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Topic: Pastures and WORMS!! (Read 2630 times)
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Beckie
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I LOVE Trakehners!
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I have one pasture here in So. Cal that seems to be a hotbed for worms. Every time I put a young horse down there, they come back out of the pasture with diarrea. And that is even when they are getting daily Strongid. The older horses seem to be better able to cope and do not react or pick up the larvea so badly (but are still wormed on a regular schedule).
I have resorted to paste worming all horses that go down there as soon as they come up but it is an ideal place to put my mares with foals out together and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas.
The pasture is sloping and somewhat rocky with plenty of shade in a fire safe area and I would like to do something to improve it's usability. Like maybe someone who sells larvae predator wasps or something that I could release in this area. Unfortunately, it is too sloping and rocky to disk or drag and reseed (although I do reseed every other year or so). I suspect that my problem stems from prior animals kept in this pasture that were NEVER wormed.
Thanks for your help and ideas in advance.
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Joy
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I love Trakehners!
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I'm not a fan of daily Strongid, and I don't do paste wormers without doing fecals first. Horses do not have to be completely worm-free to be healthy, but the count should be very, very low.
Are you sure the diarrhea is from worms? There could be a woody or herbateous plant there that isn't found in your other pastures, or there could be a totally different soil type which affects the plants. Anything that changes the pH in the gut will affect digestion and may create a more friendly environment for worms. If there's a spring or other water in that pasture, that could also be an explanation. First thing I'd do is scope out the pasture and see what plants are there, then I'd take soil samples and have them analyzed for arsenic, mercury, whatever, also high copper levels and selenium levels.
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« Last Edit: June 09, 2006, 09:57:14 PM by Joy »
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Amanya
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Life is Choices
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Our ranch is on sloping, rocky land too, here in the foothills of the Central Sierras.
I agree with Joy about possible toxic plants.
One of the things I had to learn (and still am!) are all the unhealthy plants for horses that grow here in the Southern/Central California area. I have even hand-weeded spots, I'm so paranoid about it. Besides asking my vet from time to time about an "unknown", I will pick it and then Google what I think it's name is in "images" which usually gives me a matching photo and a real name. Then I just Google the name and the word horse on "web" and see if it shows up on the "toxic" lists anywhere. It's really helped me explore plants.
With all the rain we've had here the past two years, I've noted a wider variety of things growing. So make sure it's not the pasture itself.
I, too, use fly parasites and swear by them. I'm on a program and they arrive every 3 weeks (Arbico from Tuscon, but there are other places, like Source, etc.). Even so, we still run fecal samples on our horses. (and we paste worm every other month). Anyway, I'd start by checking the horses themselves, then examine the plants and soil in that area.
But take heart. At least you don't have any bears wandering through your pastures.... 
(I can say, tho, that my Traks are "bear-proof" along with their other fine characteristics)
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Beckie
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Thanks for the thoughts guys. First, due to the extreme fire danger in my area, I simply denude my pastures of all non edibles one a year. That makes the pastures fire safe in the event of a fire storm, giving the horses a large open area that the fire will not enter as there is nothing to burn.
Also, of course I have fecals done. Just yesterday for the yearling in question. Unfortunately they always come back positive and that horse goes on a powerpack to nip it in the bud. I tried going off of the Strongid a few year ago, with miserable success. At least it minimizes the problem.
So, I guess that I will try fly preditors this season and see if that helps minimize the problem. Funny, but the problem seems to be when they use my lower pasture, which I use less often and seems to have few flies. I also seeded it with horse friendly pasture seed several years ago and left it open for a year to gain a root system for the grass...... But as I said, it's prior inhabitant was an old paint gelding that was NEVER wormed.... and lived to be over 40. Go figure.
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Beckie
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I LOVE Trakehners!
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Update: So, the fecal showed a modest amount of worms and the filly was put on a Panacur Powerpack. At the end of the regime, there was no improvement! So, I decided that the problem might be too few bugs rather than too many!! She is now doing fine with Forco probiotics added to her feed each day. Go figure!! Thankfully, at least it indicates that I do not have a "pasture problem" but I have invested in fly parasites anyway.
Beckie
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Joy
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Yep, makes perfect sense to me. I have all my horses on probiotics, and it makes a huge difference.
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Beckie
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Yea. I keep them in my handy feed "toolbox" and give as needed to those horses that show the need. Guess this filly was in the "need" category! But it is a relief to have her better considering that we are now dealing with 100+ degree days for weeks at a time. I was worried about her getting dehydrated and colicing.
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Joy
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My own inclination is to use probiotics immediately whenever a horse isn't thriving. As I said, I do like to give it all the time, but there are those hectic times when I lapse, and if one of them starts to slip, the probiotics are remembered right away. I've found it's helpful in many arenas--from colic to founder to just not doing as well as they ought.
I'm glad your filly is doing so much better.
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Beckie
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She is doing great and my vet calls her the "beauty queen" which I think is entertaining for a butt high yearling!
I agree with you on the probiotics and actually feel a little stupid about it taking so long for me to "get it" this time.
I added probably a year to my older mare's life with probiotics and fortified rice bran. I lost her just short of her 24th birthday last January after a 2 year battle with chronic sinusitus which included 3 surgeries and 3 trips to the hyperbolic oxygen chamber. She finally was unable to breathe when the Santa Ana desert winds showed up last January. My vet wanted to do a tracheotomy and I decided that the mare had been through enough. Frankly, we had no new treatment options and she had been a real trooper. I mean how many horses will let you stick a needle into a hole in their forehead daily for almost a year to flush their sinuses of infection?
But until those two final days she was still happy and at a decent weight which I was proud of considering that she had been on antibiotics (sometimes 48 pills per day) for almost 2 years.
Hmmmm, when I think of it, it still breaks my heart. She would just stand there with the lead rope over her neck and let me try to help her. She knew we did everything we could and then some. I know she forgives me for failing to beat the infection. One of the real heartbreakers was that her first foal (an 18 yo mare) by Martini proceeded her. She was lost to a pasture accident the prior year...... But I still have her two Enrico Caruso daughters to carry on the line.......
Funny how your first Trakehner lives in your heart forever........ RIP "Twinkle Toes, Twinkmeister, The Twinkster" (reg. Javeline, by Lolos out of Jama by Antares, barn name Twinky for the Twinkle in her eye.) Survived by Joanna, Jubilance (full sisters by EC) and their foals Jefferson, Jacaranda and Jaimison (by Elazar (by Laiken), Fandango (by Sixtus) and Paniolo (by Pyatt Charly) respectively). Joanna is in foal to Summertime for 2007! (OK, that at least cheers me up  )
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