It doesn’t matter how healthy you think the new animals are or how reputable the breeder. You should always quarantine new animals up on arrival. This is particularly true if you had him shipped and he was exposed to other animals on his journey. You should also quarantine anything that has gone off farm (like to a show or fair) and returned. Yes, quarantining a new animal takes extra effort, but it can potentially save you a lot of headache and expense in the long run.

Quarantining new animals goes hand in hand with farm bio-security.

Every farm, no matter how small, should have a bio-security plan in place. If you don’t have one, we would encourage you to spend some time doing research. Think about how to best protect your animals (and subsequently your profitability).

Of course, the best way to avoid introducing a disease into your flock is to keep a closed flock. A closed flock is a flock that has no external animals coming into it. Unfortunately for most farms, keeping a closed flock is not practical. New rams will need to be brought in occasionally to introduce new genetic material. However, doing your best to minimize the number of animals you bring in can help to protect your flock. You should also keep in mind that goats share many of the same diseases with sheep, and cows and other animals can sometimes also share diseases. They should also be quarantined accordingly.

It is never a good idea to purchase animals from a flock that shows any signs of disease whatsoever

Hopefully in the process of selecting new sheep, you took our previous advice. You did your research, made time for observation, and asked a lot of questions about flock health. Most of the time you can avoid bringing home most diseases by carefully inspecting the animals and farm they come from prior to purchase. Nonetheless, a seemingly healthy animal can sometimes be harboring a disease. Thus, it is important to treat every new animal as if it is contagious.

When you bring home new sheep, they should go in a quarantine pen where they have no contact with your flock. They should be housed as far away as possible. They shouldn’t share feeders, water troughs, or fence lines. You should feed them last so as not to expose your flock via your clothing or shoes. Additionally, the quarantine area should either be able to be sterilized or left empty for an extended time after use. This is just in case a contagious disease is brought in.

Sheep should be quarantined for a minimum of 2 weeks, but ideally for 30 days or even longer if practical. You need to give time for diseases to appear, and this also gives you time to do any desired testing/treatments. There is a laundry list of contagious diseases you could potentially be introducing onto your farm with new breeding stock. Some examples of these diseases include Campylobacter (vibrio), Chlamydia (EAE), ringworm, Foot rot, Johne’s Disease, liver flukes, OPP, Pink eye, Soremouth and dewormer resistant parasites. Some of these diseases are best found with blood testing rather than observation alone.

Foot rot might be one of the most commonly introduced contagious diseases.

Foot rot is extremely contagious, can sneak onto your farm particularly on young animals in dry conditions. Foot rot is a very serious animal welfare issue which can cause the performance of your flock to suffer. Plus, once established in your flock it can be very difficult, time consuming and expensive to eradicate. It is a disease where an ounce of prevention is indeed worth more than a pound of cure.

While in quarantine all the new sheep should have their feet trimmed and inspected for any signs of foot rot or abnormalities. It is also our preference to also expose the animals to wet muddy conditions if at all possible, prior to releasing them into our flock. This is because foot rot typically appears under wet conditions. Many farms choose to make the assumption that every new animal has foot rot and treats them accordingly.

Dewormer resistance is also something you’re more likely to encounter than not.

It is a good idea to triple deworm and do fecal egg count (FEC) tests on incoming sheep in an effort to avoid introducing any more dewormer resistant worms than absolutely necessary. The goal is to get your new sheep to have a FEC of 0 or as close to it as possible prior to letting them on your pastures. It can also be beneficial to discuss deworming practices and any known resistance existing on the farm you are purchasing lambs from.

In addition, something people sometimes don’t think about is the risk humans visiting from other farms bring to the flock. It is a good idea to ‘quarantine’ people coming onto your farm. Diseases can sometimes be transmitted on clothing, shoes and even car tires. It is a good idea to ask folks coming onto your farm to wear clean clothes, booties, or to walk through a foot bath prior to coming onto your farm. You should follow the same procedure yourself any time you have been to another farm or to a facility, like fair grounds, where sheep and goats are housed.

We hope this has prompted you to think about you handle incoming animals and people on your farm before you get into trouble. If you would like to read more articles about improving your flock and keeping your animals healthy, please sign up for our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Quarantine: An Important Protection For Your Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Meningeal worm is endemic in most whitetail deer populations, and they are its target host. It rarely causes any symptoms in deer. Unfortunately, many other species grazing areas where deer have been can accidentally pick up this parasite. Llamas and alpacas are particularly susceptible and many camelid owners preventatively deworm their animals regularly. However this is generally not recommended for sheep and goats due to gastrointestinal parasite dewormer resistance issues.

So what is meningeal worm?

Meningeal worm is a round worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis. It completes its lifecycle in deer resulting in larvae being shed in the feces of infected deer. According to Cornell University up to 80% of whitetail deer are infected in endemic areas. So there is a pretty good chance if you have a lot of deer around, you probably have meningeal worm to worry about. It can accidentally infect a broad range of hooved species including sheep, goats, moose, elk, camelids, even horses and cattle occasionally.

As with other parasites understanding its life cycle is critical to understanding how to manage it.

In its desired host, the whitetail deer, this parasite lives on the meninges (the membranes covering the brain). It doesn’t cause any symptoms or an immune response. Female worms lay their eggs on the meninges. The eggs hatch into larvae. Then the larvae migrate through the bloodstream to the lungs where they are coughed up and swallowed. After passing through the digestive tract, the larvae are excreted in the feces.

Once the larvae have been excreted, they infect a variety of species of slugs and snails. They are ingested by or burrow into the foot of the slugs and snails feeding on the feces. Once inside the snails the larvae continue to develop. The life cycle is completed when deer accidentally consume the slugs and snails as they forage. They can also become re-infected when they consume plant material covered with the slime trails of infected snails. The ingested larvae then migrate from the stomach into the abdominal cavity and up the nerve tissue to the spinal cord. They ultimately return to the meninges where they mate and start the process all over again.

As you can imagine, its very easy for your sheep or goats to accidentally ingest the same slugs/snails and slime trails as deer.

Unfortunately when this happens things go a little haywire. Symptoms usually start to appear 30-60 days post ingestion. This means symptoms are typically seen late summer and early fall though they certainly can appear at other times of the year.

When ingested by an accidental host, the larvae attempt to start the same process as in deer. They migrate out of the stomach and into the nervous tissue of the abdominal cavity. However, at this point things go wrong. Unlike deer, who mount very little immune response, your sheep have a large immune response. This causes issues for the worms who get confused about where they’re going. Instead of migrating up through the nervous system, the worms end up burrowing around in the nervous tissue causing damage. The sheep’s immune response causes inflammation resulting in more damage.

This inflammation and nervous system damage create the symptoms you see.

Depending on where the damage is occurring the symptoms can vary. When the nerve damage is happening in nerves that aren’t in the spine, you get animals that are intensely itchy. They will often itch holes in themselves where the nerve damage is occurring. If the damage is occurring in the spinal cord you will see other symptoms. You may see things like minor lameness or stumbling on a rear leg, abnormal gait, incoordination, circling, head tilt, etc. If the worms reach the brain neurological symptoms may look similar to listeria or polio. The symptoms typically get progressively worse and can result in paralysis and death if left untreated.

Usually, the infected animals are bright and have good appetites. They do not appear ill aside from the above symptoms. It can be tricky to recognize symptoms, and they may even appear to recover briefly as the worms migrate through different parts of the nervous system. However, the symptoms typically reoccur, and prompt treatment is important as the nerve damage may become permanent.

There is no test for this parasite as the worm larvae is inside the nervous tissue and there are no eggs being shed in feces.

Diagnosis is made solely based on the symptoms and response to treatment. It is very important to treat meningeal worms using the correct deworming protocol. If you are treating for meningeal worm after symptoms have occurred, they are protected within the nervous system. Not all dewormers are capable of reaching them there. A few years ago Cornell did a study on a treatment protocol, and determined that meningeal worms can be most effectively treated using fenbendazole (Safeguard®) and Dexamethazone (or Banamine for pregnant animals) and ivermectin.

The recommended treatment protocol from Cornell University is to give:

• Safeguard® (10% Fenbendazole) orally for 5 days at 25 mg per kg of live weight
• Dexamethasone injectable 2 mg/mL IM at 0.2 mg/kg live weight for first 3 days and 0.1 mg/kg next 2 days. Ewes and does in last month of pregnancy are not to receive Dexamethasone. Instead, they will receive flunixin meglumine (Banamine® ) 50 mg/mL at the rate of 1 cc/100 lb live weight (1.1 mg/kg) orally for 5 days.
• Ivermectin 1% injectable administered SQ for 5 days at 0.5 mg/kg live wt. *It is thought that ivermectin can be a beneficial treatment, but significantly increases withdrawal times.

Keep in mind that this deworming protocol comes with a very long drug withdrawal period (90 days or more). The withdrawal times can change and vary from species to species. It is extremely important to verify and follow withdrawal times for any treatment that you use. If you are raising animals for meat, you must weigh the pros and cons of deworming vs. not. Many times symptoms appear late in the season when processing dates are not very far off.

