The vet's office called, and it is official, my adult sheep are negative for OPP and Johnes, and the adult goats are negative for CAE, TB and Johnes!!!

I was going to cry really hard if I had to cull to slaughter my precious pets valuable livestock.

Of course, I need 2 more "all  negative" tests to proclaim myself the mistress of a clean flock/herd.

Between now and then, we need to put up fences and a barn on our soon-to-be-new-homestead.

Intestinal parasites in sheep and goats produce a wide range of symptoms, ranging from poor weight gain to death. Obviously, these problems can be caused by many things, including poor nutrition, internal parasites, and other infectious diseases.

In the past, farmers have used many methods to control parasite loads in their flocks, some of which are still considered valid and effective. These include rotational grazing, chemical de-wormers, "herbal" or alternative dewormers and breeding for parasite resistance. Two excellent information sources are Internal parasites of sheep and their control-now and in the future Background information for farmers by Dr. Clive Dalton  and the Southern Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control at http://www.scsrpc.org/ .

After reading Dr. Dalton's book, I changed several of my management practices. I stopped routine/scheduled deworming, which allowed me to identify and cull the flock members more prone to diarrhea (a prime symptom of intestinal parasites.) I also began to "triple" de-worm (simultaneously dose with one of each of the three classes of sheep wormers) all treated sheep, to decrease the likelihood that I was allowing drench-resistant parasites to survive in my flock. Although I do rotate my flock through different pastures, I do that based on forage availability rather than on estimates of larval numbers. He also recommends collecting stool samples and counting the number of worm eggs found; I don't do that, instead opting for a low-input management style.

I find the claims made by proponents of alternative dewormers intriguing, but few have hard data to substantiate their claims. I have read a study on garlic usage that seemed to prove  garlic helped reduce intestinal parasites, but the garlic was administered as a frequent drench, and again, I am opting for the "low-input" style of shepherding. (Hey, I have a day job, already!!)

The Southern Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control details several means of reducing parasite loads in goats and sheep; including rotational grazing, FAMACHA, use of specific forages, and copper oxide supplements. I rotate my pastures. I have culled the genetic lines that were prone to anemia as rated by FAMACHA (just as I cull the diarrhea-prone animals). In my new pasture, I want to plant the forages recommended to help reduce worms. I am particularly interested in the AU Grazer variety of sericea lespedeza. I do still need to determine whether to interplant it with a grass, or whether to plant different plots of different warm or cool season forages.  I have also placed my first order for copper oxide wire particle boluses. I will divide the 12.5 gram cattle boluses into sheep/goat size doses, re-package those in new gelatin capsules, and dose all goats and the yearlings/lambs of the sheep flock.

Please wish me luck with establishing new pastures and wish me no injuries from poking pills down the flocks' throats.