While raising goats, some people face problems with their goats and parasites. In some cases, parasites can be the biggest hurdle when raising goats. But the good news is, goats can be raised naturally without drugs for controlling parasites.
Using medicines in all aspects is not wise. In some cases, you will find using medications can harm goat’s health and cause more parasite issues.
Most of the people who raise goats start by medicating regularly. Following models that will flip flop between wormers or just keep giving higher doses of the same wormer (by the suggestion of a vet most of the time).
Goats and Parasites
For raising goats as a business, you should have a good vet that will do them quickly for you or you should learn to do fecal exams.
Coccidia can put a goat down quickly and it’s about the hardest to handle. Most of the adult strong goats will contain an immunity to coccidia but may pass it on to young goats. When there is unsanitary wet conditions, coccidia is most easily caught. You can prevent and treat coccidia by using clover, garlic, mustard seek and pumpkin seed.
Most of the worms in goat’s stomach can be easily controlled by using Diatomaceous Earth regularly. Diatomaceous Earth will cause small cuts on the worms and dry them out. Diatomaceous Earth also has a host of minerals which is needed by a healthy goat.
There is also an another natural goat wormer ‘wormwood’. Wormwood will aid in removing worms from goats. It is a herb and you can easily grow indoors or in your garden or pasture and feed to your goats.
Stop buying goats frequently from the livestock market or from other farms. Emphasis on increasing the number of animals in your own herd. This is the easiest way to raise a healthy herd.
Try to keep a cull and closed herd. New goats have different resistances and can throw things off. So, don’t bring in new goats when dealing with worms. If you find that some of your goats in the herd need to be medicated often, then they are either not getting the right minerals or they should be culled.
Always keep in mind that, goats will have worms and it’s natural. So, you should not try all time to get rid of them all. You should try to keep your goats healthy and in proper balance.
If your goats have a worm infestation or if you have any sick goat, then they may die if wormed hard. A chemical to form in the stomach and that can kill your goats. Such condition occurs while having too many worms dieing off at the same time.
You cam make your goat’s live easier and healthier life by allowing them to eat browse, giving them clean water regularly, feeding them tasty and good quality hay and by giving them a mineral mix (such as Crystalyx for goats).
Look at there the inner eye lids (Famacha test). This is a good practice to get into. You can find out if you need your goats to worm harder or that things are going well depending on the color of the inner eye lid. On a few random goats perform this test regularly. You can do the test to all of your goats when it’s time to grooming or feet trimming.
You can provide Diatomaceous Earth to your goats daily in water or on hay. Black strap molasses has many minerals and will give your goats a boost. Start this before you have a worm infestation, because black strap molasses will take longer to show results.
Remember worms don’t want to kill their host, they live off of them so try and keep a balance. If your goats are dying, then they may have a secondary issue. Could be from host of other issues, pneumonia or from poor house keeping. Learn more about goats and parasites from any expert vet if you want to raise goats naturally.
And also remember, what works for someone’s farm may not work for your or another farm. So, a variation may be need. No one is perfect and no one fully knows how to raise goats perfectly. Although, there are some common things that need to be done.
Ensure that you supplement your goat’s feed with good hay, quality minerals and clean water. Also ensure a clean environment for your goats. Always keep the healthiest goats in your herd and you will have a healthy herd which will directly increase your earnings and overall production of your farm.