If you have mild cases where there is just some itchiness in low value animals you may be able to manage the symptoms without deworming treatment. Sheep do mount an immune response to the worm and may be able to clear the parasite from their body themselves. However, treatment should be started promptly in severe cases or in valuable animals where you are not ok with the possibility of a wait and see approach resulting in euthanasia being necessary.

So is there anything I can do to prevent meningeal worm problems?

As you might expect, the answer is yes and no. The obvious answer is of course preventing deer and or snails from accessing the pastures where your sheep graze. Both are required to cause disease in your sheep. Unfortunately, that can be extremely difficult to execute. It takes months for the larvae to mature in the snails. This means that deer need to be excluded at all times, not just when your sheep are grazing. Plus, snails and slugs do not respect fence and can move into your pastures under fences.

However, there are things you can do to help prevent exposure. You can try to minimize deer on your grazing land through utilizing things like livestock guard dogs or fencing to repel deer. You can improve drainage and also avoid grazing wet areas that are heavily infested with snails. Though the infected snail and slug species are land snails, they do still require moisture, so if you can put snail repelling things like gravel roads devoid of vegetation between where deer graze and your pastures that can help too. Free ranging poultry may also help reduce your slug and snail populations.

Unfortunately, if you live in an endemic area and graze pasture, it is likely to be an occasional problem for you.

Therefore, it is wise to get good at recognizing symptoms. Then be sure to take some time to observe your flock daily. That way you can catch and treat infected animals early resulting in the best possible outcomes. And while you will likely always see a few cases in endemic areas, your sheep are capable of developing an immunity to the parasite meaning you will likely see fewer cases over time, particularly in your adult animals.

So as fall approaches this season, take some time to learn to recognize symptoms and observe your flock so that you can catch this parasite before it harms or kills any of your sheep.

If you would like to read more articles about keeping your flock healthy, please sign up for our newsletter to get our future articles delivered directly to your inbox!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Meningeal Worm: How Deer Can Impact Your Flock first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

As you probably know, mastitis is an infection of the mammary gland. The inside of the udder is supposed to be sterile. Mastitis occurs when bacteria has made its way up the teat canal into the udder. Milk, being full of nutrients, is the perfect place for bacteria to thrive. Mastitis is painful for your ewe and can cause loss of production and even death.

Most commonly, mastitis will cause damage and scar tissue to the udder resulting in permanent loss of milk production. The lack of milk production often causes the ewe to need to be culled (or her lambs bottle fed) because she will be unable to produce enough milk to feed her lambs. Thus, it is important to treat mastitis as quickly as possible to minimize the damage occurring. Mastitis is one of the primary reasons animals of prime reproductive age get culled.

How do I know if my ewe has mastitis?

There are two types of mastitis. Clinical and sub-clinical. Common symptoms of clinical mastitis include a swollen, hot, painful to touch udder. Ewes often have a fever, may be off food/ inactive/ acting sick. Clinical mastitis is usually pretty obvious, and it’s also obvious that it needs immediate attention.

Sub-clinical mastitis can be much more difficult to detect. In this case your ewes are not showing outward symptoms of being sick. However, if you did a mastitis test like they do on dairy cows you’d see a high somatic cell count (white blood cells fighting an infection). You might also be able to see flakes or chunks in the milk. There might be able to feel heat in the udder. The milk might look watery and, in some cases, might contain blood. Lambs from these ewes will not be growing as fast as they should be. They are often seen milk stealing from other ewes. Undetected sub-clinical mastitis is where most economic mastitis related losses come from.

Many times in sheep and goats, sub-clinical mastitis goes undetected until the next lambing. By then the damage is done and treatment is too late. These ewes present with only half an udder and are unable to feed both of their lambs. The side of the udder that was infected with mastitis is now hard and filled with scar tissue and produces little to no milk.

Treatment for mastitis

Mastitis treatment is typically with intramammary infusions and or systemic antibiotics. This should be done under the guidance of a veterinarian as there are no mastitis treatments labeled for use in sheep or goats. Mastitis will not cure itself, so don’t take a “wait and see” approach to this painful condition.

How do we prevent mastitis in our sheep?

First and foremost, sanitation. You need to keep everything clean. Your bedding should be clean and dry. If you’re milking your sheep, your hands, and their udders should be cleaned and disinfected before and after milking. Encourage them to stay standing after milking rather than going back to lay down.

Don’t overcrowd your sheep. Closely confined flocks have higher rates of mastitis. Additionally, the bacteria responsible for lamb pneumonia and sore mouth can also cause mastitis. So, keeping your animals outdoors on clean pasture in the fresh air can help reduce mastitis rates.

When you do find an ewe that has developed mastitis, it is important to separate them and their lambs from the rest of the flock. You do not want their lambs spreading mastitis by stealing milk from other ewes. For this reason, milk stealing should be discouraged in your flock, and the dams of lambs set on stealing milk should be checked for mastitis.

You should also go through your flock after weaning and pre-breeding and check udders

Ewes with hard masses in their udders should be culled. These ewes will have poor milk production and may be unable to feed their lambs. Additionally, it is thought that there is a genetic component to mastitis susceptibility, so these ewes that have proven themselves susceptible aren’t something you want in your flock.

It is also important to select for ewes with good udders. Compact, well suspended udders with small teats angled diagonally off the sides are ideal for minimizing mastitis in meat sheep. Unfortunately, these traits are in opposition to what we consider ideal for milking, so it’s a balancing act. If you’d like to read more in depth on udder shape and mastitis, this is an excellent article with diagrams.

Lastly, your ewes should be dried off carefully. Most mastitis cases are seen either in the first few days of lactation or post weaning. Earlier weaning can make ewes more susceptible to mastitis at time of weaning. Ewes that are dried off while producing very little milk are less prone to mastitis. Thus, late weaning and or restricting feed and water intake at time of weaning can help to reduce post weaning mastitis cases.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always enough

As we have learned from extensive research in dairy cows, many of your subclinical ewes and your treated and seemingly ‘cured’ ewes actually have chronic, incurable mastitis caused by Staph aureus. They don’t have symptoms, but even with antibiotic treatment this mastitis cannot be cured. These animals are latent carriers capable of infecting your other ewes either via the bedding or milk stealing.

The unfortunate reality, is that if you have high rates of mastitis in your flock (or have had milk cultures come back with Staph aureus), ewes that have had mastitis should be culled even if they seem ‘cured’. In dairy cows they even recommend culling daughters of infected cows. The heifer calves can become infected from drinking infected milk and or colostrum, and often have Staph aureus infections prior to their first lactation. Consider culling mastitis cases and their daughters, because as we mentioned before there is a genetic component to mastitis susceptibility.

Lastly, if you have a high incidence of mastitis, and you cannot seem to get it under control, you may wish to consider a recently released mastitis vaccine.

The VIMCO vaccine is only registered for use in goats in this country, so should only be used under a veterinarian’s supervision. However, it is licensed for use in sheep in other countries and has been shown to significantly reduce the incidence of mastitis.

Of course, some case of mastitis are inevitable in a breeding flock. However, through good management, careful culling and genetic selection it is possible to maintain mastitis cases at less than 1% in your flock. And if you do have a mastitis problem in your flock, we hope this inspires you to make some management changes to improve animal welfare and to reduce your economic losses.

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Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Keeping Mastitis Out Of Your Flock Of Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Diagnosis: Photosensitivity. You must act immediately

One afternoon we went out to check on our dairy sheep and discovered that one of them had a hugely swollen face. The following day some of the other sheep also had swollen faces. Turns out it was a photosensitivity reaction.

Photosensitization is something that we have never had to deal with prior to this. It went away as fast as it arrived, and to this day we have no idea what the cause was. Interestingly about the same time we had a photosensitivity problem with our sheep several other people in the area were asking on Facebook about the cause of similar symptoms in their sheep.

Photosensitivity is an allergic reaction to the sun. As you can imagine, being allergic to sunlight can spell big problems for livestock who spend their whole entire lives outdoors in the sun. Any animal, and even humans can have a photosensitivity reaction. It is not the same thing as a sunburn. The immune system is actively reacting to the sun and damaging the epidermis from within.

Photosensitization is a bit unique in that it does not affect animals of different colors equally. Typically photosensitization is limited to white animals or white portions of colored animals. Pigmented skin and areas covered with a thick layer of hair don’t typically suffer from photosensitivity. However they still can be affected if the reaction is severe enough.

Photosensitivity always has an underlying cause

With the exception of a congenital disease present in a few breeds, animals do not just spontaneously become allergic to the sun. There is an underlying cause that is making them hypersensitive. This underlying cause is typically liver damage due to a toxin of some sort. Livers are excellent at regenerating themselves, and sometimes this damage may be reversed. Sadly in many cases the damage is permanent. Sometimes it is severe enough that the whole flock needs to be culled because they will never be able to tolerate sun exposure again.

It is also possible for an animal to ingest a plant like buckwheat that directly causes photosensitization without liver damage. In some instances it may be caused by medications. However, these scenarios are much less common than liver damage.

