Hi, I know its been a while but today I will share another farm tip with you. A little advice on what each type of animal needs in regards to vet care. Allow me to address one very important point. Do you have a reliable vet that you can count on to help give medical attention to your sick animals? If you don’t, find one ASAP.
Horses need frequent visits from a farrier (about every 6-8 weeks), if they don’t wear shoes they still need their hooves trimmed. They need annual vet checks, which should include: teeth checks, vaccinations (ask your vet what shots are needed for your area), and a coggins test. Some common vaccines for horses are: West Nile, Rabies, Tetanus, Strangles*, EHV* (equine herpes virus), influenza*, and there are others. Horses also need worming. Talk to your vet to set up a worming plan that’s right for your horse(s).
Goats and sheep need pretty much the same care as horses with a few exceptions: no teeth care and different vaccines. There are a couple different vaccines for goats, on our farm we do one, the CDT, but talk to your vet to see if more are needed for your herd. Sheep need a CDT annually too. Be sure to check their goat and sheep hooves and clip them if necessary. Check the FAMACHA score regularly and keep worms under control. Talk to your vet about worming plans.
Donkeys need the same type of annual care as horses. One note, not every farrier is willing to trim donkeys hooves so be sure yours is willing to do donkeys.
Cows need a CDT just like sheep and goats. The only challenge is dealing with their size. You can use oral worming methods but because they weigh so much they would require a lot of it and it isn’t that easy to get a drencher in their mouth. For convenience, you can buy pour on wormer. It takes less time to pour it on than to figure out how to shove a syringe in a cows mouth.
* – If you don’t trailer your horses anywhere and they are not exposed to other horses that travel, your horse(s) may not need these vaccines. Ask your vet what vaccines are needed for your area and purpose
Thanks for reading!
Big Green Acres 