Injectable vs. Pour-on wormers

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GrowerShower32

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Jun 7, 2016
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121
OK so I had someone tell me to try injectable wormer that it was better than pour on.... My thoughts are how so? Pour on is easy, less invasive cause I don't have to give my herd a shot that can 1 possibly cause an abscess and 2 scar the meat if the animal is intended for slaughter and 3 it involves me buying needles and/or syringes. But please if anyone can tell me alittle more and help me see the benefits cause I want to use the best to protect my herd from parasites.
 

Simmgal

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Mar 4, 2011
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Virginia
I have had numerous vets recommend injectable. They say that it is more effective in killing parasites because it is directly injected into the animal's body compared to a pour on which has to enter the body through the skin/hair follicle before it can work.

If you inject it in the neck, you are doing less damage to valuable cuts of meat. Using sterile technique with your needles helps to avoid abscesses. I personally haven't had a problem with injection site infections yet. I don't reuse needles and I also make sure that I am injecting in a clean location.

It's really up to you as to what is more convenient/easy and what works in you herd. I have had pretty good luck with pour on wormer thus far.
 

Medium Rare

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Aug 18, 2013
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Missouri
To my knowledge, there is not a pour on wormer on the market that can compete with LongRange.
 

GrowerShower32

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Jun 7, 2016
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121
No don't get me wrong I see the benefits of using the injectable kind I've just never personally used it so I was wondering if the cost difference is worth it. I saw an ad about LongRange injectable but we have breeding bulls and it says not recommended for breeding bulls so I don't wanna have to buy two different things to worm the herd if I switch to injectable I want one kind. So I was considering Dectomax what are your thoughts on it?
 

KSanburg

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May 5, 2010
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Western Colorado
We conducted our own small unscientific trial using Valbazin, Dectomax pour-on and Dectomax injectable. 150 total head, 50 give a dosage of each product. The Dectomax injectable was the clear winner, followed by the valbazin then the pour-on. The 150 calves were in a feedlot all getting the same ration same conditions Yada Yada. The calves given the injectable gained .55 pounds a day more, the calves on valbazin gained .17 pounds more than the calves that we used the pour-on on. Don't know if that helps or not but we found it very interesting, for my mother cow's I will start using injectable once a year, but continue with a pour-on the other 2 times just because of the convenience.
 

Lucky_P

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Jan 27, 2012
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326
Pour-ons are abysmal.  Gotta make sure that the full dosage is actually applied to the cow - doesn't run off, get sloshed and not even on the animal, rain doesn't wash it off soon after application, etc. And... studies have shown that the majority of the drug that actually gets to where it needs to be to kill worms gets there by ingestion - cows licking themselves or herdmates and ingesting the drug in the process, NOT because it's all that well absorbed through the skin.  Those same studies show that for far too many of those treated animals, only 30-50% actually get enough of the drug to the target to kill the worms. 
I would never recommend pour-ons... sure, they're easy to use, but if they don't do the job, why waste time and $$ applying them.?

There's also strong evidence that 'generic' preparations - especially the generic ivermectin products, are NOT as effective as the 'pioneer' product... Ivomec.  I used to be all about saving a buck... and would buy the generic ivermectin products, but studies I've seen showed that they were significantly less efficacious.  What good does it do if you save a buck or two per animal... but the drug you've administered doesn't kill the worms?  Spend the money on the 'name-brand' dewormer.

Don't have any first-hand experience with LongRange... but I have some concerns about it.
There are some ongoing studies I'm aware of, comparing LongRange to a combo treatment of  oxfendazole(Synanthic) and Cydectin given at the same time.  Initial results, looking at ADG and pregnancy rate in heifers showed the two to be fairly comparable... but the Oxfendazole/moxidectin combo was a lot less expensive.
 

Topridge

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Feb 14, 2017
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On a farm, farm on a Planet, Planet in a Solar Sys
I use Ivomec injectable.  I administer it both spring and fall.  It requires 10 mL to treat an 1100 pound animal.  It is not as thick as LA 300 but it is thicker than most vaccines, therefore, a 16 gauge needle is more efficient.  I administer it in the loose skin just posterior to the front leg.  The cows don't respond as much at that site as they do in the neck region.  I have not had any abscess issues and there is less swelling than I get with many of the Clostridial vaccines.
 

GrowerShower32

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Jun 7, 2016
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121
Thanks you guys for so much information and responses they are very helpful. We have 8 yearling heifer we are gonna try long range on and see how we like the results since they are in a completely separate location. I have a feeling we will love what we see but we wanna start small before we drop 700 bucks on the whole herd!
 

JWMaine

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Joined
Feb 28, 2017
Messages
9
We tried longrange last year. Its was pretty expensive. It did what they claim it does. Calves gained around 80 pounds more than others. The other thing it did was almost completely eliminate the horn flies. I went to my neighbors and his cows were covered in them.
 

jwfarms

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Joined
May 19, 2014
Messages
77
Lucky_P said:
Pour-ons are abysmal.  Gotta make sure that the full dosage is actually applied to the cow - doesn't run off, get sloshed and not even on the animal, rain doesn't wash it off soon after application, etc. And... studies have shown that the majority of the drug that actually gets to where it needs to be to kill worms gets there by ingestion - cows licking themselves or herdmates and ingesting the drug in the process, NOT because it's all that well absorbed through the skin.  Those same studies show that for far too many of those treated animals, only 30-50% actually get enough of the drug to the target to kill the worms. 
I would never recommend pour-ons... sure, they're easy to use, but if they don't do the job, why waste time and $$ applying them.?

There's also strong evidence that 'generic' preparations - especially the generic ivermectin products, are NOT as effective as the 'pioneer' product... Ivomec.  I used to be all about saving a buck... and would buy the generic ivermectin products, but studies I've seen showed that they were significantly less efficacious.  What good does it do if you save a buck or two per animal... but the drug you've administered doesn't kill the worms?  Spend the money on the 'name-brand' dewormer.

Don't have any first-hand experience with LongRange... but I have some concerns about it.
There are some ongoing studies I'm aware of, comparing LongRange to a combo treatment of  oxfendazole(Synanthic) and Cydectin given at the same time.  Initial results, looking at ADG and pregnancy rate in heifers showed the two to be fairly comparable... but the Oxfendazole/moxidectin combo was a lot less expensive.

Great post, we use injectable now.  Our vet doesn't recommend pour on.
 

GrowerShower32

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Jun 7, 2016
Messages
121
Thank you I saw that not to long after I had posted this. We ended up going with LongRange and are extremely pleased with the affects of it. Terrific stuff and will use it from now on. We will be rotating with LongRange in the spring, March-ish and probably Cydectin or Dectomax in the fall.
 
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