[Jacob-list] DE

[Karen]

Betty Berlenbach wrote:

> If it cuts up worms, why wouldn't it also cut up intestines of sheep 
> or stomachs or esophagui?

    This is a guess from me.... because I have wondered the same 
question.  The DE powder is very fine,  almost giving it a liquid like 
feeling,  so I would have to assume that the answer is on a cellar level 
(soft bodied insectes), because when you put your hand in the powder it 
does not cut you.  We mixed DE with our grain, last year in the fall for 
the first time and fed it to our sheep during the month of Oct.  We had 
no problems. There is also literture, stating there is no proof that DE 
works. We also used injectable ivermection in the spring..... I am 
starting to lean towards the more organic side of rearing my sheep.  I 
have spent the morning researching organic raised lambs/sheep.  The 
info.  I have found seems to be coming more extensively from the U.K. 
than the U.S. and is quite interesting.  The biggest suggestion for 
parisite control is pasture rotation, no. of sheep in pasture and the 
dew point of the pasture when the sheep are grazing.   I am  really 
interested in creating, as much as possible, the stress-free enviroments 
these Organic farms are suggesting.  I just start imaginating my lazy 
days of summer, watching my little herd of animals playing and laying in 
the shade of my non-existent hedges and trees, on my almost non-existent 
green pastures......
Karen Sigler
Benjamin Farms,  Utah