# Sick and Tired of Lice!



## Honeybee (Oct 16, 2002)

I think this is the third year in a row... maybe we skipped a year? But lice has been a persitant winter problem. 

They might be getting it from the deer that occasionally wander into the barn or pasture :shrug: , but what ever it is it hits hard this time of year and really can take the weight off of a couple of goats all of a sudden. Even if your watching for it! UGH......... this is so discouraging! :grump: 

What is your best, tried and true remedy for fast, effective, long lasting removal of these pests?

Will Ivermectin injectable rid my poor girls? 

Any thoughts? :help: 

Thanks for looking.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

I have lice in some percentage every year. It's just a byproduct of being cooped up together in the barn more, deep bedding the stalls, and lots of close warm bodies.

I use ivomec cattle injectable, but I use it orally. It clears the lice right up. You can also powder with Sevin dust. It depends on whether your girls are bred or not.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

*sigh* Diatomaceous earth - safe to use on the animals as well as the bedding to get the ones hiding.

~Falcon


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## Barbara (May 10, 2002)

Honeybee,
It is common for goats to get lice in the late fall, early winter...
There are two kinds of lice, biting and sucking lice..
the sucking lice can be killed with injectable ivomec, wether it is given orally or injected.. these can make your girls anemic too.. they suck their blood
the biting kind can be killed with dust ( sevin, goat dust, de)
Every fall, when I clean the barn, I lime, sprinkle DE around and dust the ground with sevin dust, then put clean bedding down...A few days before I do this I treat my goats with preventative lice meds.. 
They all get 1 cc ivomec under the skin and dusted with lice dust.. 
I do not get lice any more....Much easier on the goats, they are not miserable itching all the time, nor getting anemic with bug bites..


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## Carrie C (Apr 7, 2005)

Sucking lice = ivomec
Biting lice = diluted peppermint essential oil (or lavender, I use pepermint because one of my does is allergic to to the lavender) If there are a few stragglers, then I bring out the dusting powder.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

How do you make the diluted essential oils?


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## Honeybee (Oct 16, 2002)

Thank you so much for the input. I was so hoping there was a oral answer, thank you, thank you!!!

Question, Ivermec works for sucking lice, but the dust doesn't. 
*Will the Ivermec kill both kinds?*

I think I'll try the injectable Ivermec orally and dust the barn with the DTE and see what happens.

*I would like to know how to use the Peppermint Oil though, that sounds like a great follow up!*

In the past I thought that the Ivermectin injectable used orally would not work for lice so I have dusted with Sevin, dusted and dusted. Eventually it helped, but I was wondering if these little critters build up an immunity? I also used Ivermectin paste wormer which didn't seem to help with the lice. 

At one point my frustration brought me to the though of using the high pressure car wash  but I put that out of my mind.....


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## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

When using the Ivermec orally, what dosage do you use?


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## Carrie C (Apr 7, 2005)

Terri said:


> How do you make the diluted essential oils?


Just put about a 1/4 teaspoon of regular essential oil from the store in about a liter of water. Then, spray the goat (lightly, so it doesn't get cold) with the mixture and rub in.
I don't know why this works (I guess the oil suffocates them, but, then, vegetable oil doesn't seem to work well) but it does.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Bugs don't like mints in general. Don't know if lavender would work well for lice or not. It's not something I ever would have thought about using.

~Falcon


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

I agree with DocM, the more your goats are cooped up in the barn, the more lice they will have. 

For what it may be worth, I have changed management styles to encourage my goats to get out of the barn in winter unless it is snowing or raining. No matter how cold, they have gotten used to being outside the vast majority of the time, even though they have free access to the barn. As a result, I see a marked decrease in all kinds of ills, lice included. It's the kind of counter-intuitive stuff I try sometimes, as I change management to head off troubles I see arising in the herd.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

The only time I've ever had lice was the year I didn't bathe all of my goats with dog flea/tick shampoo. I always bathe them during the summer, usually 2x a year (spring, fall... and if I shave them any time inbetween they also get a bath) 

I don't know how I keep the lice off, but I do. I don't do DE, and have only used lice powder ONCE, the time they got it in the winter, two years ago. Odd that some places have more of a problem...


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## Carrie C (Apr 7, 2005)

FalconDance said:


> Bugs don't like mints in general. Don't know if lavender would work well for lice or not. It's not something I ever would have thought about using.
> 
> ~Falcon


Thanks for the info! The lavender did work, but the peppermint worked better with no side effects.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

Is the lice discussed here head lice? I hope that is not the case, since the 7th grade I have a disgust/fear of head lice and reading this post has made me itch so bad!
My girls are not barn kept. They have a goat house where they sleep at night, but for the most part the are out there doing their job...eating weeds.
Do they get lice from deer? Or somewhere else? Can you catch it from them?


