Naturally de-worming animals can be challenging, and some people will say that you are just better off going with the chemicals. There are several problems with chemical wormers however. You see, a chemical wormer is actually a poison, which is fed to the animal in large enough doses to kill, or expel the worms, but in small enough amounts that it hopefully will not injure the animal. Trouble is, worms have an ability to build up resistance to the chemical poisons used in these wormers. For example: A few years ago, when I first started with dairy goats, I had major trouble with worms. In fact, I lost quite a few goats to them. I tried using the chemical wormers- SafeGuard (at 4 times the dosage for horses, for 3 days straight), and Ivermectin. The goats' hair remained curly (a sign of a heavy worm load), and their gums and eyelids were pale. Finally, most of them died- including three beautiful purebred, registrable Nubians. I was heartbroken. Several years later,
Ah! Another excitement to eagerly wait for... :)
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
~Shannon~