Most farmers rely heavily on dewormers to treat worms. However many cases of worm resistance to dewormers are being experienced and it’s important to use dewormers in a responsible manner. Rather than rely on treatment of worms, rather follow the plan suggested below:-
There are a few misconceptions and misinformation that is shared as good practices that has actually been proved wrong by recent studies on worm resistance to dewormers. I will cover a few of these below.
The first misinformation is around changing dewormers. I have often seen farmers being advised to change dewormers frequently. Consensus actually suggests to NOT rotate dewormer drug classes more frequently than annually. Rapid rotation is thought to lead to multiple class AR.
The second misinformation is that farmers need to deworm animals regularly. However consensus is that you only deworm only those individual animals that need it when they need it. The challenge is to correctly identify the animals that need treating and those that don’t.
Some of the methods used to identify animals that need deworming are feacal counts, FAMACHA scoring, animals with diarrhea, thin animals and monitoring weight gain. Only individual animals that need deworming are then dewormed.
We used to “follow” a deworming program in the past but now we follow the above worm management protocol and have the comfort of knowing that resistance to dewormers is not a concern. Work with your vet to come up with a worm management program for your farm.
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What are the key success factors for goat farming? The thread below are my own reflections on the key success factors in goat farming. I have farmed with Boers, KRs and Mashona goats. #ZimAgricRising#GOAT
Have a passion for goats. For me this is the biggest and most important aspect. I read every publication I can find on goat farming. I research issues. I talk to other goat farmers. I visit goat farms. I am on lots of goat farming groups. Talk, sleep, dream, think, read goats!!!
Choice of breed of goats. When you come to think of it, you want to own goats that are fertile, hardy, and very resistant to potential parasites that they might get in their environment. For me the best breed is the one that can do well in your environment.