Worm Counts are they worth it?

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nuffield

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Do worm counts only check for one type of worm?
Does anyone know of the prevelence of various types of worm in the horse? mine are all wormed regulally with Equest or Equest Pramox and as they are a closed herd with rotation of pasture I am thinking of having a worm count done to see if i still need to keep worming them frequently. however, if the owrm count only looks at 1 typre I wont know if they have some other sort. But are some worms "rare" anyway?
Peoples tohughts and inputs please.
 
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" as one of my professors used to say.

Just because you have a low count, it does not mean that your horse has a low worm burden. All it means is that they are not shedding eggs at that particular moment.

I would never waste my money on a count.
 
I've just had mine done (4 altogether including friends' 2) all low, but one of mine showed tapeworm eggs! He's separate from my friends' horses.

I'm glad I did it as I wouldn't have known about the tapeworm. I shall worm him and his companion with Equitape, then we'll get all 4 checked again in 8 weeks by abbeydiagnostics (they'll send you loads of info sheets about worms etc).
 
I dont know a great deal about this but I understand that when we keep worming our horses the worms actually build up resistance to the wormer so it no longer works, and the manufacturers have to create a new one.

I have had a worm count done on my horse to prevent worming when not necessary. It came with a full list of instruction and the timing of the test is very important so you are getting a true reading.

It all made sense to me and I will continue to do worm counts. Hope this helps
 
i do a worm count every alternate 12 weeks as it saves pumping chemicals so frequantly into my horse all of ours have come back with no signs of worms but if u just do counts u can never be sure if it,s a true reading as eggs can lay dorment in the horse and not show causing a massive build up therefore womig alternativly with the correct wormer will prevent this happening and at the same time keep you awear of what is happening inside your horse hope this has helped..
 
Tapeworms and eggs do not show on faecal worm counts, how on earth was one seen
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I believe worm counts are worthwhile, and will continue to use tem.
 
Encysted smalll redworm, tapeworms and bots do not show on worm counts.
So we womr for these , and count instead of the interim wormings
Therevby , subject to clear counts, worm twice a year instead of 4 to 8 times.
 
I arranged worm count for the whole yard .We had good results .There were two horses that needed treating one had been very ill earlier in the year with cancer and his count came back very high probably because his resistance was low. He will be treated with another horse that shares the same field they were on a different programme from the rest of the yard which also proves that the previous yard hadnt rotated use of wormer properly.In all we have saved about £10 per horse but will obviously worm for bots redworm and tape later in the year.Why pump your horse full of chemicals if its not needed.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Encysted smalll redworm, tapeworms and bots do not show on worm counts.
So we womr for these , and count instead of the interim wormings
Therevby , subject to clear counts, worm twice a year instead of 4 to 8 times.

[/ QUOTE ]

I do exactly the same, which is pretty much what the reduced worming programmes recommend on sites such as the Westgates laboratories one (as far as I understand it all!).
 
worm egg counts are good cause it lets you know if you have worms or not coz if your horse has no worms and you keep worming your horse will built up a immunity to the wormers the egg count shows every egg/worm apart from bots tape and enysted so if your horse comes back clear worm in november for tape bots and eynsted with equet paromox wait for that to run its cause then get anothger count if thats clear just worm in spring with equitape for tapes again thenjust keep egg counting every 12 to 14 weeks through summer!
 
Just a small point about tapeworm eggs. Although you cannot rely on your counts to detect tapeworm, we still see tape eggs quite frequently and in those cases the horse obviously has to have a tapewormer. The best test is the Elisa blood test with your vet, but most people just worm for tapes routinely.

Worm counts are definitely worth it and your horse is much better having fewer wormers, the correct ones as required, rather than an intensive programme which he probably doesn't need.

Plus of course the good effective wormers we have will stay that way rather than becoming ineffective through over use.

I think most of the posters to this thread are aware of these benefits already.
 
i have heard there is a product you should give after a wormer to help soothe the organs it attacks and a bit of a pick me up. any body heard or know anything about this?
 
thanks for all the replies. i think i'll have a count taken this time then worm with equest pramox in the autumn anyway. i've been using moxidectin for a couple of yrs so in theory they should be pretty burden free but i dont have extensive pasture.
 
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