Wormer in deer feed?

[JeffJ]

Purina makes an antlermax product wormer in it.

Worth it?

[gingib]

IMO no

[texashunter56]

I have used Purina and Lyssy & Eckel wormer for whitetails since 1992. I would recommend that you collect fecal samples and take them to your Vet before going to the expense of worming the deer if they do not need it. Talk to your Vet and see what he needs if you decide to do it. Testing is cheap vs cost of the wormer.
IME it was worth it when I did need it. Years ago I did it twice per year when it was very dry and protein consumption was high.

[88 Bound]

depends on the cost, your management plan, and your budget. I vote yes.

Edit: texashunter56 - interested to hear your ideas behind the time of year you used it. Isn't
it more beneficial during wet years/periods? What is the benefit of use during high protein consumption?

[hammer63]

In...

[texashunter56]

depends on the cost, your management plan, and your budget. I vote yes.

Edit: texashunter56 - interested to hear your ideas behind the time of year you used it. Isn't
it more beneficial during wet years/periods? What is the benefit of use during high protein consumption?

When I used it twice per year, I put it out in the late winter/early spring when the first green started to show. Then again in the middle of summer around late July to early August. This was on a ranch with high numbers of deer a low numbers of protein feeder locations. Ranch also had some exotics with WT. This was a Hill Country ranch.
The last ranch I was on instead of worming annually, I would collect the fecal samples and take them to the Vet. I let him tell me if I needed to spend the money on the wormer pellets or not. This ranch has 2 protein feeders per station and a lot protein stations. Also a lot of food plots. I only put out wormer twice in 6 yrs there. One was a very wet year and the other was in a much less than average rainfall year.

[roadkill54]

Two of my rancher friends told me they used to use wormer however have switched over to a first round of antibiotics for the deer when they resume protein. They felt it helped the bucks recover faster from the rut and got more bang for the buck. We implemented this last month so will be monitoring the body conditions of our deer this year. Our bucks really took a beating this season and you could really see how stressed they were last month. We'll see how it works!

[Hawkpuppy 1]

Check fecal samples to see if you need it first. Typically worms are more active as grasses are growing and it warms up. Dry lot type ground they are not as much of a problem typically. Safeguard is a good wormer feed. I always fed it twice a year. Typically starting about March 15 till April 15th and then again in about September for about a month. Big thing is to have enough of it out that the deer eat enough to be effective.

[texashunter56]

Read the label on any wormer you use since it will have a withdrawal time for slaughter or hunting in this case. Get a wormer that is mixed into the pellet at milling also since if you mix in something like Strongid-C or Safeguard pellets deer will tend to pick out their regular pellets and not touch the wormer. I have also treated corn with liquid injectible or pour-on wormers and fed the treated corn to deer. Works on external parasites such as ticks for about a month IME. Read the label about feeding it to pregnant animals also. All labels will give you a dosage/rate per head per day rate suggested to feed. Each one is different IME. I have used Safeguard, Strongid-C, Purina, Lyssy & Eckel, Ivomec, Cydectin, and Valbazen(bucks only) that were incorporated in the pellet or top dressed. Some are a one time treatment and others need a follow up treatment in 20-21 days. Safeguard was formulated for use in humans, it is that safe(according to Dr. Varner).

[88 Bound]

When I used it twice per year, I put it out in the late winter/early spring when the first green started to show. Then again in the middle of summer around late July to early August. This was on a ranch with high numbers of deer a low numbers of protein feeder locations. Ranch also had some exotics with WT. This was a Hill Country ranch.
The last ranch I was on instead of worming annually, I would collect the fecal samples and take them to the Vet. I let him tell me if I needed to spend the money on the wormer pellets or not. This ranch has 2 protein feeders per station and a lot protein stations. Also a lot of food plots. I only put out wormer twice in 6 yrs there. One was a very wet year and the other was in a much less than average rainfall year.

Good stuff, thank you sir!

[RodinaRanč]

Most commercial protein/dewormer use safeguard or panacur...
Cydectin pour-on does a better job, but they still have to get enough of it