Worming confuses me...

[Mainelyhappy]

I read and read and am still confused.
Thumbnail description: One doe in milk, (and two doelings), Saanen, 4 years old, producing just a bit under a gallon of milk a day. She lost a LOT of condition after kidding the first of April. I discovered tape worms this summer, took care of those, and finally she has fleshed out, gotten a decent coat and seems to feel great. We've had a few good frosts so I got a stool sample and took it to my (pet) vet. My thought was this would be a good time to worm anyone that needed it. Came back positive for strongyloides. "Ova present rare 1 to 2." I am not exactly sure what this means. Vet recommended I dose with oral Ivermectin, but said it would be a 40 day withdrawal for milk use. (Really???!!!) The doelings have brick red mucous membranes in their eyes, the doe in milk's membranes are not as dark. My goal here is to take as good of care as I possibly can of these goats. I love them... a LOT. Please advise me. Can a worm load like this be taken care of with herbals? If so, I'd love that! Thanks in advance. I love this group and read almost every word you guys write.

Daryl in Maine

[Alice In TX/MO]

There is NO official withdrawal time for Ivermectin in goats. It hasn't been tested in goats.

Those of us who use it have varying opinions on withdrawal time. It's really up to you.

Ivermectin is used in humans for worm control, if that helps.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Ova present means eggs. Rare 1 to 2???? Call them back and ask what that means.

Edited to add:

I googled it and found this on human parasites:

If a parasite is identified, then the person does have a parasitic infection. Ova and parasites present in the stool samples are identified and counted. Numbers may range from many to very few or rare.

My thought is that your goats may not need to be treated. If their FAMACHA score is good, and the results mean they only had a few eggs, I wouldn't.

[Mainelyhappy]

the vet tech didn't seem to KNOW what it meant, except that it was a LOW worm load.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Do not deworm.

Here's a good article:
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/ar...wormsLice.html

[mygoat]

Originally Posted by Mainelyhappy

She lost a LOT of condition after kidding the first of April. I discovered tape worms this summer, took care of those, and finally she has fleshed out, gotten a decent coat and seems to feel great.

Daryl in Maine

It is PERFECTLY NORMAL and expected for a doe to loose body condition after freshening. Her body condition cycle has progressed perfectly. You did nothing wrong for her to loose condition - she freshened. Lots of things going on metabolically and a good dairy goat cannot eat enough to keep up with demands of produciton in early lactation. They loose weight. As the lactation progresses, milk production decreases and her body condition starts to rise. At breeding time she's gaining weight, and is even tubbier during the dry period. When she freshens again, the cycle starts all over. People seem to want their dairy goats to be fat all year and that's just not going to happen and that is acceptable/normal/fine.

In adults, tapes are not going to cause any problems in a healthy animal. They are gross, though, so many people choose to deworm.

As for your current results, DO NOT DEWORM. All goats WILL have *some* degree of worm load. This is normal, expected etc. Our MANAGEMENT (namely, pasture management) is the most natural, healthy, and EFFECTIVE way to manage parasites. Further, utelizing dewormers on an AS NEEDED basis ONLY is critical, and culling those who have recurring worm loads while under reasonable management.

I cannot speak to herbals as I personally think they're a bunch of hooey 99% of the time.

[Mainelyhappy]

I am feeling so much better reading all this. Thank you ALL.
My goats appreciate it, too!

Daryl

[southerngurl]

Yep "all goats have worms". The trick is how many.