Feeding for negative degree weather

[karenkarenn]

I dont think I would know how to approach that one Jolt.
Boy thats tough

[Joltman]

Vet would be able to tell if either there was a worm problem, or if you they are getting antiobiotics, whether that might be problematic.

jm

[LKR]

After eliminating the worming situation, the only thing left might be teeth. Have you checked them??

[bridlewise]

Tonight, the air temp here in North Dakota will reach -20 with windchills hovering at -50. My boys have been thriving in weather like this with nothing more than a run-in shed, free choice hay and the help of a hot beet pulp and molasses mash every night with their grain. I liken the beet pulp and molasses to keeping a Snickers bar in my car for when I might go in the ditch...the molasses gives them the pure sugar energy they need right away (like the chocolate for me) and the pulp gives them fuel for the long cold night (like the nuts!)

One of mine was in Louisiana until mid-November, and is thus without a coat to speak of...he gets blanketed and is actually gaining weight steadily...all systems go for a long winter in the far north!

[surprisewind]

When I look back a few years, I am amazed by what I used to think was necessary. We're originally from a very warm part of california and would blanket when it was "cold". We moved to this part of the country about 6 years ago and have drastically changed the way we respond to weather. In doing so, they actually become more comfortable and started making it through the cold months in better shape. (this of course only pertains to the normal, healthy ones).

Not to say that minimal care is the way to go - it's just that we were causing them more problems than we were fixing.

[griff]

fecal egg counts can be very benficial but that will not find Bots or small red worms that have moved into the intestinal wall and can cause a lot of serious damange when/if they decide to emerge in mass.

Fecal egg count is also not usefull in finding tape worms..

Take a look at going after the inhibited muscosal stages of small red wormes in the colon wall with five consecutive days of double dose Fenbendazole [Panacur or SafeGuard] and later administer a wormer that contains Praziquantel for tape Worms and Ivernectin for the Bots.

Do the five day double dose Fenbendazole first which should clean out everything except bots and tape worms so that when you administer the Ivermection with Praziquantel you do not colic the horse with a huge dead mass of small redworms, tape worms and Bots.

A friend of mine lost a very nice Not For Love filly that died after being administered her first does on Ivermectin with Praziquantel.. Took her to New Bolton and they found a mass of dead parasites at the junction of the small and large intestine, or maybe it was at the junction of the stomach and small intestine.. In any event that junction had ruptured.

I think the lesson here is to keep your foals as clean as possible or at least not to admisister something that will kill every thing at once. And I'm afraid that relying on fecal egg counts for foals does not cut it for me.

griff

[madelyn]

fecal egg counts can be very benficial but that will not find Bots or small red worms that have moved into the intestinal wall and can cause a lot of serious damange when/if they decide to emerge in mass.

Fecal egg count is also not usefull in finding tape worms..

Take a look at going after the inhibited muscosal stages of small red wormes in the colon wall with five consecutive days of double dose Fenbendazole [Panacur or SafeGuard] and later administer a wormer that contains Praziquantel for tape Worms and Ivernectin for the Bots.

Do the five day double dose Fenbendazole first which should clean out everything except bots and tape worms so that when you administer the Ivermection with Praziquantel you do not colic the horse with a huge dead mass of small redworms, tape worms and Bots.

A friend of mine lost a very nice Not For Love filly that died after being administered her first does on Ivermectin with Praziquantel.. Took her to New Bolton and they found a mass of dead parasites at the junction of the small and large intestine, or maybe it was at the junction of the stomach and small intestine.. In any event that junction had ruptured.

I think the lesson here is to keep your foals as clean as possible or at least not to admisister something that will kill every thing at once. And I'm afraid that relying on fecal egg counts for foals does not cut it for me.

griff

The other wormer that is effective against encycted small strongyles (cyathostomes) is moxidectin, which paralyzes the encysted larva. Thus the cyathostomes are killed without erupting, so no mass of dead parasites. Quest Plus contains moxidectin with praziquantel, so is effective for encysted small strongyles and tapeworms. I use it twice a year.

The first wormer we use on foals is pyrantel pamoate (Exodus). We then move on to fenbandazole (Safeguard, Panacur) and then ivermectin. The moxidectin products are only used on horses more than a year old here.

[surprisewind]

Moxidectin is typically not used in underweight horses, either. The chemical is stored in fatty tissues.. when body fat is depleted it stores in areas of the anatomy one really doesn't want extra chemicals floating around in.

[westover]

our weanlings live out 24/7 they do have a run-in & it does get bloody cold.. and the wind chill can be brutal, we are in Ontario (Canada) i feed good hay & Vitamin/ mineral supplement, they have free choice hay, salt and a heated waterer. They look terrific. I have done it this way for a number of years & have always had my weanlings/yearlings winter well.

oh & we do not blanket.

[griff]

Madelyn

It sounds like you advocate leaving the encysted small red worms in place until the foal is old enough to take Moxidectin. I believe that means your foals are going to experience a encysted small strongyles awaking and exiting of the colon wall in their first spring..

I recommend the five consecutive day double dosing with Fenbendazole in the late fall of their weanling year.

griff

[madelyn]

No griff. We use fenbendazole on weanlings.

[griff]

I've read that fenbendazole does nothing for encysted small redworms unless you do a double dose for five consecutive days..

I've never done the five day double dose thing before but have done it to weanlings and in-foal mares this year. It appears small red worms do the most damage when the foal or horse is fairely clean and that some how triggers a mass exiting of encysted small red worms in the spring that can cause serious damage to the colon wall that in extreem cases can cause death.

griff