# Estimating size for worming



## rtdoyer (May 6, 2010)

I'm getting ready to worm my three five-year old boys. I've never had them weighed and so I recently bought a weight tape at the farm store. I'm using 'safe-guard' dewormer for goats and the dosage is 2.3 mL for every 100 pounds.

My question - is it better to err on the side of caution with the wormer and the weight OR does a little extra dewormer help get rid of the worms faster?

Tonia


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## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

You can probably find the LD50 for different types of de-wormers on the internet. Some have a bigger margin of error than others.

I estimate my goats weight about double for determining de-wormer dose.

Goats take a lot higher dose of dewormer to be effective than say horses.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello,

in the long term it's much more dangerous to give not enough wormer because the worms will build up resistance against the main ingredient and the wormer will become ineffective.

It also depends - in the case of safeguard - what type of worms you want to kill. For roundworms 2,3 ml/100lbs is enough but for tapeworms, lungworms and/or liver flukes you need a higher dosis.

I checked in a Swiss databank about the dosage and found to my amazement that the recommended dosage for sheep and goats is the same. Every vet here tells us that goats need 1,5 to 2 times the wormer dosage that sheep need.

Fenbendazol has a broad error margin, sheep tolerate 500 times the recommended dosis.

As you don't know the exact weight of your goats and there's a chance that the dosage recommendation isn't correct for goats I would give 4,6-5ml/100lbs AND give more than for the weight per weight tape.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Dosage for:
Fenbendazole wormers 4-6 times the horse dose by weight
Ivermectins 2-4 times the horse dose
Valbazen 1-2 times the horse dose.
Wormers are extremely safe. An ehtire horse dose will not normally harm an adult goat.

Wormer resistant parasites are a big problem so slightly over dosing is better than underdosing.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

The old fire and brimstone preacher placed two glasses on the pulpit: one filled with water and the other with whiskey.

He dropped a worm into each glass. The worm in the water continued to wiggle in a lively fashion while the worm in the whiskey went limp slid to the bottom of the glass.

He then asked the congregation. Now what does that tell you?

A voice from the back shouted, "Drink whiskey and you won't have worms."

To this day there are no whiskey resistant worms. Or so they say. 
Actually they say: To thishh day there are no whishhkey reshishtant wormshh.

And you don't have to estimate size... just lay the little wormy begger right on the tape measure and get an accurate meshurement. Then you don't even need the wormer, just whack him.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Bob Jones said:


> Actually they say: To thishh day there are no whishhkey reshishtant wormshh.


Bob.. sometimes you make me smile and sometimes I fall out of my chair and roll around on the floor for a minute or two.....ROFL!!!


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

With my infamous ignorance of goats, I am glad I can contribute something to the forum.


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## Lindan (Aug 19, 2018)

Bob Jones said:


> The old fire and brimstone preacher placed two glasses on the pulpit: one filled with water and the other with whiskey.
> 
> He dropped a worm into each glass. The worm in the water continued to wiggle in a lively fashion while the worm in the whiskey went limp slid to the bottom of the glass.
> 
> ...


Now that made me laugh till I cried


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