There are a variety of plants that can cause photosensitization. Unfortunately it is tricky to study and discover what component is actually causing it. This is because these plants do not always cause photosensitivity when ingested. There are case studies where alfalfa and bermuda grass have caused photosensitivity. Both are considered excellent forages and typically do not cause any problems. What makes it even more complicated, is that it is possible that the ingestion of an insect or fungus growing on the plant caused the reaction not the plant itself.

This turned out to be the culprit in once case study. In this particular instance, the shepherd had mowed their pasture and allowed the grass clippings to lay there. This normally isn’t a problem. In that particular year the conditions were exactly right for a certain mold to grow on the grass clippings. The sheep ate enough of the mold when grazing near the grass clippings to cause liver damage and the resulting photosensitivity.

How does liver damage cause an allergic reaction to the sun?

This is an excellent question! There is a substance called phylloerythrin that is derived from the break down of chlorophyll (what makes plants green) in the digestive tract. Phylloerythrin is a photosensitizing agent which is typically efficiently excreted by the liver. If the liver is damaged by some sort of toxin, it cannot remove the phylloerythrin from the blood like it should. When this happens the phylloerytherin reaches the skin of the animal where it can react with the sun and cause damage.

Though this is a much less common scenario, it is also possible to temporarily cause too much phylloerythrin to be present in the blood without liver damage. This is possible to cause by suddenly moving animals from a dry desert pasture to a lush irrigated pasture.

Fortunately, the treatment for photosensitization is very straight forward

Affected animals need to be removed from access to the photosensitizing/liver damaging agent and immediately removed from sunlight. They should be kept in a dark barn until the symptoms have subsided. Moving the animals into the dark is essential to do quickly once you notice a problem. If the animal remains exposed to the sun the damage will continue to worsen. It will cause them a lot of pain and serious tissue necrosis will occur.

Sadly this damage is sometimes irreversible

Unfortunately, in most cases of photosensitivity we are dealing with a liver toxin and thus liver damage, and there are no guarantees. If the sheep’s liver can heal enough to resume removing phylloerythryn efficiently, they can return to grazing out in the sun. Sadly in some cases the liver damage is so severe that the reaction immediately returns upon sun exposure. These animals often must be culled for their own well being.

In the case of our sheep, we are not sure whether there was any liver damage involved. We hypothesized that it may have been the bermuda grass in their pasture. Or it could have been an over abundance chlorophyll exposure resulting from us allowing them access to a small patch of irrigated corn during a drought. Both seem unlikely, but we don’t know. What we do know is that there was a brief photosensitivity ‘outbreak’ on various farms in the area around that time. So perhaps due to the drought there was an unusual toxin affecting this area.

Regardless, we pulled the sheep from the pasture, put them inside eating hay and they all recovered within a couple days. In a couple weeks, they were able to return to the same pasture without issue. Thankfully none of them had any serious tissue damage to their skin, and they have been perfectly fine ever since.

How did we know our sheep had photosensitivity?

The first sign that something was wrong was seeing a sheep with a hugely swollen head. Her ears were flopped down, and she was clearly uncomfortable, agitated and repeatedly rubbing her swollen face. Upon closer inspection it was easy to see that her skin was red and angry looking. This was particularly obvious in the areas on her head and ears where the hair was thin. Her skin was also leaking yellowish sticky serum.

These are all textbook early symptoms.

If you see these symptoms in your flock get your sheep out of the sun IMMEDIATELY. Don’t wait to see if it goes away. Our sheep went from being fine at morning check to being so swollen they couldn’t see by mid afternoon. The reaction happens fast and the damage and discomfort continues to worsen until they are out of the sun.

If you do not help your animals quickly, they will have ever increasing damage to their skin which results scab formation and eventually necrosis. It can get bad enough for their skin to slough off and can result in them losing parts of their ears. At this stage they are in extreme pain, and highly prone to getting secondary infections. As you might imagine, at this point the prognosis is not good.

Thankfully, our sheep did not develop scabs or obvious lesions. The swelling went away within 48 hours of taking them off the pasture. We will note there was some tissue damage though. A couple weeks later our sheep lost all the hair on the backs of their ears and tops of their heads where they received the most sun exposure. This resulted in a new temporary problem—sunburn. We ended up putting sunscreen on their bald patches for a few days while we waited for the new hair to grow in.

Can you prevent having problems with photosensitivity?

Sort of. The obvious answer is to avoid allowing any weeds that are known photosensitizing agents to grow in your pastures. Also avoid feeding water damaged or moldy feed because they may contain fungi that cause liver damage.

Unfortunately there is no way to fully protect your animals. Sometimes we have no idea and are never able to figure out what the causative agent in photosensitivity is. That is why it is important to know the signs and symptoms of this less common ailment. That way you will be prepared to take action immediately to prevent more serious damage and suffering if this ever occurs in your flock.

We hope you never have to deal with this photosensitivity. However, if you ever see your sheep with a swollen face and floppy ears, you now know what to do to help them!

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Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Recognize Photosensitivity In Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

In horses sweet itch shows up mostly on their tail and mane areas making the condition extremely obvious. In contrast, in sheep the condition is most commonly seen on the bottoms of their bellies. Because of this it may go unnoticed unless it is an extremely severe case where the bald patches reach other portions of the body.

So what are Culicoides?

Culicoides are a teeny, tiny biting flies. You might know them by different names such as no-see-ums or biting midges. They are those tiny biting insects that have no qualms about flying through your window screens to bite you. If you have ever been bitten by one, then you know they produce an intensely itchy bite.

Culicoides are mostly active around dawn and dusk. They arrive in the spring and stay through the fall only disappearing once it starts frosting. Culicoides reproduce in wet areas, such as the marshes our farm is surrounded by. So unfortunately for us, they are a very big ongoing problem. Not only can they cause allergic reactions in our animals, but they are also vectors of the disease blue tongue which they can carry from white tail deer to our livestock.

Because they are so small and numerous, Culicoides can be very difficult to control.

They are almost never out on sunny days and might bite your animal without you even having realized it. The allergic reaction they cause may even be invisible for quite a while. You might not notice until the animals have itched holes in their coats.

This allergic reaction caused by Culicoides starts a viscous cycle. It causes the animals to itch, so they scratch themselves. This causes skin damage, inflammation, and irritation leading to yet more scratching. Additionally, it creates bald patches or raw areas of skin that are prime targets for additional bites from both Culicoides, and various other biting flies and insects. Left unchecked, the animals can itch literal holes into themselves leaving large raw bleeding patches. These open wounds are good candidates for developing infections, or fly strike. Fly strike is where flies lay eggs in a wound and you end up with a wound full of maggots.

Preventing and managing sweet itch

It is important to get Culicoides hypersensitivity reactions under control before it gets out of hand. If you have an animal showing early signs of Culicoides hypersensitivity, take action to break the cycle if at all possible. Try to do damage control before the animal is covered in huge bare patches of skin. If you have an animal that has had problems with this in the past, take a proactive approach. Try to prevent the problem before it starts. If they had a horrible reaction to Culicoides last year, most likely it will occur again this year.

Because this is an allergic reaction to the bite of the Culicoides insect, treatment and prevention requires protecting the animal from getting Culicoides bites. Unfortunately, this can be very difficult to do completely. Nonetheless, you should do your best to minimize the animals exposure. Even if you cannot prevent every single bite, less bites still equates to a less severe allergic reaction.

How do I limit exposure?

If possible, the best prevention is to bring your animals inside a barn before the Culicoides become active near dusk. Then turn the sheep back outside once the sun has risen in the morning. Additionally, because Culicoides are so tiny and difficult to exclude, having a large fan blowing over the animals in your barn can make a huge difference. This will keep the insects from being able to bite your sheep.

If you cannot practically bring them inside, then select night time pastures carefully. Pasture your animals overnight in areas that are as far away from moist areas as possible. It is also a good idea to try to choose pastures that are in open windy areas. Because Culicoides are so tiny, a breeze can help to keep them off of your animals.

Use physical barriers and insecticides on problem prone animals

You should use physical barriers or insecticides to deter Culicoides from landing on sheep that you know are sensitive to Culicoides bites. Petroleum jelly can be a good physical barrier for bare skin. We have also found that the horse ointment ‘Swat’ works well to keep biting insects off patches of bare skin. Keep in mind that any sort of physical barrier or insecticide repellent must be applied frequently for it to be effective. This is particularly true if your animals are rubbing off the barrier by itching the affected areas of skin.

If you have an animal that develops an open sore from itching despite your efforts to prevent this from occurring, you will likely need to bandage the affected area or use some other method to prevent them from being able to reach to itch the spot so that the skin can heal.

Lastly, you may need to consider culling affected animals if easily controlling the Culicoides hypersensitivity is not practical. Livestock are supposed to be working for you. Most sheep do not develop Culicoides hypersensitivity, so it can be a good idea to get rid of ones that do. Additionally, just like with most things, there is likely a genetic component, and this is something that you can select against. You should not keep replacement animals out of affected sires or dams.

We hope this will help you to spot and manage this frustrating condition if you are ever unlucky enough to come across it!

