Shift grazing area to reduce internal parasites in goats

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

INTERNAL PARASITES in goats and sheep can be effectively reduced by shifting the grazing area used by the animals every three to four days, according to researchers in the Small Ruminants Center [SRC} at the Central Luzon State University in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

Dr. Emilio M. Cruz, Dr. Edgar A. Orden, Dr. Ma. Excelsis M. Orden, Richie Candelaria, Patricio Ancheta, Douglas Gray, and Dr. Edwin Villar reached at this conclusion after a one-year experiment with 40 goats in four hectares of pasture area.

The researchers compared parasitism in goats occurring in what they called rapid rotational grazing and set stock groups. 

Under the rapid rotational grazing group, the researchers exercised control over 20 goats, which they only allowed to graze rotationally in a two-hectare pasture area subdivided into 10 paddocks.  Each paddock was used for three to four days.

In contrast, the set stock group, consisting also of 20 goats, was allowed free access to another two-hectare pasture area, which was not subdivided into paddocks.

All the goats were heavily infested with internal parasites before the study. The animals were dewormed with anthelmintics one month before they were moved to the experimental pastures.

The animals in the set stock group continued to be dewormed six times more during the experiment because the egg count of parasites in their feces, called fecal egg count [FEC], was more than 1,000 in August, October, November, December, February, and June. Deworming with anthelmintics is a recommended management practice when the FEC is more than 1,000.

On the other hand, the goats in the rapid rotational grazing group were no longer dewormed during the experimental period because their FEC was below the critical level of 1,000.  By moving the goats to another paddock after every 3 to 4 days, the life cycle of the internal parasites is broken as the incubation period of their eggs in the pasture is 5 to 7 days. There will be no more goats in the paddock when the eggs have hatched.

The researchers observed that temperature, rainfall and relative humidity are correlated with the degree of parasitism in goats and sheep. Apparently, they said, temperature has a stronger influence on the development of internal parasites, also called endoparasites, in small ruminants.

Likewise, they said goat raisers stand to save more than a little bit if they adopt the rapid rotational grazing strategy.  Based on figures collected during the study, the researchers came up with savings of P1,620 which was the amount of money spent on anthelmintics administered to the goats in the set stock group.

Under the current prices of anthelmintics, however, the amount of savings could be much greater now since the study was conducted some four years ago.

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