autumn/winter worming

[Orchardbeck]

Can anyone give me advice on what to use at this time of year? I don't worm often, probably once a year and I always end up using Equest Pramox, but I don't know if that is best, its just because I assume it covers most things.

I'm worried about some of the stories other people have about using it, but I have to say i've not noticed any side effects, even though I have been looking out for them.

What exactly are we worming against at this time of year? My mare lives in her own paddock so is low risk, and I know I should really get a worm count done.

 

[0310Star]

I have just changed to worm counting and worming once a year after being on a yard where we wormed far too much (yard worm plan).
I went to Westgate labs for advice, I sent them an email and they were very helpful and told me exactly what to do over the year judging by how my mare is kept.
So I bought a 4 pack of worm counts from them which was something like £30. I do worm counts every 13 weeks, and then worm with Pramox at the end of October.

I am pretty sure at this time of year it is for Encysted Redworm, Tapeworm and Bots?
I am pretty rubbish at this whole worming thing though so someone please correct me if I am wrong

 

[RockinRudolph]

I recently did a count with westgate labs and it came back with a medium reading (but the low side of medium if that makes sense!) so we wormed for red worm and tape worm - it was pramox or the equivalent, the name escapes me now!

 

[Alphamare]

Is there an aleternatobe to pramox because I have been using it for the last couple years. I can't wrap my head around the advice given especially when people say what to worm for. Unfortunately that actually doesbt help I really just need the name of an alternative because I just don't understand the information given online it's increadibly confusing.
Is pramox the only option for this time of year? I don't want to just keep using the same one but as yet no one has actually offered an alternative?

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Ideally you would blood test for tapeworm and only worm for that if there is a positive result, to reduce resistance building up :-( But if you dont get the vet to blood test then you need to worm for it.

The one there is currently no alternative at all to worming for is the encysted small redworm, even those using worm counts must worm for this at least annually as it doesnt reliably show on the counts and if they emerge en masse as they can do, it can be fatal.

Bots I only worm for if there is evidence of a problem, which there never has been,most redwormers will also cover that.

Pramox will cover both tapeworm (ingredient is praziquantel) and encysted redworm (ingredient is moxedectin). However it would be a good idea from time to time to use something different to avoid resistance build up. So using Equest for eg wouldnt help avoid resistance re the redworms as it has the same redworm active ingredient as Pramox. And Equitape has the same ingredient for tapeworm as Pramox.

The following links are the best source of info I have found.

http://wormers-direct.co.uk/ingredients.html
http://www.wormers-direct.co.uk/chemicalgroups.html
http://wormers-direct.co.uk/brands.html