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The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Culicoides Hypersensitivity: Sweet Itch Doesn’t Just Affect Horses first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

99% of the time anemia in small ruminants is caused by parasitism by the barber pole worm. You should always start looking at anemia as if it is caused by parasites. Always. Before you even consider anything else, thoroughly rule out all kinds of internal parasites first.

After thoroughly ruling out parasites, we recently found ourselves in that 1% of anemia that isn’t parasite caused. It was a frustrating, nerve-wracking summer. And the question was:

Where do you go from there?

Our lambs, and in particular our ram lambs, had FAMACHA scores of 5. That summer a score of 3 was GREAT for any of our animals. (if you are unfamiliar with what FAMACHA is, please take a minute to check out our article explaining it and why it is so important for small rumiants) We did fecal egg count after fecal egg count, and multiple fecal egg count reduction tests. We dewormed, we didn’t deworm, we tried putting them on drylot with hay, we tried leaving them on pasture. Absolutely nothing worked.

Nothing we did budged their anemia scores AT ALL. What was worse, we bought in a new Katahdin ram who was supposed to have excellent parasite resistance. He arrived with the richest red mucus membranes we have ever seen. Within a month his mucus membranes were no different than those of the rest of the flock.

Our flock of sheep displayed no other symptoms, none.

Needless to say, we spent the majority of the summer on knife edge. We were worrying that one of these lambs with white mucus membranes was going to drop dead and there wasn’t a single sorry thing we could do for them.

In between collecting fecal samples, checking FAMACHA scores obsessively, and asking everyone we possibly could think of to interrogate, there was a flurry of research. No one seems to have had this problem before, nor did they have any ideas or solutions. So, what could the problem be?

As we mentioned before anemia is most often parasites, and almost everything online regarding anemia points to barber pole worms. However, we were very convinced before the end of the summer that we were not dealing with worm problems. We also knew from a local farmer that he historically had the same unsolved anemia problem in their goats, but never in their cattle.

So we dug deeper and started researching individual minerals one by one.

There are 3 main minerals required to make blood that are typically associated with anemia. Iron, copper, and Vitamin B12 which rumen bacteria manufacture from cobalt.

Even though in humans iron deficiency is a very common cause of anemia, we immediately ruled our iron as extremely unlikely. There has never been a documented case of a direct iron deficiency in ruminants. Not ever. Typically grazing animals diets are extremely high in iron because they are accidentally eating a lot of dirt with their grass. It is far more likely for iron to be present in toxic amounts negatively impacting the absorption of other nutrients.

Next we ruled out copper as also unlikely. Not because it isn’t possible for a sheep to be copper deficient, but because our new ram got anemic within a few weeks of being here. Because sheep are so good at storing copper, and they have such a minimal requirement for it, the likelihood of our new ram becoming so copper deficient as to be extremely anemic in under a month seemed low.

After crossing iron and copper off our list, we again researched all sorts of other common deficiencies to see if we missed any mention in the literature of common deficiencies, like zinc or selenium, causing anemia. Nada.

Eventually we decided that it must be cobalt even though cobalt was a seemingly unlikely culprit, and is not often mentioned. Cobalt is the ruminant precursor for Vitamin B12. Without sufficient cobalt, ruminants cannot make the B12 their bodies require.

In the United States cobalt deficiency in ruminants is quite rare.

The majority of the soils, and thus forages, in this country have plenty of cobalt in them. Cobalt deficiency is much more commonly seen in other countries than it is here. However, there is one place in the United States where we historically could not keep ruminants because they would always waste away and die. This area was the coastal plains of the southeast. When we learned about the ruminant requirement for cobalt we were able to cure this coastal wasting disease.

Cobalt maps of the USA show that our location here in Virginia technically should have sufficient cobalt. However, slightly south of this location is where severe deficiency starts to be noted, so it seemed highly likely that our sandy soils could be deficient.

The only problem was that our sheep did not have any of the other normal symptoms of cobalt deficiency. Plus, their trace mineral mix contained what should have been enough cobalt to meet their needs. We rushed down the cobalt deficiency rabbit hole anyways trying to learn everything we could possibly learn about cobalt.

What we learned about cobalt and sheep

As it would turn out sheep have a very high cobalt requirement, much higher than cattle, and probably higher than goats. This is possibly why our neighbor never experiences problems with his cattle, but did when he had goats.

Also, sheep have no ability to store cobalt as they do not actually absorb the cobalt, but rather the rumen bacteria use cobalt to manufacture vitamin B12. This means that if their diet does not consistently contain cobalt, they cannot manufacture Vitamin B12. Additionally, as you might know B12 is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning that our bodies have a very limited ability to store it. Thus, a deficiency can develop rapidly—within a months time.

Symptoms of cobalt deficiency are typically mainly that sheep lose their appetite, have a poor wool coat and lack body condition. They also say that weeping eyes, scabby ears and anemia can also be signs of cobalt deficiency. Lambs may fail to thrive and ewes may have poor fertility or be poor mothers.

As we mentioned before, the only symptom our sheep had was chronic anemia. Our sheep showed none of these other symptoms which are typically seen before anemia. Nonetheless, it is inexpensive and easy to test the cobalt deficiency theory. So we did.

Cobalt deficiency is actually a vitamin B12 deficiency, therefore B12 injections will rapidly improve symptoms.

Anemia however takes time to recover from because it takes time to make red blood cells. It can take a month or more for anemia to be completely cured. So we gave B vitamin injections to our lambs with the worst FAMACHA scores and waited.

Sure enough, in a few week’s time, we were quite sure that cobalt was the problem. So we promptly got cobalt boluses and dosed our flock. For those of you who don’t know what a bolus is, it is just a large pill that in this case contained a chunk of cobalt designed to sit in their rumen and slowly dissolve over time.

Over the course of the next couple months the anemia in our flock drastically improved. And then it stopped improving. Unfortunately, it did not improve as much as we would have liked. Nor did it improve uniformly across our flock.

This leads to so many more questions that we are still working on solving.

Resolving nutrient deficiencies can be very difficult and complex. There are many interactions between various minerals that occur in the rumen, many of which we do not fully understand yet. This often makes determining exactly what an animal actually needs very difficult and time consuming to do when a problem arises.

One of the biggest questions we have is why is our flock so cobalt deficient? On paper their diet is more than sufficient. During this whole process we got a forage analysis done. The cobalt levels in our feed and mineral mix combined should be sufficient to meet the sheep’s needs. And yet they were severely anemic. Boluses helped significantly, but have not completely resolved the anemia even though they should be getting well more cobalt than their requirements at this point.

So do they somehow still need more cobalt?

The answer is yes, for some reason they seem to. After seeing a significant improvement and then a plateau from adding cobalt boluses we eventually increased the cobalt level in their mineral mix significantly. Because cobalt is needed in such small amounts, we were hesitant to do so initially. However, we are glad we did. This drastically improved our FAMACHA scores, particularly in our lambs who started FAMACHA scores of dead. They now all have scores of about 2.

We are still busy working out the perfect dosage of cobalt to keep them from being anemic. We also still have many questions such as why do they need yet more cobalt? What about their diet is preventing them from being able to utilize the cobalt present? We gave cobalt boluses and more than quadrupled the level of cobalt in their mineral mix before we saw the anemia start to clear up, and its something that is reoccurring. Their anemia levels fluctuate (we are guessing) depending on how much mineral mix they have been consuming.

Dietary requirements for many mineral nutrients are complicated because they can interact and interfere with each other. However, most everything indicates that cobalt has little to no interaction with other nutrients in the rumen. So is there some yet unknown factor involved?

What complicates the matter even more is that we have two different breeds of sheep. The cobalt boluses affected them differently even though they are living in the same pasture and eating the same diet and mineral mix.

We have a mixed flock of black and white Katahdins (hair sheep), and white East Friesian x Finns (wool sheep). The Katahdins had a marginal anemia improvement to be a 2-3 FAMACHA whereas the East Friesian had an improvement to be a 1-2 FAMACHA. Why did they respond differently? Is it due to the size difference between the two breeds, or different nutrient requirements?

Is copper somehow also coming into play?

Copper deficiency can also cause anemia. We have been supplementing our flock with copper for several years for other reasons, and did not think we had any copper deficiency problems. However, one marked difference between the two breeds is that they have significantly different copper requirements. Katahdins, particularly our heavily pigmented ones, have a much higher copper requirement than East Friesians, who happen to be highly sensitive to copper toxicity. (Please keep in mind copper is a mineral you have to experiment with very carefully under a vet’s guidance so that you don’t poison your sheep.)

At this point, we just don’t know. We hope to be able to come back with answers in the future. Until then we will keep up our search. There is so much that we (as a farm, and also as a scientific community) just don’t know about nutrition yet. So if you happen to be in a situation similar to ours where you are chasing trace mineral deficiencies, don’t be discouraged. We are right there with you!

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Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Cobalt Deficiency: Anemia Isn’t Always Parasites first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 2-Controlling Worms Without Dewormer

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 3-How To Properly Deworm

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep

Throughout our series on barber pole worms, we have mentioned several times that fecal egg counts (FEC) can be a very useful tool in a parasite management program. This is particularly true when breeding for parasite resistance.

