Dewormers

Suggestions on non-synthetic chemical dewormers? We rotationally graze our horse and donkey and would like to get away from traditional dewormers. I've heard of copper and DE. Weare in south tx, so there's TONS of parasite load.

DE works fairly well. One thing I've seen our donkey eat is poison ivy and poison oak, the one time we tested her she was clear of any parasite load, so that might be a way.
My goat owning friends have told me that the poisonous ivy and oak are used by their goats as a natural, self medicating wormer, they apparently only eat it when they need it.

There used to be some books at our bookstore that were herbal medicines for animals, hopefully you could find one of those through asking at your bookstore or asking a herbalist.

Redhawk

Yes. You will want a variety tho and be prepared to use traditional if needed. Heres my suggestions: Diatomaceous earth in their grain. Molly's Herbals sells excellent wormwood blends sweetened with stevia. Hydrogen peroxide is sold at Guardians of Eden which diluted can be included in their water. We use garlic powder in their grain. We chain drag and scoop poop daily. Our horses are roaming on 20 acres. Jules

Pat Coleby's book "Natural Horse Care" is a pretty nice book to have if your interested in natural equine care. My copy is in storage right now but I believe she recommends copper and sulfur for deworming. I think DE would definitely be worth a try too.

Getting a microscope and a fecal egg count kit would be a good way to see your horses current parasite load, then try a deworming method that you want to try out, then do a recheck fecal egg count to see how effective your deworming method was. You could try several methods out, different dosages, etc. until you found something that worked best for your horses and situation. It's a lot more effective than just guessing if your horses have parasites and if your deowrming method works or not.