It's a Wormy Deal: Internal Parasite Strategies for Sheep and Goat Producers
Animal Science
Melanie Barkley
EXTENSION EDUCATOR
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
BEDFORD
Abstract
The It’s a Wormy Deal: Internal Parasite Strategies for Small Ruminants workshop was designed to help small ruminant producers with issues related to internal parasites. The objective of the workshop is to teach sheep and goat producers strategies to better manage internal parasites within a flock or herd. The purpose of the workshop is to explain internal parasite life cycles, strategies to prevent internal parasite infection, and to certify producers to use FAMACHA techniques to assess the need to treat with anthelmintics. As a result of the demand for these workshops new locations are chosen each year throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Seven workshops have been held from 2020 through 2022 with 149 participants attending and earning their FAMACHA certification. Post evaluations indicated that 99% of participants learned something new, 97% learned a moderate to significant amount, and 80% planned to make changes to their operation. Follow up evaluations conducted at least 6 months after the It’s a Wormy Deal FAMACHA workshops indicated that 83% of respondents (N=25) made one or more changes to their management practices to improve animal performance and increase profitability. The follow up evaluation also indicated 89% changed FAMACHA techniques, 74% changed their grazing management practices, 63% changed their record keeping practices, 61% changed their choice of deworming products, 42% changed practices toward feeder and watering system cleanliness, and 39% changed fecal egg counting procedures. In addition, 88% indicated they decreased deworming treatments by an average of 8 treatments per year. Assuming 75% of these treatments were lambs at a cost of $0.63 per treatment and 25% of treatments were mature ewes at $1.26, this equates to a savings of $8.82 per farm and a total savings of $921.22 across all participants. The average number of ewes on participants’ farms was 25 and they produced an average of 35 lambs per year.
Authors: Melanie Barkley
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Melanie Barkley EXTENSION EDUCATOR, Penn State Extension, Pennsylvania, 15522