.
I was going to try it on their feed this morning but forgot.
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