We dose our livestock, do we dose ourselves?

Fluppen

Hi all.
So, I regularly provide my stock with worm dose, usually based on faecal egg tests. I was recently advised to take a worm dose myself as a preventative measure, I had never even considered it before. Am I the only one? Should we be taking regular worm doses as farmers, are we more exposed?
To be honest, I would be more inclined to take a regular worm dose if I lived in town.

gozunda

Afaik worm burdens in humans have dramatically reduced in the last couple of decades to the point that there are some concerns that low llevels of worm infestations actually aided a healthy gut. Conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and others have been thought to be on the rise because people know often live in fairly sterlie environments. Previously worms helped the gut remain more active or at least thats the theory

I think kids are most at risk from picking up pinworms etc. That said people still get infected by tape worm and roundworms which can have serious consequences. Though another common 'worm' infection - 'ringworm' isn't a worm at all.

Lime Tree Farm

Levamisole was used as an adjuvant to fluorouracil in the treatment for colorectal cancer.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)02214-5/fulltext

J.O. Farmer

Ivermectin is used to treat river blindness. Not a problem here but in parts of Africa it is

https://www.who.int/apoc/onchocerciasis/control/en/

Weirdly when I went looking for the above link I came across one refuting ivermectin being a cure for Covid. Seems unlikely that it would be a cure anyway.

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/ivermectin-is-still-not-a-miracle-cure-for-covid-19-despite-what-you-may-have-read-144569

Earnshaw

Is there such thing as a dose that doesn't kill microbes in the soil when excreted by cattle/sheep?

Tig98

Earnshaw wrote: »

Is there such thing as a dose that doesn't kill microbes in the soil when excreted by cattle/sheep?

Not that im aware

On a lot of the bottles it says keep cattle away from wetland / waterways for a number of weeks because the dung still contains active compounds

Tig98

Earnshaw wrote: »

Is there such thing as a dose that doesn't kill microbes in the soil when excreted by cattle/sheep?

Not that im aware

On a lot of the bottles it says keep cattle away from wetland / waterways for a number of weeks because the dung still contains active compounds

Earnshaw

I've seen a soil expert advise to keep dosed animals in a sacrificial paddock for a minimum of 6 weeks after dosing.

(The presence of Ivermectin in the dung seemingly attracts dung beetles to it before killing them)

Say my name

Earnshaw wrote: »

I've seen a soil expert advise to keep dosed animals in a sacrificial paddock for a minimum of 6 weeks after dosing.

(The presence of Ivermectin in the dung seemingly attracts dung beetles to it before killing them)

Get the brix up in the grass and do your normal rotations, try to wean each calves for longer every year before dosing and I reckon it'll help negate the need for dosing.
Similarly if a calf has the need to get antibiotics while young it'll make it more susceptible to worms for it's entire life.

That's kind of what I'm trying to do.

I've gotten away with not dosing this year's calves yet. It's October now. Last year it was September.
But what started me on noticing a difference was when I put out the basalt on the soil that's why I reckon brix has a lot to do with it.

White Clover

Say my name wrote: »

Get the brix up in the grass and do your normal rotations, try to wean each calves for longer every year before dosing and I reckon it'll help negate the need for dosing.
Similarly if a calf has the need to get antibiotics while young it'll make it more susceptible to worms for it's entire life.

That's kind of what I'm trying to do.

I've gotten away with not dosing this year's calves yet. It's October now. Last year it was September.
But what started me on noticing a difference was when I put out the basalt on the soil that's why I reckon brix has a lot to do with it.

Would you house them now while you're ahead? To avoid the possibility of having to dose in a couple of weeks undoing all your good work.

Say my name

White Clover wrote: »

Would you house them now while you're ahead? To avoid the possibility of having to dose in a couple of weeks undoing all your good work.

Oh God no.

Sure I'm still spraying away so I should have high brix grass till whenever it stops growing.
I've yearling heifers going onto an outfarm in the next few days and the calves will go onto their ground now on the farm and the cows will have the paddocks that the calves were grazing.
The calves will be left out till the grass stops growing or else if it snows.

Way better out than in. Any worms that the heifers had, the calves should get immune to them now I reckon. But I will dose if I have to. But my goal is to have the bord bia book empty..

blackbox

Earnshaw wrote: »

Is there such thing as a dose that doesn't kill microbes in the soil when excreted by cattle/sheep?

How do you avoid killing earthworms?

_Brian

I suppose like livestock we should be treating ourselves based on evidence and symptoms rather than blanket use of medicines if not needed.

PoorFarmer

Just eat pumpkin seeds on a regular basis and should have no problems. Pineapple works too but you can grow pumpkins yourself.

yosemitesam1

Say my name wrote: »

Oh God no.

Sure I'm still spraying away so I should have high brix grass till whenever it stops growing.
I've yearling heifers going onto an outfarm in the next few days and the calves will go onto their ground now on the farm and the cows will have the paddocks that the calves were grazing.
The calves will be left out till the grass stops growing or else if it snows.

Way better out than in. Any worms that the heifers had, the calves should get immune to them now I reckon. But I will dose if I have to. But my goal is to have the bord bia book empty..

Is it molasses you're spraying?

Say my name

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

Is it molasses you're spraying?

And seaweed.
If I could have some LAB in the mix it probably would finish it off.

Having said that it seems to be working somewhat.
The rain seems to be washing it in even though it was planned as a foliar. What I have noticed though with the rain washing it in is that the ground is more free draining. The microbes and microbe food must be going deeper into the soil.

I had the cows on a paddock last night and with all the crappy weather I was expecting a mud bath this morning. There wasn't a mark on the paddock.