Owners of sheep and goats on plots need to monitor their livestock for internal parasites . In years past the advice from fellow smallholders was to dose all the sheep or goats regularly . However , South Africa has the dubious reputation for having the greatest occurrence of multiple anthelmintic resistance and our animal scientists have had to develop and implement more sustainable and holistic methods of managing parasites in sheep . But first let ' s have some clarity on the terms . A parasite is a plantoranimalthatliveson or in another , usually larger , host organism in a way that harms or is of no advantage to the host . In the case of sheep and goats internal parasites include bots and worms , in the form of flukes , nematodes and bilharzia or flatworms , as well as wireworm , brown stomachworm , bankruptworm , long-necked bankruptworm , hookworm , nodular worm , milk tapeworm , whipworm and largemouthed bowelworm . Another word used for them is helminth . Anthelmintics are antiparasitic drugs used to rid the animal of the worms etc . Anthelmintic resistance happens when the parasites develop immunity to the drugs and are no longer affected by them . In an attempt to slow down this resistance veterinarians suggest that we adopt the principle of targeted selective treatment ( TST ). So instead of a blanket treatment of the whole flock , we should only treat those that show symptoms of a parasite infestation . Drs Bath and van Wyk , from the Small Stock Health &
Production Dept of the University of Pretoria have developed a quick way of assessing the condition of a sheep or goat , which they have called the Five Point Parasite Check . Catch your sheep and restrain it . Then examine : 1 ~ The nose , for nasal discharge caused by nasal bots ,
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2 ~ The eyelids , for paling caused by anaemia , as a result of haematophagous ( blood-sucking ) worms , 3 ~ Under the head , for swelling below the jaw , commonly called bottle jaw , which is brought about by haematophagous worms and conical fluke , 4 ~ The back , in order to assess body condition score ,
LIVESTOCK
How to manage small stock parasites
which is affected by worms , 5 ~ Under the tail , for faecal fouling or dag score due to worms which cause diarrhoea ( scouring ). This check is practical , cheap and quick . Not all animals are equal ~ the way they handle parasitic infestations differs . Careful observation of your animals will reveal which have a
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