When should I deworm my sheep/goats?
When they need it. No longer is it recommended that sheep/goats be dewormed preventively or based on the calendar. Nor is it recommended that all animals in a group be dewormed at the same time. These approaches have caused the worms (especially the barber pole worm) to develop resistance to the dewormers. Dewormers (called anthelmintics) are antiparasitic drugs. They should be given to treat clinical disease, not prevent it. Good management is what prevents clinical disease. There are various decision-making tools available to help sheep/goat producers decide if/when to deworm an animal. In barber pole worm prevalent areas like Maryland, the FAMACHA© scorecard can be used to determine which animals need deworming or would benefit most. The card estimates the level of anemia (blood loss; packed cell volume) in the animal. Anemia is the primary symptom of barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) infection.
The card depicts five eye scores and treatment recommendations. Sheep/goats with FAMACHA© scores of 1 or 2 are not anemic and do not need dewormed, unless there are other signs of parasitism. Sheep/goats withFAMACHA© scores of 4 or 5 are anemic and require treatment. Animals with FAMACHA© scores of 3 may or not need dewormed, depending on other factors and criteria.
In order to get a FAMACHA© card, you have to take an approved training. During these times of Covid, online FAMACHA certification is available at https://www.sheepandgoat.com/onlinefamacha-certification.
The Five Point Check© builds on the FAMACHA© system by adding criteria for the other parasites that commonly affect small ruminants, not just the blood-feeding ones, but those that cause digestive upset and nasal discharge. It’s also useful for deciding whether or not to deworm an animal with a FAMACHA©score of 3.
The Five Point Check© includes five check points on the animal’s body: eye, jaw, back, tail, and nose. You check the eye for FAMACHA© score, the jaw for submandibular edema (“bottle jaw”), the back for body condition score, the tail for fecal soiling (scours), and the nose for nasal discharge (nasal bots).
Sometimes, hair coat is used as an additional check point for goats. A poor quality hair coat can be indicative of poor health, including parasitism. No single criteria should be used to make deworming decisions. All of the criteria of the Five Point Check© should be considered when making deworming decisions.
In areas where the barber pole worm is not the primary parasite, scientists have developed the “Happy Factor” model. It uses target weights to determine deworming needs. If an animal fails to meet its weight objective (ADG), it is dewormed. In our research program at the Western Maryland Research & Education Center, we use weight gain (or loss) to help make deworming decisions, especially for FAMACHA© 3s. A few years ago, a Maryland farm received a SARE grant to evaluate ADG as a deworming criteria. They found it worked best when it was combined with FAMACHA© score.
Fecal egg counts are generally not a good tool for making deworming decisions for individual animals. For one, they are less practical. They take time to do. Fecal egg counts can be combined with other criteria, but by themselves are not very reflective of the worm load an animal is carrying. Nor are there any agreed upon thresholds (eggs per gram) for treatment. Better uses of fecal egg counts are determining dewormer resistance, monitoring pasture contamination, and identifying resistant (or susceptible) animals.
Ultimately, what’s important is that you have a good reason for deworming. Selecting animals for treatment (or non-treatment) will go a long way towards preserving the effectiveness of dewormers and keeping our sheep/goat farms sustainable and profitable. The horse and beef industry are experiencing similar issues with dewormer resistance and may soon need to start following the path of the sheep/goat industry where parasite control is concerned.
This article appears in May 2021 (Edition 1), Cattles Tales Livestock newsletter.