Livestock Wala'au

S5 Ep 02: Tools To Help Keep Small Ruminants Healthy

• Season 5 • Episode 2

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We lay out a practical, year-round plan to manage internal parasites in sheep and goats using selective treatment, better pasture use, and simple records that prevent resistance. Barber pole worm takes center stage as we share tools that cut losses and keep flocks productive.

• why barber pole worm is the primary threat
• signs like anemia and bottle jaw to watch
• selective treatment using the FAMACHA scoring system
• how the five-point check guides quick triage
• using fecal egg counts and reduction tests
• rotating by drug classes and safe combinations
• withdrawal times for meat and milk compliance
• record keeping that protects fertility and growth
• rotational and multi-species grazing to lower exposure
• supportive options like copper oxide and tannin-rich forages
• building a farm-fit program with targeted deworming

Check out past episodes about sheep & goat managment: 



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SPEAKER_01:

Aloha. Today's episode is sponsored by the Livestock Extension Group out of the University of Hawaii, Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, the Center for Ag Profitability out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

SPEAKER_00:

Aloha, welcome to the Livestock Valley, a podcast aimed to provide educational support, information, guidance, and outreach to our livestock stakeholders in Hawaii and the rest of the U.S. We are your hosts, Melee Oshiro and Shannon Sangan.

SPEAKER_01:

