Hi I was wondering if you could give me some natural ways to de-worm goats. Please include websites. Sarah
We use an herbal dewormer from Fir Meadow, we use it once a week, then every four weeks we use it three days in a row. http://firmeadowherbs.tripod.com/
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds and Pine tree branches work to keep the worm load down. But I wouldn't just feed them that, because its not enough. Thats about as Natural as it gets altho there are "natural wormers" in a liquid form. We don't use those because we don't really believe they would keep the worms down in our area. (Too wet) We did buy a natural wormer once called Ex-pel (or X-pel, not on hand) but we never tried it. Paid a lot of money for it too. :doh: Sorry I don't have any websites. But if you go to Fiasco Farms, theres some natural wormers on there. It works for them but what may work for them, wont really work in other areas. Orrr. A natural wormer would be kiko goats! :laugh: Just kidding, even though they are naturally resistant to worms, they still need to be wormed, but not as much as other breeds.
Like said above, Fias Co Farm offers herbal wormers (I personally have not used any of them yet). http://www.fiascofarm.com/herbs/mollysh ... bal-wormer Fresh ground pumpkin seeds, among other things, are also recommended by some folks (http://www.critterchat.net/worming.htm). I'm planning on trying this one out here shortly.
I use Mollys herbal formulas which on the Fias Co Farm website that Tyler posted. It comes with 2 formulas that work in conjuction with eachother. They take a lot of dedication & have to be given weekly. I mix the correct amount of formula with just enough water to make it suck into a syringe (with no needle) & squirt it into the goats mouths. Some of my goats hate it, and some seem to think it's a bottle of warm milk waiting to be gobbled down lol! I have another friend who uses it with great success & she mixes something to make little balls as "treats".
Diatomaceous earth has not been proven to be effective for worming goats, and I haven't had any luck with it.
I use pure, food grade DE as a parasite preventative for all my animals, goats included. There are studies showing its efficacy in pest management but what matters to me is how it works for me. And in the 20 some years I've been using it in/on dogs, poultry, waterfowl and sheep, we've never had a worm or external parasite infestation. For external parasites, on goats I dust it into their fleece. As a worm preventative, I add a cup and a half into 50 lbs. of goat chow/pro manna senior horse pellets and mix it well. Deb Mc
I am weary of having to provide any wormer on a regular basis because any worms in the goat's system WILL develop a tolerance for it. But, some natural ways to help keep the load down so you don't have to worm medicinally too often would be, as mentioned, pine trees, pumpkin seeds, black oil sunflower seeds, and copper, provided either at an ideal level daily or as a bolus on a schedule that suits your areas deficiencies. If you provide some or all of these things, maintain a clean pen (there is always going to be berries, just so the best you can to keep it dry and clean), and your goats are overall healthy - fed properly, exercised often, and provided with all necessary vitamins and minerals - you should not need to worm often. By doing fecal tests you can determine if worming is necessary and do only when needed effectively lowering the amount of medicinal wormer you have to use. Tea Tree Oil is very effective as a topical treatment for lice, mange, and bacterial infections on the skin and feet. At least, that has been my experience. I do not know if it is/isn't safe or effective when taken orally. I won't launch a full on western medicine versus natural care argument. But I will say this - 200 years ago, well even today in areas of the world who have no access to what we consider western medicine - animals die at astonishing rates. Farmers are lucky to see what we would consider a 50/50 survival rate in kids. The milk is often tainted and makes it's users and drinkers sick. The animals themselves are overrun with parasites and are anemic which of course shortens their life expectancy. It was not a pleasant world for animals being kept in captivity before we began finding ways to treat their problems... That being said. I firmly believe you should do no harm when caring for your animals. If they don't need it, don't do it. Why overload their bodies with it? And if you can find natural ways to provide your animals with the nutrients they need as well as natural ways to keep them healthy then do so - as long as you don't do it with veld eyes assuming it's the fix all. Sometimes medical wormers are necessary for the well-being of your pets
I use foodgrade DE on all of my animals. Recently we put 40 roosters in the freezer and I was amazed at how clean both inside and out they were. DE does the trick for us. I even put it around the house for ticks and fleas and didn't have any trouble with such this year.
I use this herbal dewormer -- it has been great for our girls: https://www.fiascofarm.com/herbs/mollysherbals.php/categories/herbal-wormer
I recently started using Fiasco's herbal de-wormer. http://www.fiascofarm.com/herbs/mollysherbals.php
I have used Molly's for years but I'm going to be trying DE soon for both my animals and myself. Just got ten pounds and took my first dose. If you decide to use it get food grade. The pool or garden grade can kill.
How do you go about using DE? Do you just mix it with their good, and if so how much per goat? Thanks! Terri
Terri, the dosage sizes are on the DE foodgrade bag--the instruction sheet is now on my frig. I add one teaspoon to two cups of dry oats which I give to two 6 month old Lamanchas for breakfast. I also add two ground daily vitamins and about a tablespoon of Brewer's yeast. Eventhough I use DE, I recently bought herbal wormer from FiasGoats because one of the little goat girls was lacking energy and her belly was a bit bloated. They gobbled up the herbal wormer, and in only two days, I did see a marked increase of energy in the smaller girl that I was worried about. I am new to raising goats. I want my girls to be healthy so that a strong future is possible. Leona P.S. Coffee grinders are perfect for powdering hard vitamins. I grind people vitamins I buy for myself.
Rotating pastures helps with parasite control, though I'm not sure how much as I've never done it. If you keep your goats' copper levels right, and they are reasonably healthy in other ways, you will never have to worm them. That is what I do. The problem is, too much copper is poisonous, and the amount they are getting varies with soil and their mineral supplements. Copper bolusing will control barberpole worms at least. If you're interested, I recommend buying Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care." In it, she explains a lot about copper and the many diseases it prevents. Her basic mineral mix is a good place to start - the amount of copper in it is supposed to be enough to fully control worms in non-dairy goats. (Dairy goats have higher mineral demands.) But since she lives in Australia where the soils are different, you should still have fecals done regularly to make sure it is working. Gotta go - if you're interested, I can give you her mineral mix recipe later. It's very simple.
