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What is your annual worming routine?

Bannerminis March 27, 2010 February 22, 2011

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I was just wondering what eveyones worming routine was and also for infoal mares when you would worm them. I worm with ivermectin on a regular basis every 8 - 10 wks depending on the wormer. Every spring they all get their 5 day Panacur dose Every Autumn and Spring they gets their tape worming. They have all had their 5 day panacur and are now due their regular ivermectin wormer and another dose for tapes around April 6th so they will be wormed with Eqvalan Duo which will cover both. For pregnant mares though I hear so many varients on what people do that I find it confusing as I am so anal about worming and making sure that its done right that I want to make sure that I am doing the best for the mare and foal. What I do (at the moment) is worm the mare around 4 wks before her due date with an ivermectin wormer and then usually again 10 days after foaling. This gives a gap of nearly 6 wks from the previous dose. But I hear of people worming within 12 hrs of the mare foaling or just before she foals and a few other variations and this is what confuses me. Also some say that worming the mare 4 wks before her due date and then at the 10 days after foaling means that the foal gets the wormer through the milk so you do need to worm the foal - I find that hard to believe but then I am not a vet. Sorry for the long post but its somthing thats on my mind a lot and even though on the odd occasion that the vet might test my minis for a worm count they always come back clean so I know I must be doing somthing right - its more the mare and foal worming that I would like to nail.

rabbitsfizz Sat, 03/27/2010 - 11:45

I do not worm after foaling, I think it is too invasive on the mares fragile system.
One thing I will point out....
Ivermectin every 8 weeks....yes.
Panacur [i]instead [/i]of Ivermectin....no.
I use the Ivermectin as a base, there is no need to "rotate" base wormers.
Everything else is as well as, not instead of, Fenbendazole is not an effective wormer and, as we cannot uses Moxidectin (E)Quest, on Minis, everything, Praziquantel, Fenbendazole et al, is as well as, never instead of.

So I have just done Praziquantel + Ivermectin (I buy them separately, but the Duo pack is OK, just make sure you get 1.87% Ivermectin, one of them, I think it is "Gold" skimps on the Ivermectin content.

Next I shall do the five day Fenbendazole, then wait ten days and do them with Ivermectin, that will get encysted small strongyles and hopefully the Ivermectin will finish off anything else lurking in their guts.
This should bring them up to foaling, and I do not "extra" worm after foaling, they should be OK on the routine I have them on. I worm the foals at ten days with Fenbendazole and then every month till weaning with Ivermectin, after which they go on the 8 week schedule.
I do not over worm my stock, this is as bad as under worming (well, not quite, but nearly!) I keep them relatively worm free, but some worms are actually beneficial to the horses digestion. There is no such thing as a worm free horse.
Annual worm counts (you can do your own)are very useful.

Bannerminis Sat, 03/27/2010 - 14:39

Thats good info and I am happy so with my worming of Slaney and will use the Fenbendazole on the foals.

I dont use Panacur instead of Ivermectin - it was that they were wormed with Panacur between ivermectin wormers as I know that each wormer covers its own set of worms.

Thanks again for the mare and foal info - that was the one that I was worried about and there seems to be a lot of different opinions it but they did seem a bit extreme to me.