Robyn Stewart
As you drive around Lincoln County, you are guaranteed to see a variety of wild and domesticated animals. Among the chickens, deer, cattle, horses, and other livestock, it is not uncommon to find a goat or sheep- otherwise known as small ruminants. While there are some distinct differences between goats and sheep, they can be very effective browsers (goats) and grazers (sheep) that help manage weeds, provide meat, hair/wool, or milk, and provide entertainment to your household. One of the major concerns with keeping small ruminants is the prevalence of internal parasites or worms. An old saying states that goats have two enemies: parasites and predators. While both of these can pose great risk, parasites are going to be the biggest, and less visible concern for sheep and goat owners.
The most common parasite in these animals is Haemonchus contortus, or the barber pole worm. The barber pole worm infests the intestines of the animal, feeds on its blood, and causes anemia, weakness, and a host of other problems. Additionally, the parasite is very prolific, shedding high numbers of eggs and infecting other stock on your property. Historically, we have used dewormers to treat intestinal parasites but parasite resistance is an ever-growing and concerning problem. Parasite resistance to dewormers occurs as follows. Every animal in the herd or flock is dewormed, killing most of the parasites except for those that have a genetic resistance to the dewormer. Those genes for resistance are passed on to future generations, making the dewormer less effective over time. Due to this, we must look towards comprehensive parasite management instead of deworming our way out of the problem. Here are some ideas for managing parasites in your own flock.
The first recommendation we have is to work closely with a veterinarian who is skilled at treating and working with sheep and goats. The American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners is a good starting point for identifying a veterinarian in our area that can assist you. There are many health-related concerns with sheep and goats including parasites and vaccination schedules at a minimum, and breeding soundness, emergency medical treatment, and more that will require a relationship with a veterinarian for treatment.
The second recommendation we have is pasture management, which encompasses a variety of topics. The first thing to consider is stocking density, or the number of animals on your property. For small ruminants, we recommend keeping grass at least 3 inches tall- if you find your pasture is continuously overgrazed, you likely have too many animals for the space. The reason for this is that parasite larvae can only crawl 3-4 inches up the blade of grass. If you maintain good grass, pasture health and grass length, you limit the possibility of your stock ingesting the parasite larvae. In addition to stocking density, you should try to rotate pastures when appropriate. Moving your stock from one pasture to another and allowing the empty pasture to lay fallow will give time for the worm eggs to die, leaving less parasites to infect your animals. Using multiple species (horses, cattle, etc) can also reduce parasite load in a pasture, as these species interrupt the parasite life cycle. Two other things to consider are overall nutrition of your goats and sheep- feeding a complete, balanced, and adequate diet, and planting pasture species like lespedeza which are shown to contain high tannin levels which can reduce parasite load in goats and sheep.
Finally, we recommend using selective deworming on your herd or flock. Selective deworming is when we only treat the individuals in our herd or flock who are most severely infected. A non-selective treatment plan would treat every animal, regardless of their parasite load. By selectively deworming, we are able to reduce the genetic dewormer resistance in the parasites, and select for goats and sheep that are naturally resistant to the parasites. The most common and professionally recognized selective deworming program is called FAMACHA scoring. The FAMACHA scoring system uses the color of the eyelid as an indicator of an animal’s anemia or blood loss status. Animals with high parasite loads have pale eyelids, indicating higher blood loss. Oglethorpe County Extension and the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control are hosting an online FAMACHA certification program on Apr 27, 2020 06:00 PM. Registration is available online at https://virginiatech.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Mrfu-trD4is8DkEYdTS-rIjZGNVpIeZw. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to become FAMACHA certified for the well-being of your sheep and goats. Please reach out to the Lincoln County Extension Office at uge3181@uga.edu or 914-357-0563 (Robyn Stewart, Ag Agent) with any questions or concerns you may have. 4.23.2020
