:: neighborly advice

Equine Nutrition

The cooler weather is among us and we should all be thinking of our horse's nutrition. As you look at your horses, you may notice the pesky yellow specks typically located on their legs. This is a sign of bot fly eggs, and therefore a reminder to worm your horses.

We should all consider a good rotation of horse dewormers to prevent resistance, as well as to cover all of the parasitic problems. Rotating dewormers will ensure better coverage against strongyles, ascarides, pinworms, and bots. In addition, proper application is essential, so please know your horses approximate weight and consider your horse's environment, climate and population density, because under dosing is a waste of money and may possibly lead to health issues. This will also factor into frequency of application, such as a range from every 4 months with a paste and/or daily with a feed-through wormer.

At the Mercantile we can supply you with many of you horse nutritional needs, so stop in and ask a team member to help you develop a horse-deworming program.