[Festus]

Hi.  I have been advised to use Zerofen to worm my goats.  Does anyone know the dosage?  Is it the same as sheep?  I'm sure I was told (by whom?) that it was higher than the sheep dose? It seems to me that vets generally are not really up to speed on goats and my vet was not confident although she did say she would check with the manufacturers. Two phone calls later and I'm still waiting for a response.  Does anybody use natural worming methods successfully and, if so, what are they?  TIA

[Anke]

I have never used this, but it seems to be a white wormer (fenbendazole) which needs to be given at at LEAST TWICE the sheep dose, or 7.5 to 10mg/kg bodyweight. It is a drench?


Now white wormers are NOT very effective anymore, as there is a lot of resistance out there to them, but they are usually licensed for goats.


Have these goats been shown to have worms by FEC?


If you also have sheep you would be better off using Zolvix (no resistance yet), but I do not know the goat dose for those. If you do not have sheep (and therefore cannot buy the wormer in the Agri merchants - and don't tell them it's for goats btw), then your vet can give you Zolvix under the cascade system.


I have used injectable Ivermectin in the past at twice the sheep dose.


Sorry this probably doesn't answer your question really.

[Festus]

Thanks. That's very interesting.  Why is it that goats seem to be the Cinderella of the livestock world?

[Backinwellies]

Firstly did you do FEC to decide worming was needed?

secondly do you have sheep too?

Having had diagnosis that worming is indeed necessary now .... then start considering wormers .....   my sheep have white worm drench resistance so there would be no point dosing my goats with a white wormer.

Do research on wormer  types   white/ yellow/ clear..... and then the two only from vet  orange and purple......
you need to rotate between the first 3 (or 2 in my case as white wormer no good) ...... as for dose I cant remember what vet told me about dose rates for goats but they do differ (one is same one is 1.5 and one is double).....  you need to get this info from vet.   

I would not ask for zolvix ..... it is meant to be used in certain cases ONLY ... to preserve its resistance free status.