goat worming

[COWS]

Very little experience with goats. I understand that goats are subject to worms and that the worm medicine in use is losing its effectiveness. I was told by an acquaintance who raises hay, mostly for his horses but some for sale, that local goat owners like sericea hay because it has a natural worming effect.

Sericea is classified as a weed in Kansas and I am told that cows there don't like it. Here in SC I have baled and fed sericea to cows with no problems. I was told that horses like it also, when baled properly. Correct baling means cutting the hay when it is knee level and letting it dry about 2 hours, or until the top 2 inches of the stems get dry and brittle. I would always cut about 2 hours and then start checking the hay.

COWS

[Alice In TX/MO]

Yes, most of us are familiar with the concept. Those of us who have experience with a hay field infested with that nasty stuff aren't fond of it.

It has a mild anthelmintic effect, but not enough to get excited about. Certainly not enough to risk a hay field by planting it on purpose.

[Clovers_Clan]

A newly developed variety, AU Grazer, has addressed the issues of palatability and graze tolerance. It has been developed for both cows/goats. More studies are being done here in the southeast where barber pole is a big problem due to our wet, hot climate. I can't speak to the effects on hay fields but for browse/graze pastures its a good forage. It does require a good bit of preparation to get the seed started. Only what I've read, never planted myself. I have just the common variety growing in spots in my pasture naturally and both goats and horses love it. Not hard to eradicate here if its overgrazed. We have so much here to take it over in Jungle Georgia. The cooler, more arid climate of Kansas, may explain why it persists to weed status, less competition.

More info on Sericea:
http://www.acsrpc.org/Conference/Pro...s/Mosjidis.pdf

[mygoat]

The NUMBER ONE way to prevent worm problems is through pasture management. Look up and do some research on rotational grazing. Goats naturally browse up, not graze down - so if they had their way, they'd avoid most worms naturally. However, most confined pastures are not 'natural'. They quickly become overgrazed and to find enough food, they begin to 'graze down'.

There are many pasture additives that are natural dewormers to some degree - chickory comes to mind.

Practice rotational grazing and good pasture management. SELECTIVE use of dewormers is a management tool through condition scoring (diarrhea, bottle jaw, anemia (famancha), body condition, and fecal worm counts).

Finally, cull those who cannot stay reasonably healthy and worm free under good management. If your management is lacking, of course you can't expect them to thrive... but under good management the animals with poor immunity and hardiness have no place in your herd... by keeping them, you just increase the number of 'needy' goats in your herd and their genetics stick around through their offspring.