Vanessa last week checking the fecal samples of the sheep for parasite eggs. By conducting individual egg counts, we can treat only those animals who really need treatment vs simply treating them all. This is a more holistic approach and, combined with our rotational grazing method, keeps the parasite levels down. It also helps keep the parasites themselves from getting resistant to treatments, a problem faced by many farmers today. This addition to our farm management program will also allow us to become more effective at breeding for parasite resistant breed stock.
3 comments:
Laura, in addition to rotational grazing we have found that feeding garlic is very effective in deworming a wide range of species including sheep. Our pastured pigs also drink whey which is another natural way of making them more resistant to worms.
We use garlic, too. Sometimes we drench, sometimes we just add to kelp and feed out like that.
Hey Walter & Kathy...thanks for your comments! Yes, we also use organic garlic concentrate. Whenever we coral to collect the fecal samples, trim hooves and/or famacha, we do a drench with garlic. It's not their favorite...they much prefer the North Atlantic kelp we also supplement them with!
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