The Simple Ways to Prevent and Treat Parasites in Horses
Parasites can become a major problem for farmers with livestock. Any animal can become infected with parasites and some farmers can tell when an animal has parasites.
However, some animals that are infected don't show any signs until it is too late to treat them. It is a good idea to prepare for parasites even if you don't have them. There are some simple ways to prevent and treat parasites. Some ways are just by keeping everything clean and another way is good management of pastures.
A parasite is an organism that lives inside or on its host. The parasite will either get its food from the host or the host will be its food source. They can cause the host to become infected with diseases, which in some cases could lead to death if not treated properly. Almost any kind of animal including humans can get parasites. Livestock like horses can be very prone to getting parasites. There are over 150 parasites that can affect horses. Some examples are bloodworms, roundworms, stomach worms, liver flukes, lungworms, and bots.
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It is sometimes possible to determine what kind of parasite horses have by looking at their behavior. Stomach worms will destroy the stomach lining to access the bloodstream. This can cause colic in horses and sometimes death. Lung worms will irritate the bronchioles and cause a reaction with mucus and white blood cells. This will cause horses to cough. Liver flukes will create tunnels in the liver causing scarring as the body tries to heal. The scar tissue will not be functional and the liver will lose parts of its normal function. This includes filtering the blood of toxins and waste. Not being able to get rid of these toxins will cause a horse to act depressed. The key to controlling and managing parasites is to change their life cycle. Interrupting the life cycle of parasites can be done by keeping the environment where the horses live clean.
Keeping stalls clean is mandatory when trying to keep parasites away. All the manure should be taken out of the stalls and put in a compost pile or in a pasture horses will not be grazing. Larvae in the composted manure will die when enough heat is created. If the manure cannot be put in a compost pile spreading the manure by dragging the pasture to let the sun dry it out will help kill the parasites. Vacuuming or picking up manure from pastures is effective too however it can be expensive and very time consuming. Grouping horses by age is also a good way to limit parasites. It minimizes younger horses from coming in contact with heavy larval infestations. It can be hard to control parasites in a herd of horses with all different ages. Feeding in buckets or containers instead of on the ground also limits parasites. Another way to help control parasites is by rotating different types of animals to graze on pastures. This will help decrease the number of parasites because most parasites only feed off one type of host and will die out if that host is no longer there. Removing grazing animals entirely from the pastures will also limit the number of parasites and help with over grazing.
Even after taking extreme precaution some horses will still manage to get parasites, because of this all horses need to be on a routine deworming schedule. All foals between four and eight weeks of age need to be dewormed and then every 30 to 60 days after that. Determining if a horse has parasites or not can sometimes be hard. Many horses that have parasites look healthy and show no signs of sickness. A horse that is fat and has a nice shiny coat can still be sick. However other horses show major signs of parasites like colts and younger horses. Some signs of infestation are dull or rough hair coat, decreased stamina, weight loss, hair loss, colic, or loss of appetite. One of the easiest ways to tell if a horse has parasites is by doing a fecal examination. However, worms are not visible in the manure, only the eggs can be seen under a microscope. The manure needs to be taken to a local vet and they will be able to tell if the horse has parasites. The vet will count the number of eggs per gram and then recommend what deworming product will work best. It is also a good idea to do a fecal examination after deworming horses to see if the dewormer has worked.
Everyone wants to keep their horses happy and healthy, and this mean free of all diseases and sickness including parasites. Parasite infestation can be a major problem if not treated correctly, but with the use of proper management and deworming they can be kept under control.
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The Simple Ways to Prevent and Treat Parasites in Horses. (2023, Feb 23). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-simple-ways-to-prevent-and-treat-parasites-in-horses/
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