Worming meds and Probios for goats

[PotterWatch]

We are picking up our goats in less than a week and are almost ready for them. I want to worm (or I guess deworm, lol) them after they get here since I know it is going to stress them out. What should I buy and what form does it come in? I'm also trying to find out how much probios I should give them. We bought the gel and it says to give 5ml to a newborn goat, so how would that translate to two mini-manchas? Is there a chart somewhere that will tell me the dosage/weight? Thanks!

 

[helmstead]

I prefer pour on Ivermec (intended for cattle) to deworm. You can give it either topically, like Frontline on a dog, or orally. The brand I use indicates 1 cc per 22 lbs.

I use the equine gel ProBios. My miniature goats ranging from 40 to 75 lbs all get 10 units of the gel as needed. My kids receive 5 units. I don't know of a chart with dosages, but I think it's kind of universal...IE a large breed goat and a small breed goat probably get the same dosage.

 

[greyfields]

If you are handy with a syringe, the Ivomec injectible is a good all around dewormer. If you're not comfortable, you can get an Ivomec drench for sheep (same dosage for goats) or Safeguard comes as a drench.

Ideally, though, they get dewormed a couple days prior to arriving at your place, as you don't want them dropping eggs on the day they arrive simply to re-infect themselves in a couple weeks.

As far as probiotics, you can spend a lot of money very fast with them, or vitamin supplements. I'd wait until you had an actual problem, personally... but, I would recommend getting a bottle of Nutri-drench. You can use that to give them a boost, and it's something great to have around during kidding time (for both mom and kid). It also lasts forever if you don't use it all at once.