Worm egg counts, tiny bit of research (sorry!)

[MrA]

Do you use faecal worm egg counts as part of your worming routine?

What sways you to choose the company you currently use for this if you do.

And if you don't use worm egg counts, what's stopping you?

I'm pretty much ready to start my little worm counting business now, I'm not a qualified amtra rama yet but I think my results are consistent, matching samples sent off to recognised labs.

I'm only looking to do some local yards, to be honest even if I just get a few regular clients I'll be more than happy as not looking to make money from it, I'd more just like to get some positive reviews and get the business slowly started.

I'm going to be competitively priced at maximum £4 a sample (less if I do more horses on the same yard) and perhaps charge a £1 fee to go and collect samples if needed. Yards are all very local to ales yard! I'm also considering giving a small amount of the cost of each sample to charity, I was thinking the grass sickness fund.

I'm just a bit worried my scientific background isn't as strong as some other companies out there. Poo post for example the owner states a bulk analysis qualification in their about me bit.

Anyway I'm waffling, thanks for any answers to the questions at the top!

 

[Mary Poppins]

My initial thought is that you shouldn’t price yourself too low. This is for 2 reasons. Firstly, why shouldn’t you make money out of this? You have a degree and you are providing a service that people will pay for. Secondly, if you price yourself too low then people might not take you seriously or think you are proving a good service. Have confidence in your own ability and ask for a fair and competitive payment.

 

[carthorse]

I have in the past with Jim and Little Un who were only wormed as needed. I tended to use my vet to do them as it was quick and easy, no hanging around in the post for days.

I started to with Luka but now that he lives out with others it's very difficult to get a sample when I want one. Popping him in a stable for a few hours against his wishes is likely to end up with a broken door or injured horse, and tying him up for hours waiting isn't ideal either. It's less hassle just to worm him.

 

[chunky monkey]

Im being thick, explain the poo post sentence to me please.

Ive only ever had 2 samples taken that was 6 years ago when i got Billy. I was talking to my vet one day and said id never had it done, didnt even know how much was needed. I explained that they were kept separate in the field. Poo picked daily. I only casually worm a couple of times a year. So he persuaded me to have it done. He came into the field we collected one off chunkys side, one from billy.
Chunky came back low, billys was a little high, so he advised i worm billy. Bare in mind he was young and i dont think id had him long so who knows what grazing he had been subjected too. Really i suppose i should have had it redone to check the wormer had worked.

But the fact chunky was low showed me that my field management was right. I would be interested in having it done more but i think the vets do charge a fair bit even though they do it in house. Its not that much and i think i should have it done once a year. Id also be interested to see if it varied throughout the session. I think some vets offer a package of two worm counts a year, teeth checks etc for an upfront cost. Ive never bothered as there wasnt a huge saving.

Have you done any counts on sheep and cows. Weve never had it done. I do have set times i worm the sheep ie after lambing as they apparently get a higher worm burden but never had it checked.

 

[newforest]

Do you use faecal worm egg counts as part of your worming routine?Yes

What sways you to choose the company you currently use for this if you do.
It's a package that the vet offers. You can sign up for bronze, silver or gold. They send me everything I need, if I need it. And it goes on her file

 

[newforest]

Im being thick, explain the poo post sentence to me please.

Ive only ever had 2 samples taken that was 6 years ago when i got Billy. I was talking to my vet one day and said id never had it done, didnt even know how much was needed. I explained that they were kept separate in the field. Poo picked daily. I only casually worm a couple of times a year. So he persuaded me to have it done. He came into the field we collected one off chunkys side, one from billy.
Chunky came back low, billys was a little high, so he advised i worm billy. Bare in mind he was young and i dont think id had him long so who knows what grazing he had been subjected too. Really i suppose i should have had it redone to check the wormer had worked.

But the fact chunky was low showed me that my field management was right. I would be interested in having it done more but i think the vets do charge a bit even though they do it in house. Its not that much and i think i should have it done once a year. Id also be interested to see if it varied throughout the session.

Have you done any counts on sheep and cows. Weve never had it done. I do have set times i worm the sheep ie after lambing as they apparently get a higher worm burden but never had it checked.

Poo Post is the name of a company that does samples.

 

[chunky monkey]

Thank NF, i didnt realise there was a specific company with that name. I knew there are companies that you can send poo off to in the post thats why it didnt make any sense. OAP syndrome.

 

[newforest]

Thank NF, i didnt realise there was a specific company with that name. I knew there are companies that you can send poo off to in the post thats why it didnt make any sense. OAP syndrome.

If someone asked me who they could get to do a sample, I would say the vet or Westgate.
I guess it's people knowing who exists. I hadn't heard of them either, I looked it up.

 

[Lollykay]

We do things a little different in the U.S.

