Goats are funny animals. They can find the tiniest hole in the fence and show the entire herd how to get out - but they can't see the wide-open gate you're trying to get them to go through. They can pound on each other with their horns all day long - but get sick from eating the wrong kind of leaf. But perhaps one of the most stunning goat-paradoxes is how these comparatively large animals can get killed by a little worm that's smaller than the tip of a pin.
As the scientists refer to it, Haemonchus contortus, or the Barber Pole worm, is a parasite in goats and sheep that attaches to the walls of the stomach and sucks the nutrients from their blood. This lack of nutrition causes the animal to become anemic (which often leads to Bottle Jaw and eventual death).
Drug Resistant Parasites
So if you're like a lot of ranchers right now, you're thinking "AH - No big deal! I'll give them some wormer and they'll be good as new!" But here's the other side of that coin. Parasites, like the Haemonchus contortus, do not have static genetics. They are constantly changing and adapting to their environment. So, even though that wormer kills off most of the population, the one or two parasites that survive grow immune to the medicine. Then, as the population rebuilds from the survivors, a lot more worms have immunity to the drug.
People have been using modern Anthelmintics for over 50 years - and it's starting to show. According to Ray Kaplan, DVM, PhD, a professor at the University of Georgia, parasites that are common to cows, horses, sheep, and especially goats are becoming entirely immune to dewormers. There are already a lot of popular wormers on the market that, quite frankly, aren't worth much more than water for fighting parasites. This is why the agricultural market needs to start treating parasites differently.
Alternative Dewormers
Over the years, we've heard a lot of ideas for how to purge worms from a goat's system without drenching or injecting them with wormer. Some people absolutely swear by copple tablets, garlic, algae, and even tobacco. But none of these methods have really seemed to be as good advertised. Most of them have not performed well in scientific evaluations. Those that did, must be administered too regularly for commercial use (Although copper oxide wire particles did show promise for treating Barber Pole worms in goat kids). If you're interested in learning more about Alternative Deworming methods, check out this great article by the SCSRPC.
Another popular method for parasite management is pasture rotation. The idea behind pasture rotation is that, when parasite populations build up in one pasture (growing in the manure), the herd gets moved to the next 'clean' pen. Without hosts to feed on, the parasite populations in the first pasture die off. Using a system of three or four pens, this method can be quite effective - but it's a lot of work for commercial operations and it doesn't do anything to fix the problem. So here's what we're doing to combat worms - and I hope you will too!
Parasite Resistant Goats
In the same way that the parasites can grow resistant to dewormers, goats can grow resistant to parasites! But, just like the parasites, not all goats have the genetics for it. This is why culling is such a big deal! Whenever we see a goat that looks run-down or wormy, we immediately start thinking "Has that goat been wormy before? If so how recently?" Then we do a Famacha eye score to measure the parasite load of the animal. If they need to be wormed, we grab one of the few effective dewormers on the market and treat the animal. But if they have been wormy and run-down before (especially within the last two years), that animal has got a first-class ticket to the sale barn next time we go - whether or not she has nice babies, good conformation, or a pleasant personality.
By getting rid of the animals that are not parasite resistant, the genetics from the ones that are become more concentrated in the herd. As the years go by, the number of goats that need to be wormed/culled on the ranch plummets.
Most of our goats are wormed one to two times a year. If they need more than that on a regular basis, then we don't need them producing parasites for the other goats to pick up. Having goats that are completely parasite resistant is a pretty lofty goal - but it's one worth shooting for! If Dr. Kaplan is correct, traditional dewormers don't have many more years of effective use. Then ranchers are gonna have to make some tough decisions. I hope that parasite resistance in goats will become a more wide-spread goal before then. But if not, then maybe there will be enough savvy producers to supply the market with parasite resistant livestock.
I know I have talked about this before, but it's been on my mind since we recently got a new Livestock Guardian Dog pup. As a puppy, when kidding season hits, it is a GREAT time of year! The grass is growing, the weather is perfect, and there are all these fluffy little toys running all over the place. You've been looking for some fun lately and these baby goats seem like just the thing. Besides, you know it's okay because you've seen the rancher chasing them around and poking tags in their ears. So why not just do what feels natural? Let's chase'em!
This has been a big problem that we've run into in the past; but we're trying to avoid it this year. LGD pups learn by example. When they're little, they watch mama eat dog food, so they eat a little bit too. They watch mama bark at predators, so (after they get to safety) they growl a little bit too. Since this is how life works, they don't understand why they can't play along when you start "hunting goat kids." As they mature, they start to get the picture - but that's at least a year away. Until then, when the pup is around try to avoid doing anything with the kids that you wouldn't want to teach your puppy. Otherwise, you might have just shown them a new form of entertainment that will be very hard to forget!
Be sure to check out our directory of Livestock Guardian Dogs for sale.
Coccidiosis - one of those big 'sciencey' words that I usually like to avoid - "is a potentially fatal intestinal disease of goats." Now you may be thinking that "I better make sure that none of my goats have the little critter that causes this disease." But I'm sorry, that's not how this thing works!
According to an article by Sweetlix nutritionist, Jackie Nix, "All adult goats contain coccidia in their gut, even healthy goats." Now that's just great! What am I supposed to do to prevent my goats from getting sick?
Here's the good news and the bad news. Most adult goats have built immunity to the parasites that cause coccidiosis; however, "Kids less than 5 months of age are particularly susceptible since their immune system is often still developing and they are prone to stress. Stresses that can induce a coccidiosis outbreak include: weaning, drastic weather changes, rapid feed changes, transport and rough handling." That can mean that those kids you've been waiting all year to sell just drop dead for no apparent reason! But fortunately there's a solution.
We talk all the time about how we don't provide our goats with much more than weeds, water, one or two yearly wormings, and minerals. Well here's where those minerals can really pay off. Every year, near the start kidding, we start putting out minerals that have one extra ingredient: Rumensin. Rumensin minerals, like the 16:8 Meat Maker with Rumensin, are "a medicated mineral supplement for goats designed to prevent coccidiosis." You can also use water supplements that are designed for cattle, but on our place, the goats usually prefer the creeks and ponds to the chlorinated tap water, so it doesn't do us any good. The babies don't eat many of the minerals, but their mother transfers the Rumensin to their systems through her milk.
While we don't buy into a lot of these types of treatments, this one really works. After having lost a good portion of our kid crop during a couple exceptionally worm-heavy kidding seasons, I can assure you that those couple extra dollars we spend on minerals are well worth it!