Rotational Worming for Horses
Author: Aussie Vet Products Date Posted:9 June 2014
Rotation worming is the process of changing your horses worming product periodically or more specifically the active ingredient in the wormer from one year to the next.
The reason for rotational worming is to prevent gastro intestinal worms from building up a resistance to a particular active ingredient and the product not being effective. Whilst rotational worming is encouraged, what it is not advised is to change your wormer each time you worm, as this exposes the worm to a number of active ingredients and could lead to future problems.
When establishing your rotational worming program you need to be sure to check the listed active ingredient on the product packaging. Most horse wormers on the market are classified into 2 categories: ‘mectin’ based active ingredients or the Benzimidazole group of active ingredients that usually end in ‘azole’.
Therefore if you are using a ‘mectin’ based wormer for one year you will need to rotate to a product whose main active ingredient is an ‘azole’. For example if you were using a product such as Equimax that contains Abamectin and praziquantel you would rotate with Stratgey T wormer which contains active ingredients Oxfensazole and pyrantel Embonate.
As well as developing an effective rotational worming program it is also important to ensure good pasture management such as cleaning up excess poo at least twice a week. This will help stop the spread of parasites from contaminated faeces.
Check out the table below that shows the most popular worming products and their active ingredients groups by colour. This chart is essential when designing a successful rotational worming program.