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## Honeybee (Oct 16, 2002)

I was told they can get it from deer and that they travel on the wind at certain stages of their life cycle. Don't know if that's factual, but it makes sense considering what we've experienced. We have a large whitetail population here. We get pretty cold winters and are struggling with fence mending so my goats are in the barn most of the time these days. 

Can't wait till the snow melts! Thanks for all the great info. I had my info a little turned around, this really helps. I'm really looking forward to trying the mint, but will save that for warmer days.


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## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Just found this thread using an archive search. Very helpful. And as somebody said lice don't like mint ... what about putting fresh mint into their bedding as a preventative. I know mint grows like a maniac here in Ireland, or perhaps it might upset the goats tummy. If the mint was ok for them to eat, perhaps that might also act as a deterrent in their system (I eat marmite on my toast which stops midges and mossies biting me, if I run out, I get bitten!).

Disclaimer .. I'm a total novice just thinking out loud!

Rebecca
www.irishcraftworker.typepad.com


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

What is marmite? Are midges and mossies like mosquitos and gnats? If so then I know alot of people around here want to know what marmite is, so the West Nile carrying mosquitos do not bite us this summer. :nono:


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## shereen (Apr 20, 2005)

My "Natural Goat Care" by Pat Colby says to use Elemental Sulfur (99.8%) on them. My girls had lice this year and after one dusting they disappeared almost immediately. I went witht he sulfur because it was safe for my preg girls.
I bought it from my Fertrell dealer. Here's the link to see if you have one near you. http://www.fertrell.com/
shereen


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

do these lice get on dogs? My dogs that have been in/around the goat pen have been itching like crazy! (I have 6 dogs, only the ones around the goats are itching like crazy) nothing I have tried on them has worked so far.. we have used tea tree oil, seven dust, and now are use a sulfur/oil mixture. But I **think** a louse fell off my nanny when I was milking her the other day... saw a little bitty brown buggy thingy on the straining cloth.... 
is that lice?? I was suspecting it was. Back to the dogs,,, cant see any bugs on them, no fleas for sure. I was about to get that flea stuff you put on their neck next week - just to see if that would work. My goats dont seem to be really itchy,, just normal. chewing cud, browsing... an occasional rub on the back... that is it. And the goats have all been wormed within the last few months... (knew ya'll would ask!  )


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## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Hiya 

Marmite is a vegetable based yeast extract spread for bread/toast, or a spoon in hot water as a drink. Its high in B vitamins which are supposed to be distasteful to bugs. Theres an Oz version known as Vegemite. As the tv add here says 'marmite, you either love it or you hate it'! Yep mossies are mosquitos, and midges are gnats.

I just dosed my girls with a pour on treatment for their lice, its designed for cows. I'm new to the goat scene and I think I should have asked about other options first (I found this site afterwards). The vet says I shouldn't drink the milk for a month, and better to leave it two months. That seems an alarming length of time, alarming in that, I'm not so sure I want to put that stuff on them if it takes so long for their milk to be 'safe', is it 'safe' for them? And also, I'd quite like to be able to drink a little of their milk now and then. Ectospec is the brand name of the pour on.

Rebecca
www.irishcraftworker.typepad.com


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## Honeybee (Oct 16, 2002)

mamajohnson said:


> do these lice get on dogs? My dogs that have been in/around the goat pen have been itching like crazy! (I have 6 dogs, only the ones around the goats are itching like crazy) nothing I have tried on them has worked so far.. we have used tea tree oil, seven dust, and now are use a sulfur/oil mixture. But I **think** a louse fell off my nanny when I was milking her the other day... saw a little bitty brown buggy thingy on the straining cloth....
> is that lice?? I was suspecting it was. Back to the dogs,,, cant see any bugs on them, no fleas for sure. I was about to get that flea stuff you put on their neck next week - just to see if that would work. My goats dont seem to be really itchy,, just normal. chewing cud, browsing... an occasional rub on the back... that is it. And the goats have all been wormed within the last few months... (knew ya'll would ask!  )


I read a long time ago that lice are species specific so although goat lice will get on you they can't live on you for any length of time. I think deer and goats are in the same family ????? So they can share them, I don't know about horses. Dogs I wouldn't think they could get them from goats, but dogs can get their own type of lice. Don't really know how it all works, but there is some good info if you do a www search on the terms .... lice species specific  

Of course there are mites too and I think they can all share those can't they????


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Mites,,, now those cause mange, dont they? I think I have more research to do. My DS was asking if goats were the same as deer, I said I didnt think so. Now I have to check that again! 
The weird thing with the dogs is, I cannot see anything on them. They just "itch".


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