Sunday, October 28, 2018

Guidelines On Giving Horse Wormers

By Cynthia Snyder


As a farmer, you need to take care of the health of the animal by ensuring that internal parasites do not negatively affect their health. The major concern is that there are multiple drugs available in the market while the horses are becoming resistant to a few of them. This poses both as a challenge and confusion to a farmer. Luckily, this article will provide you with details on horse wormers you can use.

The first step you should take as a farmer is determining the level of worms in the horses. This is very easy as there are a number of tests that can be done. The first one is fecal egg count. This test indicates levels of adult roundworms that produce eggs. It is normally carried after three to four months and can identify animals with higher burdens which require treatment. The test is useful in identifying the animals showing resistance to treatment.

Other tests include saliva and blood tests. The blood test includes taking a blood sample which identifies animals with a tapeworm infection. Lower positive results mean that the level of infection is low hence treatment is not necessary. Higher positive results mean that deworming should immediately be carried out. For the saliva test, a saliva swab is taken to the laboratory to be assessed. It may be economical and can fit in the worming plan being used.

Horses should be treated only when necessary. These animals have been able to grow with the internal parasites hence a small population does not have an effect on their well-being. Exposing such a population only encourages resistance which with time will be a huge issue. It is imperative you make use of the correct deworming plan to avoid these problems.

The correct dose should be given at all times. Under-dosing leads to resistance whereas overdosing is not beneficial. The weight of the horses will help you determine the amounts that should be given. A weighing tape is normally used in determining the weight. When giving the correct dosage, tablets are preferred as compared to the liquid dewormers since the animals tend to spit out some of it which can result in under-dosing.

When rotating the drugs every season, make an effort of changing the active element instead of switching brand names. This will help more so if the animals have developed resistance. To add on this, remember to talk to your vet who will inform you if there is resistance to the active element you want to use in your location. This allows you to make the right choice.

It is vital to reduce using dewormers by worming once in a while. You can achieve this by utilizing the dewormers with a long dosing interval. This is possible also by doing worm egg count in the feces so as to treat only the required horses with a certain level of eggs in the feces, which is more than two hundred of them in a gram.

Learn to regularly remove droppings from shelters and their pasture. By doing this, you are removing almost all worms which managed to survive treatment. Such worms have the ability to become resistant after a while to the type of drug you are using. By removing them, you are preventing them in reinfecting your horses since they will not be capable to complete their life cycle.




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