Old way of parasite control officially obsolete.

appellativo · Old way of parasite control officially obsolete.

okay most of you probably know this but I'm sharing it for those of you who were like me and were trying to hide from the cold hard facts. I got it now though. Do FEC!!!

Some tidbits from the article in April 2010 Issue of Horse Illustrated Magazine:

FIGHTING THE RESISTANCE (to worms.)

Modern research and experience has shown that the old way of worming is officially obsolete. You can no longer reliably depend on a rotational worming regimen to rid your horse of worms.

Lots of vets are not up on this information. If your vet is telling you anything other than what is in this article, it's simply because he/she is not up to date on the most current research and information.

You must do a fecal egg count (FEC) and then a fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) two weeks after worming to determine the effectiveness of any given wormer. (tests cost between ten and twenty five each)

Horses are genetically either classified as shedders or as low egg shedders. about 25-50% of horses are low egg shedders; the rest (20-30% of horses) are high egg shedders. so a lesser quantity of horses are actually shedding most of the eggs. there is nothing you can do to change a shedder to a low egg shedder.

The environment is the single largest contributing factor on parasite transmission. If your horse is on pasture its a given that he has been exposed to infective strongyle larvae. When conditions are between 45-85 degrees Farenheit, the eggs hatch. larvae crawl out of the poop and into the grass thatch (the part of the grass right next to the ground.) When the horse grazes short grass, he eats them.

Dragging pastures exacerbates (makes worse) this problem unless you only drag in HOT DRY weather and then keep horses off the dragges pasture for two weeks. Heavy rainfall also exacerbates the spread of the larvae.

THE SINGLE GREATEST MISCONCEPTION bout transmission is that cold weather kills the larvae. The larvae can survive ALL WINTER. they live longer in the cold, actually. (eggs are killed in freezing temperatures.) So a large number of larvae actually survive the winter.

Parasites can cause colic, weight loss, diarrhea, lethargy, poor performance, bleeding ulcers, anemia and more.

Tapeworms cannot be detected in a FEC or FECRT so horses should be dewormed with a broad spectrum dewormer at least once yearly. (more if exposure/environment dictates)

Treatment of parasites should start at the time of year when transmission is likely, depending on where you live. IN the SOUTH, start in late summer/early fall. in north, late winter/early spring.

resistance to benzimidazole products are most widespread. Although strongyles have shown the least resistance to ivermectin and moxidectin, it's unrealistic to think these drugs will always remain as effective as they are now.

all the dewormers, with the exception of moxidectin, only kill the adult worms. But the adults arent that harmful; its the larval stage that causes more problems.

Read the rest of the article, available on newsstands for the next couple weeks.

PasoBaby_CarolU

So...we're supposed to do $50/horse in testing EACH time we worm?

And what about worms that aren't in the egg stage?

appellativo

I think the article said that the first year, yes, you're going to do three to four cycles of testing, to figure out what your herd's needs are. After that initial figuring out what's working and what's needed, you only have to test once or twice a year.

I can vouch for the situation. We have a herd of six and one of the horses' health was questionable so was taken to the vet. Come to find out the horse was very anemic, had bladder infection, etc, and her egg count was through the roof, despite all horses being on a diligent rotational program. The vet did FEC, drench wormed, retested, and the problem was taken care of and other supportive treatments brought the mare back to health.

I'm just sayin....if you've been relying on rotational worming, you may want to get FEC's done to figure out if anything in your program can be improved upon!

PasoBaby_CarolU

That is over $1K in testing. I don't THINK SO.

I'm not sure how it would help with a large herd. All it takes is one shedder to contaminate everyone else. It makes more sense to me IF the eggs were identified to species and you only wormed for the species you were having problems with.

karmikacres

It also is of little value unless a horse is actively shedding.

Mike

peachpie

Are there kits so you can perform these tests yourself?

PasoBaby_CarolU

You can buy a microscope, nothing fancy, on e-bay or Amazon. And I would do that before I'd spend $1600 in a year testing my herd. Even new, a standard microscope costs less then $200.

I have been through a class on it. I just don't see the point in doing it unless they come out with stains specific to species so you can target wormer. Some worms (tape worms) won't show on it, and worms like strongyles in specific stages aren't producing eggs in manure. That doesn't mean they aren't damaging the horse.

They recommend once a year doing a broad spectrum wormer, like Quest or Ivermectin Gold, to get Tapeworms. If you haven't wormed with other wormers previously, those kill ALL worms, which can be a heavy load of worms to pass at once.

bit

I used to do tape and round tests on dogs and cats at the clinic. From what I remember, isn't there a medium you use, stir it up with poop a bit on the slide, and then check it out? I can't remember, but I think so. It's not a big deal, but you need to know what you are looking for. If you have a lot of horses, totally worth the scope, slides, and a bit of google research.

appellativo

yeah I remember that too, I don't know what it was made of. I think there ARE kits you can buy that have the materials and the drawings/photographs of what you're looking for and you could do it yourself.

for those horses who are just not in good health despite 'everything you're doing,' don't neglect the FEC. Obviously Carol doesn't have this problem....but a horse at our barn did, so I just wanted to encourage other owners who maybe have overlooked this avenue of possibility, to check it out.

Do you guys think that since she was so susceptible to the worms, that she is a shedder? or is it that another horse is the shedder and she is just more susceptible? I wonder what purpose knowing WHO the shedder(s) were, would serve? Help be my brains to figure this out. (remember, I'm in a house with five kids so my brain can't always dedicate enough brain cells to figure this stuff out in the midst of chaos.)

whisperingwindfarms

I do FEC's twice a year. It's a good thing too because my pasture got infested with strongyles last year and even after doing my usual Dynamite protocol and chemically deworming, I still had 2 loaded with eggs and one (Bucky) with a clean slide. This article might explain that.

Anyway, that convinced me to use Strongid C for 2 months for the 2 that were loaded - something all of you know I would not do if I didn't have the evidence staring in my face that I needed to.

Interesting article.

peachpie

I'd like to find the article. Thanks for the tips, everyone. Even if the rotation method is not longer right on, this article is interesting to me. I am most interested in encysted strongyles.
http://www.alphahorse.com/horse-wormers.html

amira

alexwein

appellativo

Just had the vet to a FEC, and it showed zero. guess what we're doing is working for us/our area! (don't ask me what it is, that's the new barn manager's doing! lol)

whisperingwindfarms

alexwein

whisperingwindfarms

Ask Ann about the Dynamite deworming cocktail.

appellativo

according to the HI article, it CAN be simply a matter of genetics. If a horse is prone to worms/shedding, they just are, and there MAY be not much you can do about it. Of course having the horse as healthy as possible will narrow down that cause, but there may just be the issue of genetics.

I was watching a Tim Ware video on keeping the natural horse, and he tells the story of him getting into chicken farming, and the old farmer he got his chicks from told him to not baby any of them, don't deworm them, and don't use antibiotics on them...just let the weak die...and only breed the best to the best. Well Tim didn't listen...if one got sick, he'd put them on antibiotics, and he did this and that to interfere with 'only the strong survive,' and before he knew it, he had a bunch of weak, small chickens. He went and then did what the old farmer said, and ended up later with nice healthy chickens.

Easy to say. Of course if I discovered Sasha was a worm-prone shedder, I wouldn't just let her die off! LOL but it does give one something to think about!!! I surely won't be breeding her though because of her poor conformation.