Many people think that it is too expensive to use fecal egg counts regularly because you have to send samples to a lab or to your vet for analysis. Typically, this costs $10-25 per sample, which can add up pretty quickly. Fortunately, with a basic microscope and a fecal egg count slide kit, almost anyone can learn to do FEC at home. If you do more than a few FEC in a year, the investment in supplies to do FEC at home will quickly pay for themselves.

Doing FEC at home has the added bonus of giving you immediate results. Fecal egg counts are often used as diagnostic tools on a sick animal. You might have to wait for a couple days to hear from the the vet that your sheep has coccidia or parasites. If you do the test yourself, you will know 10 minutes later what is in your animal’s feces.

You need a few basic supplies

• Microscope that has 100x (10x lens) magnification. Worm eggs are large, so inexpensive student microscopes work perfectly.

• Paracount-EPG kit with the green grid lines on the slides.

• A container for smashing manure pellets in

• Craft sticks (or some other kind of small spoon you can crush and scoop manure pellets with)

• Disposable gloves

• Flotation solution. You can purchase a ready made flotation solution or can make a simple one yourself.

How to make your own flotation solution

We use a sugar solution. It consists of 1 lb of sugar dissolved in 12 oz of water. You will need to heat up the water for the sugar to fully dissolve. Once the sugar is dissolved, allow it to cool and refrigerate.

Alternatively, you can make an Epsom salt solution. To do this, put some Epsom salt in a jar. Fill the jar about 2/3 full of water. Shake or stir it until the salt dissolves. Add more salt, and repeat. Continue doing this periodically over 24 hours until you have a saturated solution evidenced by a layer of salt in the bottom that will not dissolve. You can then pour off (and save) the liquid leaving behind the undissolved salt. The liquid is your flotation solution. The remaining salt can be reused to make more flotation solution or disposed of.

Before we get started it is important to note

There are various ways to perform fecal analysis on animals. For animals like sheep and goats that tend to have high worm counts, the modified McMaster egg counting technique is preferred. You can use other methods if you choose, but this one is ideal.

Regardless of what method you chose to use, it is important to be consistent. Use the same technique, and the same flotation solution every time. You cannot compare results from your vet or a lab against your results, or the results of 2 different counting methods to each other. This is particularly true if a simple fecal flotation is performed. This method will tell you what species of eggs are present but will provide no useful information about how many worms are present.

Different FEC methods count eggs differently so results are relative and only comparable to other results obtained from the same test method. For example, the same fecal sample may show 1000 epg counted one way and only 500 epg counted using a different method. It is not so much the exact number that matters as being able to compare that number to previous or future FEC tests.

How to perform modified McMaster egg count.

Before we actually start working through the procedures, it is a good idea to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with what some common parasite eggs look like. There are plenty of picture references for small ruminant parasites on the internet.

Then, you need to go gather poop! Many worm eggs hatch very quickly, so you will need to obtain a fresh sample. To do this, put on one of the disposable gloves. Stick one or 2 fingers into their rectum and carefully pull out some manure into your hand. Invert the glove off of your hand so that you have your manure in a glove bag. If you are doing multiple samples it is a good idea to write the sheep’s name/number on the glove.

You will need to either use or refrigerate your samples in under 30 minutes from collection. If you use old manure, or allow your samples to sit out at room temperature, most likely the worm eggs will have already hatched into larvae. Once they become larvae you can no longer see them on your test and you will get inaccurate results.

Once you have your samples collected, it is a good idea to put all but 1 sample in the refrigerator.

Next we will need to set up your microscope and prepare the manure for analysis

Set up your microscope, and make sure it is set to magnify 100x and get your Paracount-EPG kit out.

Dump the manure out into your large container and smash up all the pellets into little pieces. The better you do this, the easier the next steps will be.

Then take one of the large vials in your kit and fill it with flotation solution up to the ‘flotation solution’ line. Look closely at your vial before starting. It has a different line for horses than it does for sheep and goats.

Add crushed manure until you reach the fill line. Stir it vigorously until all of the manure is dissolved into a uniform brown liquid.

After you finish stirring, immediately use one of the syringes included in the kit suck up your solution. Carefully inject it into one of the chambers in the slide. Empty the syringe back into the vial and suck up a new syringe full for the other chamber of the slide. Remember to draw 2 samples from your vial. One for each chamber.

If you wish to redo your egg count on a given sample, be sure to give the manure solution a good stir before using it again. It is a flotation solution, so the eggs will all work their way to the surface, and you will not get accurate results without re-stirring the solution.

On to the microscope!

Here you are simply going to put your slide on the microscope and count the number of eggs within the grids. To do this focus your microscope on one of the green grid lines until the line is clear. Then find a corner of one of your grids. Carefully work your way up and down the grid tallying all of the eggs. Do not count eggs outside of the grids. Keep track of each different kind of egg separately.

Once you have finished with the first grid, repeat the process for the second one.

Take your time and be patient with yourself. Keep scrolling through your slide. Most likely you will eventually see a barber pole worm egg. Once you have seen a few of them, and you know what you are looking for they will become very easy to spot.

At first you might find some artifacts confusing

It may take a little practice to pick out your worm eggs from all the other artifacts. Things you might find under your microscope include not only parasite eggs, but also many other strange looking thing.

You will see lots of air bubbles. These are probably one of the first things you will see that you might think are parasite eggs. They are not. Air bubbles look like large black doughnuts. They are everywhere, and are super obvious once you know what they are. Ignore them.

You will see all sorts of odd looking shapes and debris. Most of them are part of plants cells and cell walls. You can tell this sort of thing apart from your worm eggs, because worm eggs are very consistent in size and shape, this stuff usually isn’t.

You might see pollen. It is a little trickier than most plant debris. It is extremely uniform and looks a lot like it might be some kind of egg, but it isn’t. If you aren’t certain, you can always do an internet search for pollen under the microscope to see what various pollen grains might look like.

Lastly, in addition to the various worm eggs, you may see coccidia.

It is a normal inhabitant of your sheep’s gut. If the animal is healthy and does not seem ill, it is not of concern. However, it is also capable of being a pathogen, particularly in lambs, where it can cause anemia like the barberpole worm. If you are looking at manure from an anemic sheep with a lot of diarrhea, and see a lot of coccidia, you will likely need to treat your lamb with a coccidiostat rather than (or in addition to) a dewormer.

Calculating your eggs per gram

Now you will need to do some math to determine the number of eggs per gram (EPG). This is the FEC count information you are seeking.

First add the number of eggs for each grid together to get a total. Do this for each kind of egg separately. If you used sheep/goat line on your vial, then you will need to multiply the number of worm eggs you counted by 50. If you used the horse line on the vial you will need to use a multiplier of 25. So, if you counted 1 barber pole worm egg, your EPG is 50 (1 x 50 = 50), if you counted 27 barberpole worm eggs it is 1350 EPG (27 x 50 = 1350).

The last step is to carefully wash and dry your tools. It is best to do this promptly before your manure solution has a chance to dry onto anything. Be gentle when washing the slides and vial. The grid lines and writing are ink and can be scrubbed off. Usually a thorough rinse under running water is sufficient to clean the slide chambers. You can then shake out the water and pat them dry on a clean cloth or paper towel.

What to do with this information

Fecal egg counts provide you valuable information about what parasites are present and in what numbers. Most of the time barber pole worms are the main worm of concern. Lower levels of most other worms typically do not reach dangerous thresholds before barberpole worms do.

There is no magic FEC number that tells you whether you should or shouldn’t deworm your animal. You have to use tools like FAMACHA and body condition scoring for that. However, a FEC can confirm your diagnosis. It can tell you that yes, that anemic animal is dying of barber pole worms, or yes that sheep that you can’t put weight on is loaded with brown stomach worms. It is also a valuable tool that you can use to select for parasite resistance, to track parasite trends in your flock, or even to test the effectiveness of your dewormer.

Doing your own fecal egg count reduction tests

Doing your own dewormer effectiveness checks can be quite useful in the current era of dewormer resistance. This dewormer effectiveness check is called a fecal egg count reduction test. To do a fecal egg count reduction test, take a FEC on your animals. Then deworm them. Repeat your FEC again 10-14 days after deworming them.

FEC reduction tests are expressed in percents. Divide your pre-deworming FEC by your post-deworming FEC, subtract it from 1 and multiply by 100 to get this percentage. For example, if I had a sheep with a pre-deworming FEC of 6540 EPG, and 400 EPG post deworming, what is my FEC reduction? Divide: 400 / 6540 = 0.0611 Subtract: 1 – 0.061 = 0.09389 Multiply: 0.09389 x 100 = 93.89% reduction. Not great, but could be worse.

In a perfect world the 10-14 day egg count would be 0 or a 100% reduction. If you get less than an 80% reduction then you very likely are dealing with some significant parasite resistance problems. Once you get down towards 50% you are looking at a complete failure of your dewormer.

We hope with this information has provided you with a new valuable tool. You are now ready to get started doing your own fecal egg counts!

