About the garlic…..Currently we are using up two very large jars of minced garlic from Sam’s Club.  We put 3 heaping tablespoons through a magic bullet blender and use that as a drench.   As soon as these jars are gone, we will be switching to Garlic Barrier.

Garlic Barrier is a 99.3% pure garlic product available by the gallon.  They have an interesting page ( garlic deworming of sheep )on different ways to use garlic as a wormer for sheep and goats.   Another great thing is that this company is offering free shipping if you order by phone and identify yourself as a sheep or goat owner.  It seems that quite a few shepherds have switched from blending their own drench to this product simply for the convenience.  Plus, it’s pretty economical….especially if you compare it to the cost of chemical wormers.

Internal parasites have always been a source of debate and discussion with regard to sheep and goats.  For approx. 12 years we have wormed our sheep only as needed based on the “eyelid method” or what is now called FAMACHA.   We have never abused chemical wormers or other medications simply because we knew that abuse leads to lowered efficacy.  Unfortunately all our efforts have been for nothing.  This year, for the first time, we have encountered worm problems that none of the chemical wormers will kill.  Not all the animals have been affected.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  Some lambs are problematic and some not.  We have had a couple of 3 yr olds affected when the rest of the flock is fine.  When veterinary medicine could not offer us any help, we turned to the internet and began researching for alternatives.  At around 3am one morning, we encountered the SARE research grant regarding the use of garlic as a wormer.  Intrigued, I began to google more specifically–for garlic as a wormer.  That’s when I found the organic wormer pages by a well respected sheep and wool producer, Melissa at Skylines Romneys.  Frankly, we were thrilled and hopeful.  (Well, Mrs. White was hopeful.  I was skeptical.)   We dosed a 3 yr ewe for 3 days with garlic.  On the 5th day, we had the vet do a fecal.  She went from “eggs too numerous to count” before the garlic, to “no eggs present on flotation and 2 eggs present on a smear”.  Not bad at all.

Frankly, this has caused us to do a whole lot of thinking about management practices.  Here are our conclusions.

1. We will begin to top dress the pastures with kelp to build the nutrient base in the grass.
2. We will begin to top dress the pastures with diatomaceous earth to reduce ant & grub populations but also, again, to build the soil.
3. We are adding DE to our mineral mix.
4. We will alter our worming practices to routinely use garlic.  We have always selected breeding stock for worm resistance and culled all animals that showed lower resistance.  The use of garlic will help us make better decisions so that we can continue to build the inherent health of the flock.