Penny & Annie are going to be bred to the new buck ASAP, am picking him up this weekend. Both have pretty good eye membrane color, good body condition, good poops. I would say they are on the line between acceptable and borderline on the FAMACHA card. Also they both appear to be a little bit more pink since last time I checked, the only change being I dried them off.
Should I deworm them now before they get bred just to be safe? Because I shouldn't give any dewormer in early pregnancy, correct?
Last dewormer they had was in April.
Am about to do the horses with Quest (moxidectin) and would probably have enough left over on each tube to do the goats too. Thoughts? Or should I never use moxidectin until nothing else works for me because I have pretty good luck with both safeguard and ivermectin
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According to fiasco farms site, they don't do pregnant does unless absolutely necessary and then they use Ivomec.
Hmm...well I used to do 30 horses at a time with Quest and never had a problem, though I admit I held off on using it on the two I have now since I thought one of them had cushings but a) don't think he has cushings anymore ad b) vet said even if he did use it anyway.
Anyway, the other good thing is I have seen the girls getting out and grazing the pasture now that it has dried out a little. Since we haven't mowed it in so long the grass is up to their chest so they probably would not be eating at barberpole level anyway. Suppose I will wait and see. Sounds like I could give them ivermectin while they are pregnant anyway
With that much space /number of goats etc. circumstances in general I would avoid that wormer if possible. I know I remember when the Quest first came out , many years ago that it was a scary thing to use even on the horses. Was blamed for the death of several and considered very strong. We had some serious issues with a pony we had then and the vet felt the need for us to try it but was straight up with me that he was scared to use it on him. Kind of a "I think it will cure him or kill him thing" if you know what I mean! It didn't kill him but it sure scared me. I have just always been paranoid of it every since.
Well...I have 5 goats total on ten acres. The girls have two pastures totalling about 3.5 acres, of which only about 1/4 is really dry land right now. Right before the flood they had their shed down by the gate and stayed there most of the tme, now their shed is up on the hill so that little 1/4 acre of dry land had not been used heavily before the summer plus part of their little strip of dry land is all trees that they are browsing alot so that is good. How's that for a not simple yes or no answer lol.
As soon as it dries out I plan to move them to the far pasture and rest this one until they are near to kidding at which time I'll want them back close to the house so I can see anyone acting funny, and I don't want kids in the far pasture since we don't have any livestock guardians. I am the livestock guardian lol. From my kitchen window.
I guess the clearer answer is: they will be stuck on their same little 1/4 acre for at least the next month or more, the water is really bad this year. They've been in that same pasture for the past few months although I did put them in the electric pen and let the horses eat it all the way down at least twice, so hopefully it was somewhat "cleaned"
The only thing I've seen written about dewormers and pregnancy is that you should not use Valbazen at any stage of pregnancy -- period -- because it can cause birth defects. And you are correct that most people suggest you not use moxidectin until nothing else works.
As for whether or not to use a dewormer . . . By now, you probably know that I rarely have a simple yes/no answer for anything. :) I like to look at eyelids, coat condition, and body condition of goats when figuring out whether or not they need deworming. If all of the above looks good, then they're probably fine. The other thing to consider is your management. Is your stocking rate (goats per acre) low enough that you don't have to worry about parasites on pasture, or if they are on a smaller space, are you rotating regularly so that they won't get a build-up of internal parasites?