I get asked all time about my organic worming practice. Let me start by saying this method works for me and has for years. With that said, my vet (who I love and respect dearly) thinks it is a waste of time. Now.....why do I do it? When I first started raising goats I bought a baby goat that my old vet gave up on. He said he was loaded with worms and nothing else he could do. I did some research and ordered Molly's Herbal Wormer. It was like $10 at the time. I had already spent $150 trying to save this little feller so what was $10 more. I saw amazing results within 3 days and I WAS SOLD! That was 10 years ago. Let me be clear, I am not opposed to using a chemical wormer if necessary. The disadvantage of always using a chemical wormer is they can build up a resistance to it and there are very few chemical wormers, so when that doesn't work anymore, then what???? So that is the good news on the organic wormer. Bad news (sort of) is it makes the worms leave their body but does not kill them so you have to do this every single week. Even though I have close to 100 goats it is worth it to me.
Okay here is the recipe and the process. 1 cup of wormer, 1/2 cup oatmeal (not instant) and 1/2 pancake syrup. Mix it up and make little worming balls the size of like a nickel. Then roll them in powdered sugar. (get your hands moist so the mixture doesn't stick to your fingers while you roll them) THE SUGAR IS THE BAIT THAT THEY CANNOT REFUSE!!! HAHA. The more sugar the better. They each get 2 balls every single week.
I also discovered that Barberpole worms are the anti christ in the goat world!!! They multiply by the thousands PER DAY so they laugh at organic wormer. SO..................more research and discovered copper bolus pills interrupt those pesky things from multiplying, so I do this practice spring and fall. These copper bolus pills can be ordered from amazon.
Here is how we operate in the Crazy Goat Lady world. If/when we loose a goat we try to make sure we learn from that. That loss should teach us something. That is how we have come up with a lot of the things we do and don't do around here.
I hope this little tid bit helps. Let me know if you have questions and happy goating from THE Crazy Goat Lady.
Roxie
I'm just now finding out about those nasty barberpole worms. Thanks so much for the Copper tip! You're awesome, and mini Roxie is doing well!
The video of those babies hopping around in the barn is the cutest video I’ve seen in years. You are a very special person and I adore how much you love them.