1. Take fecals to the vet who either sends them off to Texas A&M university (that’s where my vet sends them), or the vet clinic has the equipment to read them. I prefer Texas A&M as whomever read my horses fecals the last time mis-read them and the vet hesitatingly agreed. I have never in my life ever had a horse with an egg count of one thousand; I’m pretty sure there was an extra zero added on that read

2. When I had four horses, I’m had thought of buying the equipment to read my own horses fecals but never did.

3. I generally do fecals in the spring only. This year I’m not spending the money, not to mention the price of gasoline to drive the samples 30 rough miles. Fecal counts do NOT show tapeworms or bots, so even if the count comes back low-to-none, I still de-worm to be sure I am attacking any tapes or bots they might have.

My horses are home on large acreage so they won’t be de-wormed again until November or December, maybe even January because a true “killing frost” where I live may not happen until January.

3.1 It’s a scientific fact that worms are becoming resistant to worm meds, so in my case de-worming twice yearly is sufficient and the vets agree

 

[diplomaticandtactful]

I use westgate and do two tests a year and worm according to them, apart from doing the standard tapeworm worming and equest at each end of year

 

[MrA]

Thanks everyone for the interesting responses.

I'm hoping to keep the cost of my tests low to encourage more people to use egg counts, because so many yards round here just use routine worming. That being said once I qualify as an amtra rama I will likely increase or offer more expensive option that includes advice.

In the long long term I would like to make money and turn this into a second income but I'm realistic that that may take a long time and not even happen.

Think the biggest thing going from what many of you have said is to get my name out there and advertise my service.

You can get saliva tests for tapeworm now. We are lucky in this local area that we really don't get affected by bot flies but obviously if owners are unsure they can discuss any of this with their vets.

 

[Mary Poppins]

To answer your other questions, I used to do a worm count 3 times per year between March and October, but didn't bother during the winter. This was based on the advice from my vet. My vet included the worm counts in Ben's care package so I have no idea how much they would cost individually. One thing that I would have found helpful is a reminder telling me when the next count was due. Quite often I would do one in March and aim to do another in June, but this would slip my mind and I would end up nearer September which was then too close to the final one in October. If I had been sent a reminder for the June count this would have helped me.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

I do Fecal count s. For the horses and goats thru my vet. I generally get the results later in the day

 

[PePo]

I do fecal counts and salivia testing and use Westgate Labs. Love their service, quick turn around, advice given and that they send reminders.

Are you a RAMA/Suitably Qualified Person to give worming advice if they then do need worming @Ale? That's a huge plus point for using Westgate for me, is that through their SQP's I can get tailored advice based on P's long term medical conditions (he has metabolic conditions that can be triggered by worming), time of year etc if I do need to worm. I probably wouldn't use someone that wasn't in all honesty.

Good luck with it Hope you make it a success!

 

[newforest]

To answer your other questions, I used to do a worm count 3 times per year between March and October, but didn't bother during the winter. This was based on the advice from my vet. My vet included the worm counts in Ben's care package so I have no idea how much they would cost individually. One thing that I would have found helpful is a reminder telling me when the next count was due. Quite often I would do one in March and aim to do another in June, but this would slip my mind and I would end up nearer September which was then too close to the final one in October. If I had been sent a reminder for the June count this would have helped me.

Mine text me when they want one doing.

 

[newforest]

I do fecal counts and salivia testing and use Westgate Labs. Love their service, quick turn around, advice given and that they send reminders.

Are you a RAMA/Suitably Qualified Person to give worming advice if they then do need worming @Ale? That's a huge plus point for using Westgate for me, is that through their SQP's I can get tailored advice based on P's long term medical conditions (he has metabolic conditions that can be triggered by worming), time of year etc if I do need to worm. I probably wouldn't use someone that wasn't in all honesty.

Good luck with it Hope you make it a success!

This is another reason why I am with the vet they've got all her health info and anything that needs discussing I would go to them or the farrier.

 

[MrA]

I am training to be a SQP yes, not yet qualified so currently would advise them to speak to their vet or another SQP until I am qualified.

 

[newforest]

Have you got a website, are you planning on having a Facebook page?
And depending on what advice you plan on giving you could get more qualifications if you wanted to.

I think we all know how hard it is to offer advice on a forum to people and horses we've not met. The usual jist is to suggest people speak to a professional.
I think if you plan on doing local yards, then your research needs to be at those local yards?

 

[MrA]

I have a Facebook page yes and a few people follow me currently. I've spoken to lots of people in real life too about this and got feedback, just always helpful to hear other bits and pieces from everyone

 

[Kite_Rider]

My initial thought is that you shouldn’t price yourself too low. This is for 2 reasons. Firstly, why shouldn’t you make money out of this? You have a degree and you are providing a service that people will pay for. Secondly, if you price yourself too low then people might not take you seriously or think you are proving a good service. Have confidence in your own ability and ask for a fair and competitive payment.

This is spot on, something my college lecturer told me many, many years ago when I set up my gardening business.
Most people just see the end result but there is a lot more than the end result to consider when setting a price.