Xisca Nicolas wrote:I was wondering if Kate Downham could offer us some tips....
If the list above is for cold areas, well I am subtropical, so we do not even have the cold to kill pests!
I have taken goats and sheep recently, and they are skinny and I found a few "white stuff" that look like tenia though it was not flat.... Maybe if they are really infested I should give some "chemical2 for a start? I don't know how bad are those products, maybe not that much?
Can you grow mulberry there? The leaves of mulberry will help get rid of worms.
If you can grow either birds-foot trefoil, or big trefoil, these are smaller legumes, but they will work too, as will chicory.
If there are any grapes that will grow where you are, the vines and leaves can also be fed to goats for this purpose.
With those skinny new animals you mentioned, I would be looking at making sure their mineral levels (especially copper for the goats) are high
enough. Do you know whether the soils in the local area you bought the animals from are deficient in copper or any other mineral? (I should warn you that copper can be toxic in high doses, especially for sheep and light-coloured goats).
Diatomaceous earth and garlic are wonderful things you can
feed to your animals that will kill worms but won't harm the animals. Both of these are most affective if they're fed 2 days before the full moon, but if you're very worried about your animals, there's going to be no harm in doing it any time. You can either give a high monthly dose of them at the full moon (or twice-monthly), or you can give them a continuous
course of it for three to six weeks in order to try and kill all the worm eggs.