Lots of deworming questions

You only need to deworm the one with the pale eyelids. If everyone else's eyelids are red, they're fine. The old advice (still given by a lot of vets) was to deworm the whole group because they assumed that everyone would have the same wormload, but research has shown that 80% of the worms in your flock/herd are harbored by a very small percentage of your animals. A couple years ago, I had a buck who had a horrendous wormload and spent a week dieing. I did fecals on the rest of the bucks that lived with him, and none of them had anything significant. I counted 40 eggs on the slide of the sick buck without even moving it, so there were probably a thousand eggs on the slide, but on the rest of the bucks, I found three to six eggs on the entire slide. I did not deworm the rest of them, and they were all fine. The more you use a dewormer, the quicker resistance builds up.

If Safeguard worked last time -- and it sounds like it did, since you haven't had any problems -- I'd use it again. As the name implies it has a very wide margin of safety. Most adult NDs are about 75 pounds, so I just dose for 100 pounds with Safeguard. Underdosing leads to dewormer resistance. I usually wait two weeks before using milk from a goat that has been given a dewormer -- longer if I don't really need the milk.

If you're following the "smart drenching" protocol outlined above, the timing of the pasture move isn't that important.

Replies

Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 27, 2011 at 3:42pm

We usually give the milk to the barn cats or dogs. There is some drug residue in the milk, so theoretically, you could absorb it through your skin if you use the milk to make soap. The amount would be tiny, but it's possible. I've always let kids nurse after deworming. It's safe for them to do so.

Anna Cummings said:

Ok, thanks! Can I save the milk I get during the two weeks and use it for soap? And, it's ok for kids to nurse of mom after she has been dewormed?
Anna Cummings April 27, 2011 at 2:41pm

Ok, thanks! Can I save the milk I get during the two weeks and use it for soap? And, it's ok for kids to nurse of mom after she has been dewormed?
Deborah Niemann-Boehle April 27, 2011 at 12:29pm

You only need to deworm the one with the pale eyelids. If everyone else's eyelids are red, they're fine. The old advice (still given by a lot of vets) was to deworm the whole group because they assumed that everyone would have the same wormload, but research has shown that 80% of the worms in your flock/herd are harbored by a very small percentage of your animals. A couple years ago, I had a buck who had a horrendous wormload and spent a week dieing. I did fecals on the rest of the bucks that lived with him, and none of them had anything significant. I counted 40 eggs on the slide of the sick buck without even moving it, so there were probably a thousand eggs on the slide, but on the rest of the bucks, I found three to six eggs on the entire slide. I did not deworm the rest of them, and they were all fine. The more you use a dewormer, the quicker resistance builds up.

If Safeguard worked last time -- and it sounds like it did, since you haven't had any problems -- I'd use it again. As the name implies it has a very wide margin of safety. Most adult NDs are about 75 pounds, so I just dose for 100 pounds with Safeguard. Underdosing leads to dewormer resistance. I usually wait two weeks before using milk from a goat that has been given a dewormer -- longer if I don't really need the milk.

If you're following the "smart drenching" protocol outlined above, the timing of the pasture move isn't that important.

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