Wormers - I really wouldn't be surprised.

tallyho! said:
God forbid if you're a barefooter AND you worm count... Hippy alert! :D
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Not guilty!

I worm twice a year for tapeworm and once for encysted redworm and drastically understock the grazing. I used to graze sheep but they made the grass too sweet and stopped the variety of wild flowers and herbs that I have now, one of which, sheep/red sorrel is a natural wormer.
 
Natural wormers are available but I haven't gone down that route... yet! Crikey, I really woud be a proper hippy then...
 
Murphy88 said:
From a vets point of view, unfortunately we have now reached a point with anthelmintic resistance where this is the only logical option. It is not just a case of being a bit careful until they come up with a new drug - there are no new drugs, and years of poor worming practices have basically well and truly screwed us over for the future.

It will not mean a visit every 8-12 weeks.
1) You shouldn't be worming that often anyway. FECs should take the place of worming for most of the year, only a minority of horses carry the worm burdens in a herd and these are the only ones that should need worming.
2) Prescription only means the animal has to be under a vets care, so as long as we have seen it within the last 6-12 months (vaccinations etc) then you won't require a visit.

My practice makes a loss on several of the wormers we sell. But it is the only way to compete with online places and tack shops, and we would rather our clients came to us and are sold the correct wormer than go to a tack shop and buy the wrong one. At my practice, clients are sold the correct wormer for their horse, they do not pick which wormer to buy, we tell them what they need. If SQPs had increased training and did this reliably then it wouldn't be so bad, but as already mentioned, so many people buy unsuitable wormers from tack shops and not all SQPs are advising them.
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I've one who doesn't have vaccinations due to age, the other due to only being a companion. The other sees the vet every 3 months anyway, so that's not a problem. My vet charges £80 for call out. I don't even keep all mine at the same yard, so that's £80 x 3 every 6 months.
I wouldn't mind, but my local vets is only ten miles away, and they're going to make an absolute killing out of these call out charges from people who wouldn't ordinarily have the vet out unless they needed them. This is going to kill off small charities, and cause major problems to horses whose owners cannot afford the call out fees so regularly!

They can jog on. I'll continue with worm counts and just try and get natural wormers.
 
Foxhunter, re the letter in H&H. Yes that was a sad case but it was the advice the owner had been given which was wrong not the method. I wrote to H&H about that but they did not publish sadly.
There is no alternative to using FECs, they give the best control. But the advice must be right to support them. Everything I have ever written on FEC based programmes emphasises the need to worm for both tapeworm and encysted redworm.
As I understand it the person who wrote the letter said they had not wormed for two years as they had clear counts? Who on earth advised that very reckless course of action?
We have a team of experienced SQP's here who give free, correct advise on worming whenever it is required. No need to pay for expensive programmes or to get it so badly wrong. I can't say who we are as it would be deemed advertising, but a major part of my job is education.
 
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