Eprinex for Cattle

I deloused the goats today.  All of them.  It didn't take very long.  Asha thought that there was some sort of conspiracy against her and she wanted nothing to do with it.  I finally tricked her in the pen by just scratching her head from across the feeder for awhile and then dosing the back of her neck with the other hand.  I'm sure Lilo thought that I was planning to milk her so she ran, but I caught her.

I thought I'd share some information about delousing goats.  Most goat owners have found that there are really very few products that are specifically labelled for use with goats.  This is a frustration felt by many.  The only thing that I have found to combat it, is to learn how to use drugs that are labelled for other livestock successfully with goats.

An example of this is dolouser.  I have used Co-Ral before, but there is a withdrawl period for milk and meat.  A friend suggested Eprinex Pour-On by Ivomec.  It has no withdrawl period for meat or milk and is very effective with biting lice on goats.  It is meant to handle internal and external parasites in cattle, but it only takes care of the external ones on goats.
The dosage is the same because it is determined by weight.  You won't need the huge syringe in the box, but you can use a small syringe minus the needle for administration.  1cc (1ml) per 22lbs.  My smaller goats are about 50 pounds, so I used a little over 2ccs.  My larger goats are around 125 pounds so I used around 5ccs.  The only one that I'm not sure about is the baby.  He's nowhere close to 22lbs yet, but if I don't treat him, then he will be the only safe port in the storm for the lice...and I hate to see him crawling with the things.  I dosed him with a 1/2cc on the back of his butt...just a drop.

You are supposed to pour the medicine from neck to tail down the center of the back.  Part the fur and make sure it makes contact with the skin.  It works just like the flea drops you use for your dogs.  I prefer to wear gloves when I do this because inevitably I get some on my skin and, well, I just don't want it on me.  I found that with most of my goats, I can walk right up to them and while I scratch their ears with one hand, I can dose them with the other by running the syringe against the grain of their fur, thus parting it down to the skin.  You don't want to be in the middle of a dosage and have the goat run off so make sure to do it quick.

Again, a suggestion from the goat guru, I will be treating my herd three times, not twice.  I will make sure that the distance between doses is no more than 14 days, because that's when the lice hatch.  Doing it three times will make sure to catch anyone that didn't die in the first two rounds.  Wish me luck!