And today we are talking with our own Mele Oshiro about parasite management in small ruminants, specifically the tools you can use to monitor and manage internal parasites in your goats and sheep.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks, Shannon. I think parasite management is something that we've talked about before here on the podcast. But I think it's something that we'll continue to talk about because across this, particularly our small ruminants, you know, and other livestock species as well, it is fairly important part of their husbandry, you know, and management of your of your livestock and the tools. There's many tools out there that you can utilize to help in that sense of managing that load in your herds, right? And it is such an important part, I think, because of the types of parasites we deal with, right? One of them that's really impacting, particularly we're talking about small ruminants, right? But is our homuncus contortus, right? Or the barber pole worm. It's probably one of the largest threats to our small ruminants because of the way that they, their mechanisms in which they attack the animal, right? It causes anemia in the animal, can lead to a lot of weight loss. Um, other sort of clinical signs you can see in the animal is what we call bottle jaw, and it causes that accumulation of fluid underneath the jaw. So essentially you just get a big old swelling, right? Now that edema that builds up underneath there. Um, over time, it causes really poor growth if they survive the high loads. Um, you know, and it can also cause death. So it's it's something that you do talk about a lot. And the re you know, when I when we're looking and talking about this through one of a workshop we were doing, and you look at the amount of eggs that is produced by these different parasites or internal parasites, anyways, that the animals can have. And I believe the barber pole worm, I believe it's about 10, it's 10,000 eggs per day that it can produce. It's a lot, so it's a lot in comparison to some of the other internal parasites, you know, they're producing in the thousands, right? This one's 10,000. So it's why it has such a bigger impact on the animal, right? And on top of the fact that it's a it's a bloodsucker in a sense, right? Because it causes the anemia and everything. So it it just has a bigger threat on them because of sort of the way the characteristics and the biology of the worm itself, right? Yeah, the bigger part is it is becoming more resistant to dewormers, right? And it's so it's not just about giving a dewormer today, monitoring and targeting and using these multiple tools that we can have in our toolbox to help manage parasite pressure year-round, right? And being able to manage it in your herd, not just in the immediate, oh, you have animals that have a high load and how you deal with it, but what tools are out there for you to manage them across the year so that you are targeting and treating those that are gonna need it, right? Because you still want some worms out there, they're gonna be resistant, right, to the dewormers that you're using. Right. So if we start to think about some of the tools, right? There's lots out there. And I think some of the ones that we'll probably talk about, you've heard about before, or we've maybe talked a little bit about them here on the podcast before. But you know, we kind of want to repeat ourselves on some things because it is, it's important, right, to kind of continue to talk about them. And one of I think one of the most common ones um that was developed essentially to help manage homuncus or the barber pole worm is called the Famacha scoring system, right? It was uh it's a method that you can use. It was developed by researchers and other producers to help check the level of anemia in the animal, right? And what their uh level, blood level, or I should say, right? Or red blood cells that's what you're looking at. Examine the lower eyelid of the animal, and based on that mucus membrane color, you give them a score. So the scoring system is one through five, and sometimes people get confused because body condition scores are different, right? You are are the same. Essentially, you go one through five, and you're looking for the fatness of the animal. Yeah, yeah. So don't get confused between the numbers of one through five on Fumacha and body condition scores. So the Fimacha scoring system from one to five, one is an animal that has a nice red um eyelid color, right? So there's no anemia present. Five is an animal that's severely anemic and he's very white. So if you ever see those Fimacha cards, those are the really white ends. Um, and that's at number five. So that animal would be likely a candidate for deworming, right? And the benefits of using Famacha is sort of just another tool, right, in the toolbox that you can help to use um to prevent uh dewormer resistance by selectively deworming those animals that need it. So, like I said, there's um certification, Famacha certification can be given by any veterinarian pretty much can get certified um to get do certifications. But myself and Yunuen, who is extend the other extension agent on Oahu County, are both certified to do Famacha certifications. So if people want to learn how to do this and whatnot, you can go through the training with us. It is really quick. We just have to have animals to get it done with you. Um, and we can get you all that done. I want to take one step back because one thing that I didn't talk about as far as uh record keeping or not record keeping, but as a tool. And it's a good way to move through the different tools that are out there to help evaluate your animals for parasite management, is what they call the five-point check system. And this was developed with the same type of same group of researchers that developed the Famacha and those producers. But essentially it's a five-point check system that you look at the animals at five different points of their body, right? And there's different scorecards that are used to evaluate those five different points. So one of the points is the eye, right? We use the Famacha, which we just talked about. The second part of the um checkpoint is the nose. Not a typical scorecard that you're gonna look at for the nose, but it is an area that you would evaluate the animal for any type of discharge or things because you can have bots and flies that can get in there, layer parasites and whatnot, cost discharge, right? With the animal number three is gonna be the jaw. We talked a little bit about that. If the animals are anemic, they can get bottle jaw. And it can also occur in unhealthy animals too, right? That maybe are getting impacted by other parasites or other illnesses as well. So that normal, that jaw swelling underneath there, if it's edemic, it's not that's not a normal thing, right? So that's something you should look at. Um, number four would be body condition scoring, which was the second tool on our list, right? So body condition scoring is a way to evaluate the overall health of the animal. You know, are they too thin? Are they losing weight? And we have a good podcast that we did with Randy Seiner talking about body condition scoring and how you can use different tools and um just the feel of your own hand, right? He gave us a good tip. So I'm not gonna talk a lot about that because if you want to learn more, we'll put the link for that podcast um down below because we did talk about that quite a bit with him. And he has some really great tools and um, you know, tips for you on how to evaluate when you're learning body condition scoring. But it pairs really well with using Famacha, right? And it's a tool that you should use to do an overall assessment of the animal so that you can target those ones that really need to get dewormed, right? So that's the