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Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Do A Fecal Egg Count At Home first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 2-Controlling Worms Without Dewormer

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 3-How To Properly Deworm

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count

Looking to breed a parasite resistant sheep?

You probably know just how important it is that we breed out our reliance on chemical dewormers. Thankfully, breeding for parasite resistance is something that is well within the abilities of every small ruminant owner. That is if (and only if) you are willing to keep good records and cull animals that should not be bred.

Record keeping and culling is a must, even if you originally purchased parasite resistant stock. Parasite resistance is something that is relatively easy to select for. Conversely, parasite resistance is something that can easily be bred out if you are not actively selecting for it. After all a parasite resistant sheep and a susceptible sheep might look and perform identically if we deworm all our animals frequently

Where do we start?

First and foremost, buy the best ram you can afford. It is much cheaper in the long run to buy a good quality ram to improve your flock than to work your way up from the bottom. At this point in time, there are many breeders out there who are seriously selecting their flocks for parasite resistance.

Before you purchase the ram ask them for their records and proof of their parasite resistance. If the farmer is actually actively selecting for parasite resistance, then they will have data to prove it. Otherwise they might be breeding ‘parasite resistant’ animals simply because they own animals of a breed (such as the Katahdin) that has a reputation for parasite resistance. Not every flock of a ‘parasite resistant breed’ is actually parasite resistant. Thus it is important to verify that the breeder is actually making tangible efforts to select for this trait.

If you have a breed of sheep that submits data to the National Sheep Improvement Plan (NSIP), look for a ram from a breeder that has NSIP data on their sheep. This will provide you valuable parasite resistance data, and also other useful production data on the sheep. This is one of the best ways to make large improvements on your flock quickly.

‘Buy local’ applies to sheep as well as produce

There is one more thing to consider when buying in sheep. It is best to select sheep from a breeder that is local or semi-local, if at all possible. They have already been selecting animals that perform well in your local environment.

Why is buying local sheep so important? Because parasite resistance is relative. For example. A parasite resistant sheep kept in a feedlot in Montana is likely NOT parasite resistant on a pasture in Florida. Without intervention, that ‘parasite resistant’ sheep might be dead of parasites within a month of moving to that Florida pasture. Why? Because the parasite pressure in Florida is exponentially higher than in Montana.

There are a few other things we need to keep in mind when selecting for parasite resistance.

When we are evaluating animals for parasite resistance, there are two kinds of immunity we need to consider. Innate immunity is the immunity the lambs are born with. They are just plain less hospitable environments for parasites from the day they are born. The second type of immunity is acquired immunity. This is the immune mediated response similar to how you get sick from a cold virus only once. This is a learned immunity to parasites.

For most parasite resistant breeds acquired immunity starts to kick in at 3-4 months of age. For non-parasite resistant breeds it is closer to 6-8 months of age. This is useful information to use both as you are selecting replacement ewes, but also as you are making management decisions.

We also need to keep in mind is that sheep can be both resilient and/or resistant to parasites. Resilience and resistance are not the same thing. A resilient sheep is one that is better than average at withstanding a high parasite load. They are better at making more blood faster. A resistant sheep has a low parasite load. Their immune system is really good at getting rid of barber pole worms.

Both of these animals will look identical out in your pasture. They will have identical FAMACHA scores when you check them for anemia. However, we would prefer to select for resistance because resistant animals are benefiting the rest of your flock. Resistant sheep are not shedding tons of live parasite eggs all over your pastures but resilient sheep still are.

Breeding for parasite resistance is done through a lot of culling

The bare minimum approach to selecting for parasite resistance includes culling poor performing animals. Cull ewes and lambs that require more deworming than the rest of your flock. Also cull any animals that seem to grow slower, or just do poorly compared to the flock average. Getting rid of the worst performing animals will slowly improve your flock.

To make progress faster. Do fecal egg counts (FEC) on your animals.

You can hasten the process to increased parasite resistance in your flock by regularly doing fecal egg counts (FEC) on your animals.

Cull animals that shed a lot of eggs around lambing, and keep those that don’t. We now know that periparturient rise is closely correlated with the overall parasite resistance of the ewes. This can also help you significantly reduce your farm’s overall parasite load.

Cull animals that consistently shed a high number of eggs, keep those that don’t. Keep in mind that animals in different life stages (eg. a lactating ewe), and high performing animals might have higher egg counts. It is important to track animal performance and FEC long term (over months or years) rather than using just one snapshot in time.

The thin ewe with a higher FEC who is feeding quads, might be just as resistant as the lower FEC chubby ewe feeding a single lamb. Her body is just much more stressed, and she is working much harder for you. If you checked again when both ewes are dry and in good body condition, you might find that your harder working ewe has a lower FEC than the other ewe. This is why we said ‘consistently shed a high number of eggs’.

Keep replacements from those that have less than average parasite egg shedding and who require less deworming than the average. Keep in mind the 80/20 rule. 20% of your animals are shedding 80% of the parasite eggs on your pasture. Getting rid of that 20% (or at least not keeping offspring from them) will reduce the parasite load on your pasture by 80%. Cull, cull cull, and before you know it you will have a more resistant flock!

One last thing to keep in mind

If we are going to be selecting our most parasite resistant animals to keep, we need to make sure that we are making fair comparisons. We know that bigger, larger sheep are better at withstanding parasites than smaller animals. A large single lamb will have less problems with parasites than a group of quads all other things being equal. Not because the single lamb is actually more resistant, but simply because it is just much bigger.

Another example of an unfair comparison would be comparing a January born lamb to an April born lamb. Don’t do it. Why? The January born lamb was born when there weren’t many parasites around. Your April born lamb will have been exposed to many more parasites. So for them to look like they ‘performed equally’ the April born lamb would actually need to have performed much, much better.

We need accurate data for it to be useful

So to get useful, accurate comparison data to select for parasite resistance, it is important to look at a contemporary group of lambs. That is a group of lambs that were born about the same time, from the same size litters, and who are fed and housed together in the same environment.

Take FEC from your lambs several times over the course of the summer, and use those numbers to select lambs to keep. Choose replacement lambs who have both high growth performance and consistently low egg counts.

Don’t base your choice on just 1 FEC

Look at how the lamb compares to the group average, and also how it compares to itself over time. Did your youngest/smallest lamb have the highest FEC in June at weaning, but then the lowest one a couple months later when the worm burden should have been greater? If so, you might have seen their acquired immunity kick in. Did you have a lamb who’s FEC stayed the same or went down when everyone else’s went up? This lamb probably has excellent parasite resistance. Ideally you want to select lambs that have been consistently out performing others all season.

The one drawback to using FEC data is that it requires either more time or expense than just culling based on FAMACHA scores. Nonetheless, it is worth the investment. It will get you to your goal faster.

We would also like to note, that if you wish to use FEC to select within your flock, but feel that you cannot afford to pay a vet or lab to perform that many FEC for you, this tool is not out of your reach. With a basic microscope and some practice, it is actually quite easy to perform FEC for yourself at home. That is going to be the topic for our last article in our barber pole worm series.

If you don’t want to miss out on that article, please sign up for our newsletter to have it delivered directly to you when it is written!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Get Started Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 2-Controlling Worms Without Dewormer

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count

In the next part of our series on barber pole worms, we are going to discuss proper deworming. It is extremely important to follow the guidelines to deworm properly. This is because there are no new dewormers being developed, and there is a lot of dewormer resistance building in this country.

A lot of this resistance can be attributed to our lack of understanding and inappropriate deworming practices. Unfortunately, many of these same practices are still widely used and are being recommended by people who do not understand how much harm they are causing. Thus, as a small ruminant owner, it is important to educate yourself on what the current recommendations are.

Dewormer resistance is due to improper use and over use of dewormers.

So first lets take a look at historical deworming practices.

Believe it or not, dewormers are actually pretty new to the scene. Modern anthelmintics, the official name for dewormers, didn’t come onto the scene until the 1960’s and 70’s. Prior to that options for controlling parasites were pretty limited.

As we settled into using dewormers, we settled into a lot of bad habits that have gotten us to the resistance problem we have here today. We had this new miracle cure and decided that it was a good idea to deworm all of our animals very frequently. Probably on the faulty assumption that we could eradicate the worms. When parasite resistance started to rear its head, we started making the recommendation to rotate dewormers every time we dewormed. Somewhere in here we also decided it was a good idea to move the animals to a new pasture immediately after deworming.

Unfortunately, while well intentioned, we now know that these practices are some of the best ways to create dewormer resistance.

We now know we cannot eradicate worms. We know a lot more about the lifecycle of parasites and barber pole worms are alarmingly persistent on pastures. We know that if you deworm and rotate your animals back and forth between two pastures every 30 days, you are NOT putting them in a clean worm free pasture. You are actually putting them back on the pasture at peak infectivity.

Not only were we not reducing parasite populations, because we were deworming every single animal frequently, we were creating dewormer resistance simply by the high quantity of exposure. Rather than helping, rotating dewormers just increases the parasites’ exposure. Resulting in worms resistant to not only 1 but 2 or even all 3 dewormer classes.

