The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: HelenVF on July 02, 2012, 03:16:08 pm
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What wormer do you use? We were advised to use one but it's in a big tub and costs £90! We obviously don't need that much for 2 pygmy goats.
What brand should I be looking for?
Thanks
Helen
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Helen,
I recently had a thread in sheep about the cost of wormers when you only have a few animals. It seems that some vets will sell you as few doses as you need so it might be worth you investigating that angle.
Sally
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Dont forget , goats need between 1.5 to 2 times the dose of a sheep. your vet will know.
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I've alternated onto Noramec (clear) and have treated tapeworm with panacur (white). If they have long expiry dates on you can keep them or share a bottle with someone else local who only has a few?
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Thanks all. Reading a bit more and it appears I can do a faecal egg count? I do caecal egg counts on grouse (for my job) and have done a faecal egg count on my pony in the past.
The main worry, is that you can't tell incidence of tape worm. Would this be a problem?
Helen
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Thanks all. Reading a bit more and it appears I can do a faecal egg count? I do caecal egg counts on grouse (for my job) and have done a faecal egg count on my pony in the past.
The main worry, is that you can't tell incidence of tape worm. Would this be a problem?
Helen
If they have a tapeworm you will see it.... segments will come out and are clearly identifyable. The treat with 2x sheep dose of panacur, probably twice. see earlier thread started by Plumseverywhere. I think tapeworm in goats is quite rare (but I had it on one of my nannies :o )
I would do a worm count first to see if you need to worm. Panacur is quite cheap and would probably be your first choice. Then re-do worm count after 10 days to check for resistance. If needed second choice would be Ivermectin based wormer, again 1.5 to 2 x sheep dose. If you have a sheep farmer nearby you could ask to buy some off him in a smallish bottle, but I find for example Oramec comes in a small enough bottle and with a long expiry date. Just say in the merchants that you buy it for sheep, some of them may refuse to sell it to you if you say it's for goats (no wormers are licensed for goats and they could insist that you go and get a prescription from the vet etc etc...)