[BlueHeronFarm]

Just an interesting note on the fecals we ran this weekend and why it is worth it to test and not guess.

We tested two does this weekend - both based on a peek at the eyelids. (FAMACHA)

One was totally loaded with haemonchus eggs and the other had NONE. Not one. We re-tested her poo a few times, never having seen zero eggs before(Humid, SE Texas) - but saw no eggs in four different tests on her samples. (We always collect more than we need for one test)

We are only worming the one who needs it. And now we know whose doelings we will want to keep in the future.

I know some people have too many goats to run individual tests, but this convinced us to try to do it for as long as we can. It would have been wasteful and inaccurate to worm the whole herd based on the wormy girls fecal and potentially deadly to have accepted the sample of the zero-count doe as representative of the herd.

Get a microscope and some McMasters slides. It is probably the single best way to improve your parasite (and ultimately herd) management. ...I'm sold, anyway.

 

[Jim S.]

I am curious, BlueHeronFarm...have you attended a FAMACHA training course, and been certified in the proper use of the system?

I find that most people who denigrate it have not been certified to practice it. One of the first things you learn in the course is that it is not intended as a replacement for fecal exams.

 

[BlueHeronFarm]

Actually we are trying to get a course run here - we have not been trained yet, though we hope to soon.

BUT - we look at eyelids very regularly in conjunction with our periodic fecals so that we can better understand how our does look "normally", when wormy, etc. ...just personal benchmarks. ...not at all intended to be our "worm test" - just another tool we use - and will probably use better once trained.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Question: Do you count eggs and worm based on the count, or do you have to know which eggs are what critter?

 

[BlueHeronFarm]

You need to identify what you have. Where we live, it's mostly haemonchus, though we have seen a liver fluke egg before - that gets a different wormer.

We have an old vet textbook, but fiasco farms has good photos to use for identification, too. YOu can print out a copy in a color printer -- that's what we started with.

 

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Also you will see lowered amounts of eggs in does who are bred. Lowered amounts of eggs in older stock who have lived in our area their whole lives. Lowered amounts of eggs in does who have had copper bolus. Lowered amounts of eggs in does with higher immunity....don't just keep doelings out of a doe like this, but use her colostrum one all your keeper doelings also.

You see higher amounts of eggs in does at the low man of the pecking order. Higher amounts of eggs in weaned kids. Higher amounts of eggs in just fresh does.

There are no two does at your farm who are exactly alike. Vicki

 

[elgordo]

I was rooting around the net and came up with this http://www.apacapacas.com/parasites/ which came up with The ParaSite which has pics of eggs and oocysts of many parasites of sheep, goat, cattle, dog and cat. Check it out!
I'm also interested in the FAMACHA system, I hope there will be a training seminar around here soon.
Any leads on inexpensive microscopes? Would the kind they sell to kids work? What magnification does it need?

 

[BlueHeronFarm]

We got our microscope from eBay - lots of nice, inexpensive ones.
And yes - ours is just like the ones we used in high school - 3 magnification options ... 10, 25 and 40 - with 10 in the eyepiece ...so 100, 250 and 400x magnification. (The McMasters slides are thick enough that we can't use 400x, though) Brand is AmScope.