This deworming schedule also makes animals with good natural parasite resistance look exactly the same as those who are extremely susceptible. Ceasing to select strong healthy animals makes the problem a viscous cycle of weaker animals needing more deworming, so we deworm more making more weaker animals and more parasite resistance.

Every single dose of dewormer comes with risk

The risk of creating a resistant worm is there every single time we administer a dose of dewormer. However, your risk of creating a resistant worm goes up exponentially with increased dewormer useage. For example. If I administer 1 dose of dewormer to 1 animal in any given year, I have 1 chance of creating a resistant worm.

What if I give 12 doses to 100 animals in a year?

Well, then I suddenly have 1200 chances of doing it instead of 1.

If I rotate between the 3 dewormer classes, then I have 400 chances of a worm developing resistance to any one of the 3 dewormers. What happens if one of those 400 chances creates a resistant worm that just happens to win the lottery? That worm also is lucky enough to develop resistance to the next dose of dewormer you give. Suddenly you have a parasite resistant to 2 kinds of dewormers.

This wouldn’t have been possible if I had not been frequently deworming and rotating dewormers. If I had only dewormed a couple animals instead of every single animal on a schedule, I would have reduced the risk even more.

We now realize that we should not deworm on a schedule, and that we need to care for what we call ‘refugia’

Every farm has a population of worms. This includes both the worms inside your animals and on your pastures. Your refugia is the portion of that worm population that HAS NOT been exposed to your dewormer. These non-exposed worms are important because they dilute the resistant worms.

To maintain refugia you CANNOT deworm all your animals at the same time. You should also not put dewormed animals out onto a clean pasture. They should go back into the same wormy pasture that they were in prior to deworming. Putting the animals back into a wormy pasture is doubly important if you have to deworm a large portion of your group (such as with lambs).

Why is this so important?

We know that if we deworm an animal that has a resistant worm, that the animal is only shedding resistant parasite eggs onto your pasture. What if all of your animals are only shedding resistant worms on your pasture? This is what happens if you deworm all of your animals or put dewormed animals onto a clean pasture. Before you know it, there are only resistant worms on your farm because you selected for them. As you can imagine, this could pretty quickly turn into a huge problem. And it has. This is the problem we see on farms across the country and world.

So how do we deworm properly to protect our refugia and slow the progression of resistance?

Firstly, lets start with some DON’TS. For the reasons laid out above:

• Do not deworm any animal unless they actually need it (as determined by things like FAMACHA)

• Never deworm all your animals on a schedule.

• Never deworm all your animals at the same time.

• Do not deworm your animals and move them to a new pasture.

Additionally,

• Do not under dose dewormers

• Do not use injectable or pour on dewormers.

Under dosing, injecting or pouring on dewormers can contribute to resistance by exposing worms to sub-lethal doses of dewormer giving them more opportunity to adapt to it.

What we should be doing?

• Use FAMACHA and or fecal egg counts to determine what animals to deworm.

• Only deworm the animals that need to be dewormed.

• Return dewormed animals to a dirty pasture with other animals that have not been dewormed.

• Make sure that you weigh your animals accurately prior to deworming so that you can give them a proper dose. As mentioned above under dosing encourages resistance. 2 of the 3 classes of dewormers are extremely safe (a 10x dose will do no harm), so if in doubt, err on the side of over rather than under dosing. The 3^rd class needs an accurate weight to be dosed correctly.

• Deworm with all 3 classes of dewormer at the same time, eg. Cydectin®, Valbazen®, and Prohibit®. Don’t put them in the same syringe, but give one right after the other.

• Get fecal egg count reduction tests done periodically to determine the efficacy of your dewormers

• Remember it is normal (and even healthy and beneficial) for your animals to carry some level of parasites.

What are the 3 classes of dewormers are, and why are they important?

Despite different branding, each of the dozen different dewormers on the store shelf is not a unique entity. Any time we are discussing dewormers, it is important to keep in mind that there are only 3 types or classes of dewormers. Within each class there are several different dewormers sold under various brand names. For example macrolytic lactones include ivermectin (Ivomec®) and moxidectin (brand names Quest® or Cydectin®). Benzimidazoles include fenbendazole (Safeguard®) and albendazole (Valbazen®). Levamisole (Prohibit®) and morantel tartrate (Rumatel®) are nicotinic agonists.

Why does this matter? Because each family has a unique mode of action. Resistance is to the mode of action not the brand. If your parasite is resistant to ivermectin, it is also resistant to moxidectin. This means that in practical application we have 3 dewormers total. Giving 2 from the same class doesn’t benefit your animals or your wallet.

We also mentioned above that you should give a dewormer from all 3 classes at the same time every time you deworm.

Right about now, you might be confused by the recommendation to give all 3 dewormers at the same time. After all, we just talked about how scheduled rotational deworming between different classes of dewormers increased resistance. Now we are telling you the current recommendation is to deworm with all 3 classes of dewormer at once.

Seems backwards doesn’t it? It isn’t though. Let’s look at why you give all 3 dewormers together.

At this point in time, every single farm in this country has some level of dewormer resistance. We are beyond the point of preventing resistance by not exposing worms. We are to the point of reducing resistance. This is where deworming with all 3 dewormers comes in. It is actually much more effective than rotational deworming because you are not allowing the resistant worms to reproduce.

How this concept works is easy to show with some simple math.

In the table below, we have a list of 3 hypothetical dewormers. The percentage listed in each column are how effective each dewormer is by itself. The total column shows how effective the dewormers are together.

As you can see from this table if we use dewormer 1 by itself, 10% of the worms live to reproduce and shed eggs on your field. Adding dewormer 2 means only 1% of the resistant worms are left. If we add dewormer #3 to the mix, there are only 0.1% of parasite resistant worms left.

This is very significant.

Rather than letting the population resistant to dewormer 1 reproduce you are immediately killing them with dewormers 2 and 3. A single barber pole worm can produce 10,000 eggs per day, so that 10% left alive can do some serious damage in the 60 days before you killed them with dewormer 2 on a rotational deworming program (or 120 days for dewormer 3).

Looking at a different example for less effective dewormers, we see that even if all 3 dewormers are only 50% effective by themselves you can still kill almost 90% of the worms if they are used together. This is also very significant. This leaves you with only 10% resistant worms (instead of 50%), out there reproducing in your fields.

More importantly, this increased kill rate from combination deworming makes them effective enough to save an animal.

A dewormer that provides 50% kill is unlikely to save a severely anemic animal. 90% kill on the other hand might not be ideal, but it will save that animal. And that is information worth taking home with you!

So as we can see, using all three dewormers together, and only on animals that absolutely need them is the best way to prolong their usefulness for our animals. However, keep in mind. This is just buying us time.

The end of dewormer effectiveness is inevitable, and has already come in some areas. Thus it is important to also practice good management to minimize your animals exposure to parasites. If you are ever unsure of what is best check the American Consortium For Small Ruminant Parasite Control for the most up to date information. Most importantly, it is important to work towards selecting parasite resistant animals. In the next portion of this series, we are going to discuss how you go about selecting a parasite resistant animal.

If you don’t want to miss out on our discussion of selecting for parasite resistance, sign up for our news letter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Properly Deworm Your Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 3-How To Properly Deworm

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep

Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count

In our last installment of our series about barber pole worms, we looked at what they are and why they are so important to manage in our small ruminant flocks. Most importantly, we learned how to know if your sheep or goats have them. Since barber pole worms can be so deadly to small ruminants it important to understand their lifecycle. In this article we will look at how we can manage our animals to reduce their risk and exposure.

On most farms, the first line of defense against barber pole worms is dewormer. Unfortunately, we are developing serious dewormer resistance problems in this country and throughout the world. There are no new dewormers being developed. We are rapidly realizing that using dewormers to manage barber pole worms is only going to be a temporary fix. Our heavy reliance on them for the last 70 years might have been a mistake. This is a topic we are going to cover in more detail in our next installment of this post.

But for now we will just say, that if your animal has a dangerous amount of parasites, we can give it a dewormer to kill the parasites. However, this is just a very temporary fix to a much larger problem. In a few weeks time your sheep could have just as many worms, and be in the same situation as they were prior to deworming. Unlike in the past, we can no longer just keep giving every single animal a dose of dewormer every few weeks.

So let’s take a look at the barber pole worm’s life cycle, and how we can go about managing it with out dewormers.

Where do they come from?

To begin, we need to understand how our sheep are getting worms in the first place.

Barber pole worms are living in your sheep’s stomach. Their eggs are being excreted in manure. Once this manure is on the ground, the eggs hatch into larvae that your sheep eventually consume completing the life cycle.

The cycle is very simple. The management of it less so.

Firstly, barber pole worm eggs can hatch and complete their life cycle very quickly. In favorable weather conditions of warmth and humidity, it can take only 3-4 days for an egg dropped in manure to turn into an infective larva ready for your sheep to consume. These conditions occur from May to September, or even longer in more southern portions of the country. Once the sheep has eaten the larvae they migrate to the stomach and set up shop. They then start sucking your sheep’s blood, and can rapidly cause anemia and death if more than 500 worms are present.

