Goat production was the subject of a seminar held by the Meat Goat Producers of Southeast Kansas-Northeast Oklahoma.

Steve Hart, Langston University, led off the program by discussing the various kinds of parasites that present a threat to goats. He said part of the problem is because breeds have been brought in from different parts of the world, developing ways to cope with local conditions over generations. Those conditions are not necessarily part of their new environment. For example, Boer goats are native to a part of Africa that is dry and therefore haven’t developed a resistance to the number and kinds of parasites found in areas where the climate is moist and the vegetation lush. These conditions provide a better environment for parasites, particularly the Barber Pole worm, to flourish. It is the species that causes the most harm.

“It is about one-inch long and as big around as a paper clip wire,” Hart said. “It looks like a barber pole. The red stripe is the blood it has ingested and the white is the worm’s reproductive system which can produce as many as 6,000 eggs a day. If a goat has a high infestation it runs out of blood rapidly. It causes anemia and edema. Coccidiosis and lice can also cause anemia, but most of the time it will be from the Barber Pole worm.”

Hart outlined field tests for infestation. The FAMACHA test is a comparison of the color of the inside of the lower eyelid to a chart and counting the number of eggs in fecal samples.

Another symptom is edema in the lower jaw. The loss of blood causes a reduction in proteins that pull fluids back into the system and without it the fluids tends to pool in the lower jaw of the goat. In Boer goats the edema can also show up in the lower chest area.

Worm eggs may go dormant in the digestive system during winter and then revive and be passed through the digestive track when the weather warms up. They are ingested when an animal grazes a contaminated pasture.

He had several suggestions for controlling and preventing infestations. Never allow the pasture to be grazed close as the eggs stay on the bottom four to six inches of the plant. Rotate goats and cattle as the cattle will eat the infested forage with no ill effects. Rotating the goats can help both in preventing too close grazing and by removing them until the eggs die. The eggs have to have moisture to progress and hot, dry weather can eliminate them.

Hart recommended culling badly infected animals thereby preventing them from continuing to contaminate the pasture. Since goats are natural browsers those pastured in wooded and brushy areas where there is little or no ground vegetation will stay worm free as the worms aren’t found on these taller plants.

The last resort he advocated was worming. The reasons for trying to avoid worming as much as possible were lack of good results and the tendency of the worms to become resistant.

“Wormer resistance is permanent,” Hart said. “You can come back 20 years later to a field where this has developed and they will still be resistant. There aren’t any new products showing much promise. If your worm problem gets too bad you’re out of the goat business.”

The Kiko and Spanish have more natural resistance than Boers, due to the areas in which they were developed, but there are few completely parasite resistant goats.

Fescue and bermuda provide the setting for the highest infestation of eggs. Since they both provide a thick moist environment for egg habitat the goats are more likely to ingest a larger number of eggs. Under trees, if there is vegetation, is another likely place as are sheds and barns.

At present the most effective dewormer is Cydectin, but resistance is developing. It is also effective against roundworms, arrested roundworms, lung worms and sucking lice.

The American Kiko Goat Association will hold its annual meeting at Ft. Scott, Kan., June 20-21. At that time they will offer training in using the FAMACHA detection system. On April 19, there will be a workshop in Miami, Okla., on the eye score and fecal egg count tests. For more information contact the Ottawa County OSU Extension Center at 918-542-8463. .

David Sparks, DVM, OSU Cooperative Extension Service, told the producers that efforts to change the natural breeding cyle of goats have not been very successful.