fourth part, right? We said eye was the first one, nose is the second, third is your jaw, fourth back, because you look at body condition scores typically over the back side of the animal, right? And evaluating those things. And then the fifth area is their tail, right? You want to look for soiling of the tails. There's DAG scoring cards that look at the soil and fecal matter that's around the tail end. Um, and it gives you an idea of, you know, does this animal have diarrhea? Is there something else going on? If it's a high parasite load, that diarrhea can sometimes be related to that, right? So those are sort of the points and the five-point check system that is a good place to start when you're evaluating your animals. And a lot of this sometimes, you know, you don't always have to put your hands directly on the animals if you're looking at them enough. Our our sheep, most times, if they're woolly, yes, you gotta kind of get your hands on them for to do a proper body condition scoring. But, you know, looking at your animals and understanding what's like I've always tell people, know what your healthy animal looks like. Because when things start to turn, you're gonna know, right? So if you're having eyes on them quite often or, you know, every so often checking on them, you're gonna know when things don't look right, right? And then you can do a better assessment of sort of what's going on. So one of the other tools that we like to use when we're assessing parasites in the animals is our fecal counts, right? Or FECs. FECs are a sort of lab-based tool that we can use to analyze the manure or fecal samples and helps to estimate parasite load. Especially useful if you're using it before and after deworming. It's a method to check the efficacy of the dewormers that you're using. So if you are especially having a problem with your animals constantly with parasites or constantly with diarrhea and whatnot, it might be a good time for you to evaluate the dewormers that you're using and look at the reduction, right? The fecal acal reduction test, which is a way that you actually know if your dewormer is still working, right? And I think that's that those are just some of the tools that we can kind of keep in the back of our pockets to help evaluate our herds and be a little bit more targeted on selecting those animals that that need to be dewormed so that you're not bleeding your animals into being uh resistant to the dewormers that are out there. Record keeping. Another big one. And I know that this is something you like, you always talk about, right? Because when we've talked about it before, is record keeping. It's a tool, right? It's you can do all the assessments on the animals, but you do need to have a record of it, you know, and it doesn't need to be fancy. You don't have to put in big spreadsheets or anything like that. There are wonderful apps out there that you can use now that are pretty easy. But just taking a picture of them, writing a note in your notes app on your phone. We almost all everybody has a smartphone nowadays, or even just keeping a small tablet or you know, little record book in your in your buggy or your your yeah, whatever, right? Pencil, paper. That's what you need. Just have it somewhere that you're gonna be consistent with it and put it in there. That's important, right? Because then you can start to look at things like is your D-warmer still working? What was the Famacha scores on your animals, you know, and especially if you're going into breeding or things like that, that's when these uh records are very important, right? Because if you come out of a breeding season and be like, hey, I only had 60% landing rates this year, what was going on, you know, and then you look back at your records and be like, well, half the herd was, you know, had a body condition score of two, that's probably something that's gonna impact your conception rates, right? So it's just simple things, right? Like that. I think that's part of the um, I think big part of the tools that we can use to help manage, you know, parasite loads and health in our herds, right? And when we start to think about those types of tools that we have out there, right? What is the one thing that we start to think about is, you know, where our parasites are coming from, whether they're coming off of other animals that have been in the pastures that maybe are not part of your normal herd um and whatnot. But that's the key is that where do our parasites live, right? Especially with our grazers, they're gonna be getting it off of our pastures. So helping to manage your pastures is one piece of that puzzle in helping to manage the parasite load in your animals, right? And there's different tools that we can use out there in our pasture management systems also to help manage the parasite load in the animal. Uh, we talk about rotational grazing before on here. I believe we had Dr. Thorne on here talking about rotational grazing and a couple other folks. Um, you know, so it's basically moving animals frequently to clean pastures, right? Letting your pastures rest. And then the rest period in which you're gonna let those pastures rest is really gonna be dependent upon kind of where you are, you know, in the in the islands or in the state. Those kind of things are gonna depend it on there, right? But typically you look at around 30, 60 days before regrazing, and it's enough time for that parasite level and that load in there to sort of die off, right? The parasites need to have moisture in there for that egg cycle to to move ahead and whatnot. So if you have the fecal matter and stuff that's in there that has a time to dry off, you know, then you can essentially help lower that parasite load and that egg level load that's out there in the pasture. Um, people do other things in some of the rotational systems, you know, whether it's breaking up the manure. Some folks I've seen are using other species, right? We talked about poultry getting in there, scratching at the um fecal piles that are out there helps to open that up or expose some of those eggs to the heat and sun that's out there, which helps to dissipate some of the load that's out there. Yeah, and that's where we can talk about some mixed or multi-species grazing. Some of the other species you put in there, like I just said, might not be grazing the grass directly, but their movement and um whatnot out there and their mode of, I guess their feeding methods help to open up the fecal piles, right? Using other species such as cattle can help clean up pastures because the parasites can be whole specific. So if you're having specific problems, understanding what parasites are causing the problems and if you can add other species in there to help do sort of that cleanup for you, you know, and and doing some sort of tri strategic browsing. Goats, especially, right? I always say that like they're sort of head up eaters, right? So they're more browsers, keeping on brush, up high, where sheep are usually down low, right? So um, if you're preferring to have those, they'll keep them off the short contaminated grass, give them more exposure to upper stuff. The goats kind of um stay out of that that higher level or higher load that's in your uh larvae, the L3 or infective larvae in the grasses and even the eggs that are there, right? And you know, we some some folks were look at doing like composting the manure. Um, but it's not only just composting. I mean, I think the poultry has been one good example and has been used sort of a lot in some of our um sustainable or even regenerative areas, right? Looking at how you use poultry in some of those grazing fields to help spread the larvae and spread the manure out, right? To help that drying, that drying mechanism and break down some of the egg cycle that's in there. So I think you know, there's