Worming programme -vs- Worm counts... your experience please!

[Rudey]

Thank you for your replies and opinions Freshman and Brighthair.

Just to clear up a couple of points:

When new horses are in isolation, they are wormed and kept isolated for 7 days. If they do not show signs of worms in their droppings, they are able to join the herd. Regardless of the result, the isolation paddocks are always poo picked.

Our herds have the maximum of 8 horses per field. Each herd has two fields to alternative from, rest one, and graze the other. The fields range between 3 - 6 acres per herd. As horses are moved out of one field, the farmer harrows that field. The field rests and recovers, and we rotate again.

The horses in the fields are of mixed sex, and various ages, anything from 2 - 25 years old. Some horses are kept as pets, and others go out competing.

When I mentioned infected muck, I was referring to muck which had a high worm count in it. The farmer does not want 'high worm count' (infected) muck harrowed back into the fields and thus infecting the land with worms. Obviously we would only ascertain a high worm count if we did worm counts on all of the horses and was proven as a result. At the moment we do not worm count, and follow a worming programme. The farmer harrows our fields due to being on a programme. xx

 

[Rollin]

I don't poo pick I rest and rotate with sheep. I have been 8 months worm free! Poo picking is not essential as long as you can rest your land long enough and add a species that is not infected by worms.

Next year we're going one better and reseeding too - we're going to let the horses graze it right down, almost bare, and then seed on the top. We have a lot of clover and other goodies that I wouldn't want to lose by ploughing.

We have 13 horses and 30 acres so cannot poo pick all the time. We do put foals on clean grazing. My nursery paddock for next April has been on rest for two months. From Nursery foals move to a hayfield so we aim to keep them on clean grass for at least 4-6 months.

My winter grazing was opened four weeks ago - that has been on rest since January and one field cut for hay. We do harrow but I think that high summer temps 30deg and cold mid-winter usually about a month of hard frost help to kill parasites.