# De-worming wethers before butchering-herbal wormer



## Breezy-Trail (Sep 16, 2011)

A friend of ours found out we were going to butcher a wether and asked if I de-wormed him. She thought it might not be good to butcher an animal for meat without de-worming.

I don't have any of the "real wormers" on hand, only the herbal wormer.
This is made to put 1-2 teaspoons on top of grain once a week as a preventative mostly.

I am thinking that to go some powerful worming I should give 3 parts grain and 1 part herbal wormer. Would this be good?


He liked it and ate most of it. There was only a couple teaspoons left and put that in his water (he drank some..didn't seem to mind).

Also he has these little black spots on his tail area and ears and a couple other places. These are in not so hairy places and he has had them for as long as he was here. Any ideas what these are?


----------



## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

Wormers are poison. I expect there are meat withdrawal times on some of them. The herbal wormers would probably be all right, but really they are poison too. If they work. Why would anyone want to do this? Seems to me like you are talking about putting poison in your meat before you eat it.

Jan


----------



## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

For ivermectin the withdrawal time for cattle is 35 days - in other words you are not supposed to slaughter them until after 35 days from the last time they got it.

Jan


----------



## jodief100 (Jan 15, 2011)

lissablack said:


> Wormers are poison. I expect there are meat withdrawal times on some of them. The herbal wormers would probably be all right, but really they are poison too. If they work. Why would anyone want to do this? Seems to me like you are talking about putting poison in your meat before you eat it.
> 
> Jan


X2, worming requires a withdrawal time. Herbal and "natural" dewormers are chemicals too, just naturally occurring ones. Wormwood, which is the primary ingredient in most herbal dewormers is a powerful hallucinogenic. You do NOT want that in your meat.


----------



## Breezy-Trail (Sep 16, 2011)

Didn't know it was considered poison....
I wasn't going to do him till the first of december.
Which I still wouldn't be enough.


Its got fennel, wormwood and other herbs as well as garlic I believe.

I wouldn't want to do anything that would hurt him.
I just don't see how 1 teaspoon is going to do anything really.

opps now I feel stupid...


----------



## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

I don't think it would hurt as long as you allow for a full withdrawal time. 
I do eat deer meat that we bow hunt. They are not dewormed and I never would worry about it. Worms are not in the meat and as long as you are using safe butchering and handling methods contamination is nil.


----------



## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

I think you should be all right with the first of December if you don't do any more. Don't feel stupid, it takes a long time to learn this stuff.


----------



## potentialfarm (Apr 11, 2011)

Jesse, you said absolutely nothing that even remotely sounded stupid! It's just that everyone's opinions differ & that's part of what's so great about TGS: NO question is stupid, and we can all have our differing opinions as to how things should be done.

BTW, here's my 2 cents... 

The herbal wormers are not "poison" in the same sense that chemical wormers ARE poison. The herbals create an uncomfortable environment for the parasites to "hang around" in ~ so they'd rather leave the premises. :wink:

What herbal wormer are you using? The one I use has 2 different parts & the stuff w/the wormwood is only given every 6-8weeks. Otherwise, the formula they get on a weekly basis doesn't contain any wormwood.

IF you are concerned about the miniscule amount of wormwood that the herbal wormer may contain, then don't give it to him during the week before butcher.



freedomstarfarm said:


> Worms are not in the meat and as long as you are using safe butchering and handling methods contamination is nil.


Well said! :thumb:


----------



## JessaLynn (Aug 30, 2009)

I second what potentialfarm said.We use an herbal wormer aswell and there is no withdrawl time with formula 2 that does not contain the wormwood.Now I do know they say not to drink the milk when wormwood is used so I wonder if it's safe to consume the meat? I think as long as you allow some withdrawl time then it should be just fine.At any rate I feel safer with an herbal wormer more so then a chemical one.Just my op though


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Not a stupid question at all! 
Most chemical wormers &meds have a 30+ day withdrawl period. The warnings for those are for "standard" meat animals.
Goats have a much higher metabolism so you should be just fine.
We personally dont worm at all for those destined for the freezer.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> I don't think it would hurt as long as you allow for a full withdrawal time.


 I agree ... with any wormer.... withdrawal time is crucial....


----------