different tools out there, and all these tools are great to put out there. And it's not to say that you got to use them all in your operation, but you need to find the ones that are gonna be most adaptable to what you need and what's gonna meet your goals, right? And you know, make and make and it's gonna it might be a mix of things for you, you know. I might leave out one thing or two for you and find what works best for your operation. I think the best thing for people to do. These are tools that you can use and find what works for you. Uh, and you know, and there's oh I'm not and I'm not saying that you should use all these tools and not deworm your animals because sometimes that's just what you need to do. Some of them are gonna need dewormers, right? They are gonna be needed no matter what um other management tools you have in play. Thing is, when you do need them, you'll know, right? And you'll target those animals that are specifically needing them. And there's different classes, right, of dewormers too. And that's that's another important part, I think, of understanding how to use the dewormers effectively because the dewormers all have different different mechanisms in which they kill these parasites. So if you want to rotate between dewormers, which is a good idea, you can't just rotate between brands, you have to rotate between the classes. Another common thing or a new practice that's been um sort of developed and recommended over the years is the combination of dewormers. And when we talk about combination dewormers, we're talking about the combination of two dewormers from two different classes, right? And it's because of the mechanisms in which these dewormers work that the combinations um sort of have a little bit more benefit and effect over if you're having a large parasite uh problem, right? And it helps to sort of boost that effectiveness of the treatment. And you have fewer resistant worms that survive to help slow down that resistance by dieting them out with more susceptible worms, right? So there's different, there's different regulations, I should say, across the different countries and the different classes that you're gonna use and the combos that you use for these dewormers. So best working with your veterinarian on developing a combination dewormer schedule, if that's what your herd needs. But it has been a sort of newer method to help combat those ones that are really struggling with heavy parasite loads. I think one thing I always want to stress about when we start talking about drug use or medication use is make sure you follow withdrawal dates, especially if you are using products from these animals, right? Whether they're for meat, milk, or whatnot, making sure you follow those withdrawal dates and understanding what a withdrawal date is for each medication and drug that you use. And if you combine drugs or medications, you always have to use the withdrawal date for the longer um period, right? So if you have one that's 45 days and one that's 30, you need to withdraw, have a withdrawal and hold those animals for 45 days. Yeah. Yeah. Always go with the longer one. So um just that's one thing I always want to make sure people know. Because some folks didn't know about withdrawal dates, and that's a very important thing, especially when you're consuming products from your animals. Um, there's some other alternative um methods that you know are non-chemical, so non-drug alternative. Been talking about using for reducing barbarole worm loads is the copper oxide wire particles, um, copper oxide or copper toxicity is uh something that can happen with your sheep. So, you know, you do have to use it carefully and understand the dosages that you need for your animals, but it has been one method that has been talked about a lot and looked at for effectiveness um reducing the barber pole loads in goats. Some folks also have used some other herbal or other forages as with the secondary compounds that they have in them to help reduce the parasite load or help, yeah, I would say even just lower that impact, right, of the parasite load. The there's the science is a little bit mixed behind some of the per some of those different forages, and I think still need to be evaluated fuller, but it is a part of integrating it into a forage grazing system, right? Looking at those forages or other plants that may have secondary compounds that can help sort of be like an antihemetic or a dewormer sort of type of property, right? I think those are things that we need to remember. There's I feel there's no real silver bullet for everything, right? And it's always a combination of using the different tools that we have out there. Yeah. But I think building, you know, is building the practical program and putting something together, like I said, that works the best for your operation. Is um what needs what I think where you start, right? And really understanding what healthy animals look like for you and with your end goals in mind, then you can start to decide, you know, is Famacha training something that you should do? You know, do you need to do FECO egg counts regularly? Having problems and things and yeah, and only treating those animals that need to be treated, right? I think that's another big part of um making sure that you're not creating a Dwormer resistance in your herd. You know, like I'm gonna say again, keep records, uh, you know who got what, when, and how they responded. And that's another part is not just when you gave it to them, but how did they respond to that, right? Start small, build what works for your farm, you know, and adding in tools that help to make things a little bit more efficient for you in the long run, is where I think these tools will help. And yeah, I don't know. I think parasite management is is not about killing every worm that outs there, right? Because you do want to have some that are still gonna be resistant and susceptible are susceptible to some of the dewormers and medications we have, but it's about keeping your animals healthy, keeping them productive and avoiding that drug resistance, right? And then using the tools that we have out there like Famacha and FECO egg counts, rotate pasture rotations, and learning a rotational system that works for you and treating only those animals that need it. And it does it does take a little bit more time because you have to put you may have to put hands on your animals to do the Fimacha and do the body condition scoring. But in the long run, I think the the benefits will might be there for your flock, right? And yeah, so no, I think that's kind of covers what I wanted to share with you guys, anyways, about some of the tools that are out there for parasite management.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you for sharing with us today, Melee.

SPEAKER_00:

Hopefully everyone found this to be informative informative and it'll be useful for them. Um make sure, I guess, to follow us on our social media pages, the Livestock Vala Al and Livestock Extension Group. If you haven't already, be sure to visit the UHC Tar Extension website and our YouTube channel listed in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. For additional information about this topic, like Melly said, see the show notes of the podcast in the description box of our YouTube page. Thanks for listening to the Livestock Val'al Al. Before we go, show some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a review wherever you listen to this, and then stay tuned for the next episode.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. Thanks again to our sponsors, the Livestock Extension Group of the University of Hawaii Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, the Center for Ag Profitability of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. All of your listening.