I think the timing you mentioned tracks with my experience too... winter tends to be more hay or possible indoor feeding, and less new fresh grass with new worms coming in. I love feeding our sheep pumpkins and they enjoy them too. But it’s not my only “tool” in the tool belt, if that makes sense against worms.
100% on the diverse diet point - goats and I assume sheep seem to thrive on diversity of mineral and phytochemical inputs. It amazes me how they know what they need, and will even check 4 different minerals until they find the right one, or sniff and nibble at various "toxic" plants but never hurt themselves when given enough choice. I get the waste from a local health food store that sells produce, and they like quite a few vegetables. The whole is likely more than the sum of its part - maybe the wives tale originates from a time when people were more in tune with seasons and forage, and like you said the fall harvest is the time of lessened burden as well as harvest of all sorts of vegetables and garden trimmings that may have benefited the animals.
Hey PJ...from Oz, many thanks for your efforts in putting this vid together. My experience somewhat reflects yours - I'd heard about pumpkin seeds as a dewormer and thought "What a great find!" However, I could never locate any info on dosing rates and this sparked some doubts. Further searching on my part failed to reveal any legitimate academic research that supported the anecdotal evidence...indeed, the only research / literature I could locate indicated the opposite, i.e., that pumpkin products did not provide any measurable parasite control. Conversation with a couple of vet friends resulted in probably the best advice...keep the pumpkin up to them (this will at least contribute to a robust and healthy digestive system) and faecal test regularly. Personally, I have no objection to "chemical" (whatever that means - everything is a chemical) dewormers - my focus is healthy animals free of parasite burden. Cheers mate...
Tannins, garlic, black walnut, ginger, thyme, wormwood (never to be used while pregnant,) and especially cayenne. Only works for internal parasites though - usually aimed at barber pole/coccidiosis and I've seen success with round worm. Comfrey is effective for liver flukes. Check out fiasco farms - many useful posts on the subject. I still copper bolus since barber pole is such an issue in this area, and have never used a chemical dewormer. These should be last case measures though - healthy animals from good stock and proper minerals are the first line of defense, as well as rotating pasture and resting for long enough.
Our Dorpers won’t touch pumpkin! Whyyyyyyh???? We drench with garlic for tape worm and copper sulphate for barberpole. Works better than the vet recommendation.
Garlic drench for the win! Especially when you do it preventatively. If you want your sheep to eat more pumpkin maybe mix a treat onto it, like alfalfa pellets, oats, or some blackstrap molasses. But truthfully, eating pumpkin won't do much in the way of parasite resistance. Garlic (which you are already doing) is a far better solution. But if you want to just feed them stuff so nothing goes to waste put some oats on top and they'll figure it out.
The original mistranslation came from the book The Web That Has No Weaver. The subject of the book is Traditional Chinese Medicine. The word that should have been used, for American readers, is Melon. Melons, such as Honeydew and Cantaloupe, tend to be somewhat higher in enzyme activity than pumpkins and much more seasonal. There are other books on the subject of Traditional Chinese Medicine that mention pumpkins, melons, gourds, cucumbers, and squash, all part of the same plant family, but, never give the exact Latin terminology. So, it's anybody's guess what the specific plant variety is supposed to be.
@@homesteadingwithPJ i use garlic chopped up into there treats maybe 4 times a year and i was looking into growing worm wood for deworming along with garlic.
I would think that the rough fiber of the pumpkin seed shells might help scrape out some parasites. My friends with a poultry farm use pumpkins
I think the timing you mentioned tracks with my experience too... winter tends to be more hay or possible indoor feeding, and less new fresh grass with new worms coming in.
I love feeding our sheep pumpkins and they enjoy them too. But it’s not my only “tool” in the tool belt, if that makes sense against worms.
Agreed!
100% on the diverse diet point - goats and I assume sheep seem to thrive on diversity of mineral and phytochemical inputs. It amazes me how they know what they need, and will even check 4 different minerals until they find the right one, or sniff and nibble at various "toxic" plants but never hurt themselves when given enough choice. I get the waste from a local health food store that sells produce, and they like quite a few vegetables. The whole is likely more than the sum of its part - maybe the wives tale originates from a time when people were more in tune with seasons and forage, and like you said the fall harvest is the time of lessened burden as well as harvest of all sorts of vegetables and garden trimmings that may have benefited the animals.
Yes! So inspiring how they will graze and browse based on what they need.
Hey PJ...from Oz, many thanks for your efforts in putting this vid together. My experience somewhat reflects yours - I'd heard about pumpkin seeds as a dewormer and thought "What a great find!" However, I could never locate any info on dosing rates and this sparked some doubts. Further searching on my part failed to reveal any legitimate academic research that supported the anecdotal evidence...indeed, the only research / literature I could locate indicated the opposite, i.e., that pumpkin products did not provide any measurable parasite control. Conversation with a couple of vet friends resulted in probably the best advice...keep the pumpkin up to them (this will at least contribute to a robust and healthy digestive system) and faecal test regularly. Personally, I have no objection to "chemical" (whatever that means - everything is a chemical) dewormers - my focus is healthy animals free of parasite burden. Cheers mate...
Thanks for sharing your perspective! Cheers!
Great video. Any insight on other natural dewormers that work better? I have heard tannin rich food and garlic might help.
Tannins, garlic, black walnut, ginger, thyme, wormwood (never to be used while pregnant,) and especially cayenne. Only works for internal parasites though - usually aimed at barber pole/coccidiosis and I've seen success with round worm. Comfrey is effective for liver flukes. Check out fiasco farms - many useful posts on the subject. I still copper bolus since barber pole is such an issue in this area, and have never used a chemical dewormer. These should be last case measures though - healthy animals from good stock and proper minerals are the first line of defense, as well as rotating pasture and resting for long enough.
Well said!
Garlic oil and apple cider vinegar are great to give to your sheep regularly.
I eat the pumpkin and the seeds as well. Outer shell of pumpkin seed very delicious.
Our Dorpers won’t touch pumpkin! Whyyyyyyh????
We drench with garlic for tape worm and copper sulphate for barberpole. Works better than the vet recommendation.
Garlic drench for the win! Especially when you do it preventatively.
If you want your sheep to eat more pumpkin maybe mix a treat onto it, like alfalfa pellets, oats, or some blackstrap molasses. But truthfully, eating pumpkin won't do much in the way of parasite resistance. Garlic (which you are already doing) is a far better solution. But if you want to just feed them stuff so nothing goes to waste put some oats on top and they'll figure it out.
The original mistranslation came from the book The Web That Has No Weaver.
The subject of the book is Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The word that should have been used, for American readers, is Melon.
Melons, such as Honeydew and Cantaloupe, tend to be somewhat higher in enzyme activity than pumpkins and much more seasonal.
There are other books on the subject of Traditional Chinese Medicine that mention pumpkins, melons, gourds, cucumbers, and squash, all part of the same plant family, but, never give the exact Latin terminology.
So, it's anybody's guess what the specific plant variety is supposed to be.
So interesting, I had no idea!
have you heard anything on garlic?
Garlic is great! Much more effective. I pour on garlic oil on their treats in the summer time.
@@homesteadingwithPJ i use garlic chopped up into there treats maybe 4 times a year and i was looking into growing worm wood for deworming along with garlic.
what about zucchin guts