To make matters worse, barber pole worms are extremely good at laying eggs. One barberpole worm may lay up to 10,000 eggs per day. So even the presence of one worm can contaminate your pasture with a lot of potential parasites. Though not every egg will survive to become an infective larvae, it is important to understand that even under less than ideal conditions more than enough of these eggs will likely survive.

Once they become the infective larvae found on grass, they are extremely tough and hard to kill. In fact, they can lay waiting in your pasture for 6 months or more. They just sit there waiting for your sheep to consume them.

As if they needed an additional survival technique

The barber pole worms know that their eggs and early larvae will be killed during freezing weather. When the weather gets cold in the fall worms in your sheep’s stomach will be triggered to turn into dormant cysts burrowed in the stomach wall. These cysts sit and wait patiently for spring ensuring barber pole worms survive to live another year.

When your ewes get close to lambing, they experience something called the periparturient rise in egg shedding. Essentially, lambing triggers a drastic increase in the worm and egg production in your ewes. All the dormant worms in your sheep’s stomach become active again. Additionally, their immune system is suppressed allowing more new worms to attach and shed eggs.

This ensures that your ewes contaminate the pasture with fresh healthy larvae. It also ensures that your vulnerable lambs will be infected to keep the worm cycle going.

So what can be done?

This information about the barber pole worm’s lifecycle gives us some hints about how we can reduce risk through our management practices. It is quite obvious that reducing our animal’s exposure to manure is the way to reduce their exposure to barber pole worms. The question is how do we do this?

It can be very difficult to do entirely, but there are some things that you can do to help.

Firstly, don’t feed your sheep on the ground. Sheep will poop anywhere and everywhere. If they are getting hay or grain, put it up in a feeder where they can’t poop on it. This way they are not eating in the same place they poop.

Dry lots can be very helpful!

Another way you can reduce exposure is to keep your animals on a dry lot. A dry lot is a small paddock that has no grass in it. NONE. No weeds, nothing. It should also be constructed in a manner that it stays dry and easy to clean. Feed your animals up of the ground. Clean your dry lot at least every few days to remove the manure before the worm eggs have a chance to develop into infective larvae.

Now we know not everyone wants to keep their animals on a dry lot eating expensive hay year round. This isn’t the solution if you want pasture raised grass fed animals. Regardless, in a pasture based system dry lots can still be a useful tool.

For example, do you have animals struggling with parasite burdens? It is an excellent idea to remove them from pasture and put them in a dry lot while they recover. It is also a good idea to put your sheep into a dry lot in the winter months when you are feeding them hay. This way they are not dropping worm eggs on your pastures all winter long. Because as we know less fresh worm eggs on pasture = less parasites out there come spring.

So what else do we know?

We also know that our lambs are the most vulnerable to parasites. Thus it would obviously be ideal to be able to turn our most vulnerable young lambs out onto a pasture that doesn’t have a huge parasite load.

So how can you go about accomplishing this when it can take 6-8 months or more for all the larvae to die?

First we should mention in case you are wondering based upon the information above, no. Winter does not clean your pasture of parasites. New eggs and early stage larvae will likely be killed by freezing temperatures. However, the infective larvae can overwinter in a pasture. They can actually live longer in cool weather because their metabolism is slower. You won’t accumulate new parasites as readily during the winter months. Nonetheless, the ones left over from the end of the summer are likely still lying in wait.

So how DO we manage our pastures to lower the parasite levels?

There are a few different directions you can go with pasture management. They all come with pros and cons, and you will have to determine what works best for your particular situation.

Probably the most common method you hear mentioned is rotational grazing. If we move our animals to new pasture every 3-4 days before the larvae become infective, then we reduce our animal’s exposure. You are then supposed to avoid moving them back to that pasture for a minimum of 40 days, or significantly longer in cooler weather. This long rest interval allows many of the larvae to die prior to returning the animals to the pasture.

The problem with this is that for many producers, it is impractical. It requires an awful lot of land to move your sheep that often, and to keep them off for that long.

An alternative to rotating them every few days is to leave them in the pasture longer/return to the pasture sooner. In this scenario, you determine when to rotate based upon the height of the grass rather than the hatch rate of the larvae.

Barber pole larvae has to crawl from the manure up the blades of grass. They aren’t exceptionally athletic, so the majority of the larvae will remain within a few inches of the ground. If you don’t allow your animals to graze your pastures shorter than 6” their exposure will be drastically reduced.

The drawback to this method, is that you can’t explain this concept to your sheep. Your sheep might choose to selectively graze more palatable grass species closer to the ground while ignoring other ones. This means that even if your overall pasture height is greater than 6”, the grass the animals are choosing to actually graze might not be.

If you can’t rotate then reduce

Another suggestion is to reduce your stocking density. Less sheep = less worms. Unfortunately, this once again returns to the theme of needing a lot of land to implement.

One last grazing technique worth mentioning here is multi-species grazing. Barber pole worms do not affect horses or cows, and their parasites don’t infect small ruminants. This means that we can very safely alternate graze to the benefit of both species. If you graze sheep through your pasture, follow with cows. Then return to grazing sheep, and keep alternating all season. The cows will consume the majority of the barber pole worm larvae, and they will fail to complete their life cycle.

This is a concept that you can also apply to grazing groups of sheep at different life stages. It won’t be as effective as using a different species, but still may be worth considering, particularly if you have parasite resistant breeds of sheep.

In this scenario, graze your lambs through your pasture, and the have your adult sheep follow behind. Your lambs are carrying the highest parasite load, and are shedding the most eggs. When the adult sheep follow your lambs, they will consume and their immune system will kill a lot of the larvae the lambs deposited. This will leave you with a cleaner pasture than your young lambs left.

At this point you might be wondering if there is a way to completely get rid of the larvae on a pasture

Unfortunately, under most circumstances it can be very difficult to have ‘clean’ worm free pastures. However, there are a few things that you can do to give you pastures that are clean or as close to clean as possible.

First is the obvious one. Allowing a pasture to go ungrazed for a full 12 months will result in the death of virtually every single parasite. So, if you have enough land to allow one pasture to sit empty each year, you would have a clean area to move your lambs into every spring.

A variation on this theme, is to rotationally use your pastures for hay. For example, take a first cutting of hay off, and then to graze it afterwards. The process of drying and removing the hay nets you a worm free pasture. Once you move your sheep to the pasture you took a first cutting off, allow the pasture they came from to regrow. Remove a 2^nd cutting from that pasture. You can once again move your sheep to a clean pasture for fall grazing.

Annual crops can be very beneficial in a parasite control program

Another thing that you can do is to till and reseed pastures or plant annual forages rather than using perennial grass pastures. As it would turn out the crowns of perennial grasses are excellent places for larvae to overwinter. Tilling up the pasture to plant annual forages turns those larvae into the soil where they will die.

Now, planting annuals isn’t practical for everyone, and if you can grow perennial grasses we definitely wouldn’t recommend tearing up all your pastures. However, if you are struggling with a serious worm problem, renovating a pasture can help you to mitigate it. It can also be a very useful tool if you have enough space that you can plant an annual forage pasture specifically for your lambs every year. If you rotationally graze your lambs across an annual pasture making only one rotation across it (don’t re-graze any of it), you would likely have virtually no parasite problems in your growing animals.

For those of you without vast acreages of land or equipment

Now, I know that for many people these options are impractical or impossible. Not everyone has acres and acres and acres of land or the equipment to tear up and replant pastures. You will have to do your best to come up with creative ways to manage worms along the lines of these principals and through the tools that you do have available.

The most valuable tool you have at your disposal is genetics. Sadly, for so many years this has been completely overlooked. We have been so reliant on cheap and easy monthly deworming to control parasites that we have forgotten that parasite resistance is an important trait to breed for. With the rise of serious dewormer resistance problems, it is a trait we are beginning to look at more closely. Thankfully, there has been a lot of research on the topic recently. What we have learned is very encouraging.

Because you are managing small flocks, you have the ability to track individual animal performance closely enough to make real improvements. Do not keep wormy animals. 20% of your sheep are carrying 80% of the parasites. If you remove that 20%, then you are removing 80% of the eggs being shed on your pasture. This selective culling greatly benefits all of your animals.

Its up to you to select for valuable traits like parasite resistance

Parasite resistance IS a heritable trait and something that we can easily select for. This holds true for both sheep and goats. It is something that anyone can improve in their flock over time. As a general rule, sheep are probably ahead of goats in this department. There are breeds of sheep like the Katahdin and St. Croix that have reputations for being very parasite resistance. Plus, many big name Katahdin breeders are very actively competing to produce the most parasite resistant sheep.

However, goat owners, and sheep owners of non parasite resistant breeds or flocks should not despair. Research has clearly shown that even if you don’t have a parasite resistant flock to begin with you can significantly improve (or worsen) their parasite resistance based upon how you select your replacement animals.

Parasite resistance, and how we measure and select for it is a very interesting topic we are going to delve deeper into in a future article. However it is something that takes time to make improvements on. Right now you need useful tools to help you manage your current flock. So first, we are going to to take a detour to look at deworming in our next article.

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Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Control Barber Pole Worms Without Dewormer first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.