Parasitic control using DE

[Ebenezer]

research on DE

 

[faster horses]

You can find literally hundreds of articles on the Internet.
"Most" everyone agrees that it works in a dry state but whenever it gets wet they said it loses its ability. But if you ever look at it under a microscope it looks like a wicked ass cocklebur !

Would you say it has to get 'wet' in the internals of an animal?
I'm just curious. I realize if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it works for you, great.
Ebenezer's 'research' seems to bear out what happened to my friends horse.

 

[JJColvin]

Yes sir feeding it to them.
DE is already used in the feed industry for anti-caking properties.
We Dust our cattle with it and yes we feed it to them. We have no bugs of any kind on our cattle and no parasites when they're processed I always ask the processor to check.
Our cattle have a beautiful shiny coat and no health issues at all...can't say it's all because of DE....but I don't change something unless it broke.
I've also read that it does not work internally but I've also read many articles where they say it does work.
But my opinion is that it's harmless so why not try it internally, worst case is once it comes out in the manure it'll dry out and kill maggots in the manure.
I know for a fact that kills a lot of things because I dust around our barn with it and we find all kinds of dead scorpions, worms and other bugs.

The way DE works is that it is such a fine granular particle primarily used in flour and corn mills. It's mixed in the feed or whatever and the DE will coat the bodies of insects (weevils) so that when they move against each other it generates a heat that kills them. Try mixing it in with a big bag of feed with weevils and within a day you can feel the heat on the feed bag and see the dead weevils on top. Other than that I don't see how it has any effect internally on parasites as it is an inert mineral.

 

[Travlr]

The way DE works is that it is such a fine granular particle primarily used in flour and corn mills. It's mixed in the feed or whatever and the DE will coat the bodies of insects (weevils) so that when they move against each other it generates a heat that kills them. Try mixing it in with a big bag of feed with weevils and within a day you can feel the heat on the feed bag and see the dead weevils on top. Other than that I don't see how it has any effect internally on parasites as it is an inert mineral.

That's interesting. I'd like to try that.
I've always heard the DE has sharp spines that gets in the insect's joints and punctures them so they dehydrate.

 

[Otha]

I assume when worms are mentioned you're talking about internal worms? I wouldn't think DE is any effective or my environmentally friendly than chemical wormers if it kills earth worms like chemical wormers do. Anyone know what it does to earth worms?

 

[Lucky_P]

DE has never killed a worm or other internal parasite INSIDE an animal. Period. Full stop.

A friend of mine who is a parasitologist @ TAMU did a study where they formulated a ration for goats that was 5%DE...hard to get them to eat it that high...made fecal balls day and crumbly, and they had lower survival of parasite larvae inside fecal pellets, but no evidence that it reduced egg counts in fecals.

 

[TexasBred]

I'm not saying it does work because i dont know. But have read others speaking to its effectiveness somewhere.

If it became known that it did indeed work, lots of chemicals would be idle on the shelf. Similar to other facets in life.

You won't hear that it works because it's not approved for treatment of internal parasites. That also the reason feed companies will only claim that it is an anti-caking agent. They do the same for ingredients put in feed to bind aflatoxin. It is approved and is effective for control of insects with exoskeleton. CausticBurno it will kill those pesky fire ants but only those that get a lot on them. It can irritate the eyes but is otherwise it's totally harmless.

 

[Lucky_P]

Sat in on a presentation at a veterinary diagnosticians meeting over 25 yrs ago...DE salesman talked a feedlot operator into incorporating DE into ration as a 'natural dewormer'... precipitated a 'storm' of urinary calculi, causing urethral obstruction in a whole bunch of steers.

 

[TexasBred]

Sat in on a presentation at a veterinary diagnosticians meeting over 25 yrs ago...DE salesman talked a feedlot operator into incorporating DE into ration as a 'natural dewormer'... precipitated a 'storm' of urinary calculi, causing urethral obstruction in a whole bunch of steers.

More likely caused by high grain, high energy, high phosphorus diet creating highly aklaline rumen. I've known a couple of old goat men that would have it incorporated into their feed as well but feed also always had an adequate amount of ammonium chloride in it to prevent urinary calculi.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Sat in on a presentation at a veterinary diagnosticians meeting over 25 yrs ago...DE salesman talked a feedlot operator into incorporating DE into ration as a 'natural dewormer'... precipitated a 'storm' of urinary calculi, causing urethral obstruction in a whole bunch of steers.

I am not buying the snake oil.
I have been playing the parasite game with a bovine since the dipping vats and drench guns.
Ivomec is the greatest control method ever discovered in my book followed by safe guard cubes and blocks IMO.

 

[Soulreserve]

I've tired DE for pest control, and to help with lice on poultry, poured it around all the shop and barn walls, and I've never seen evidence that it did anything. I suspect, either people just want DE to work so bad they find the evidence; or Oklahoma's humidity keeps it from working.

 

[sstterry]

Not DE related. but I have seen some things online about having charcoal or charred wood available for cattle to access would act as a parasite control. Is there any truth or scientific foundation to this, or is it just another internet thing?

 

[Lucky_P]

ssterry - I suspect it's more BS. I sometimes wonder who thinks up this crap... and who's naive enough to believe it...
IDK in what world... unless the cattle were starved for any number of micronutrients/minerals... that they'd seek out charcoal... or why someone would think that it would have any effect on a nematode parasite.
But... if you give cattle access to a burn pile where you've incinerate old pressure-treated wood (back in the days of chromated copper arsenate(CCA)... you can certainly wake up to dead cattle... due to arsenic toxicity.

 

[4hfarms]

We use crazy people horse dewormer paste( lol) for the inside parasites and DE for a dusting. Flies don't like it either.

 

[50/50Farms]

I know a lady and her husband in Tennessee that swear by it on cows but he's green as shyt and she's a big talker and the two of them together wouldn't have enough brains to fill a slop pail.

Works in carpet against fleas, though.

 

[kenny thomas]

I know a lady and her husband in Tennessee that swear by it on cows but he's green as shyt and she's a big talker and the two of them together wouldn't have enough brains to fill a slop pail.

Works in carpet against fleas, though.

Wonder how many millennials know what a slop pail is?

 

[50/50Farms]

Wonder how many millennials know what a slop pail is?

I'm a millennial and I do, if that helps. I've toted a damn traincar load of them.

I'm about half feral, though.

 

[kenny thomas]

I'm a millennial and I do, if that helps. I've toted a damn traincar load of them.

I'm about half feral, though.

Im impressed. Maybe the world can be saved.

 

[50/50Farms]

Im impressed. Maybe the world can be saved.

Yeah, people are consistently surprised when they learn that on here. Behind Brute I may actually be the youngest landed guy on here. Doesn't matter, been doing this in some capacity or another since I was two.

 

[kenny thomas]

Under the right conditions lots can be learned when young. The Amish prove that.