Worms are an expensive drain on both your goats, your finances and your agribusiness.

A goat with worms is not a productive goat with weight loss, scouring and perhaps death occurring in affected animals. Growing animals, especially young kids, resist worms infection better but poorly fed or malnourished goats will succumb to low worm burdens on pasture.

An effective program must always be in place; one that leads to:

• Healthier goats
• Less worms on pastures to pass onto other goats and other livestock
• Less drenches needed each year
• Drenches remain effective for longer periods
• Incorporates good grazing management with a minimum number of drenches.

PREPARING TO DRENCH:

• There are many new sheep drenches on the market and not all are registered for goats. Those not registered should only be used after consultation with a veterinarian. 
• Some drenches use the chemicals separately but may use the chemicals in combination to provide single drench and are very effective.
• Research has already confirmed that pour-on drenches do not work on goats. Hence an oral drench is necessary. 

Key Points:

1. Ensure your program is effective: consult with your local Veterinarian
2. Know weight of animals before drenching – do not guess the weight of your goats
3. In herds with mixed sexes and ages, draft goats into different groups by size.
4. Calculate the dosage according to the heaviest goat in each group.
5. Ensure correct dosage is given – avoid under dosing your goats.
6. Check the accuracy of the drench gun; use a known volume to check gum will give the correct dose.
7. Ensure the drench gun is placed over the back of the tongue before administering the drench to avoid goat spitting it out.
8. Treat all animals on the same day.
9. After drenching, keep animals off feed for 4 hours before resuming normal feeds.
10. Prepare a plan for drenching and stick to it.

DRENCH TYPES:

1. Two different drenches are used. One must be a narrow spectrum drench with a long action against barber’s pole worm (based on the chemical closantel)
2. The other drench must be a broad spectrum drench effective against Black Scour worm, Tape worm, Liver fluke and Lungworm.

Long acting drench - Relies on the chemical Closantel and acts against Barber’s Pole: 

Drenches include: closicare, sustain, closantel, seponver

Short acting drenches, BZ or White drenches - Rely on the Chemicals: Albendazole, Fenbendazole, Oxfendazole, Thiabendazole

Drenches include:  Alben for the control of Round worms, Tapeworms and adult liver fluke and Oxfen for the control of Round worms, Tapeworms and Lungworms

LZ or Clear drenches: Macrocyclic groups)

Or Combination drenches: These are best rotated after every year or two.

eg:    Closicomb (closantel + oxfendazole) or
Closal  (closentel +albendazole)  --  for the control of Round worms, Tapeworms, adult liver fluke and  Lungworms

The 2 drenches should be given separately unless label indicates otherwise.

Combination drenches are obviously used as a single drench.

DOSE RATES:

1. Never under dose
2. Weigh if unsure about their body weight
3. Calculate the dose volume according to the heaviest goat in the group
4. Check the accuracy of your drench gun.

EXTRA DRENCHES:

1. These should not be necessary.
2. In very wet seasons or in normally very wet areas when there is good pasture growth, an extra Broad Spectrum drench may be worthwhile to control Black Scour Worm infestations.

DRENCH TIMES:

1. Talk with other local breeders about the frequency of drenching in your area.
2. Talk with the veterinarian from your RLPB about drenching programs already prepared for your area.
3. Timing is important, with treatment within 7 days either side of the program.
4. All goats should be drenched on the same day.
5. For any animals destined for domestic slaughter, avoid using a drench with Moxidectin as a chemical ingredient as it has the potential to show up in carcasses months after its application.  It is illegal to use this on domestic slaughter animals and heavy penalties for its use do apply.
6. Observe withholding periods.
7. An example of a drenching program is set out below:

BOUGHT IN GOATS:

1. Drench goats on arrival to your property and thereafter at the specified time with other goats

GRAZING MANAGEMENT:

1. Your drenching program should be designed to produce a ‘clean’ pasture (ie: low number of worm larvae) by minimizing contamination at critical times.
2. When clean pastures (and bedding areas) are not produced, as soon as the goats start grazing they immediately pick up infected larvae off the pasture. Within a few weeks they can be suffering clinical signs of parasitism
3. Wetter farm areas that are more heavily stocked, may be advised to use grazing management – shifting goats to a spelled paddock or area.
4. With shed management – be scrupulously careful about cleaning out pens and minimizing the risk of parasite problems.
5. Using other livestock (eg: cattle or sheep) as ‘vacuum cleaner’s’.
6. Use grazing pastures with at least 10cm growth to help reduce the uptake of worms.
7. Ensure goats are removed from feed (but allowed access to water) for approx 6 hrs before the drenching (overnight is good) and for 4 hrs after drenching to ensure they are well and truly emptied. This will allow maximum benefits from the drenches.
8. It is best to then put them put them into fresh pastures although this is not always possible.

Drenching programs will fail if there are too many goats on inadequate pastures. Housing goats on slatted floors will aid worm control.

DAIRY GOATS:

1. The program, above, is recommended for fibre producing goats and dairy goats which are NOT supplying milk for human consumption.
2. It is NOT recommended for goats supplying milk for human consumption. Check with your Veterinarian for advice on chemicals for dairy goats.

OPTIONS TO AVOID RESISTANCE:

1. Do not use the same broad spectrum all the time (this would occur if you were using the same combination drench every time) as the possibility of Black Scour Worms becoming resistant to this drench is very real, sooner or later.
2. To overcome this, rotate the broad spectrum drench group each year or two.
3. Rotate between drench groups, not within drench groups.

RESISTANCE:

1. A good program is designed to use drenches LESS OFTEN.
2. The more frequently you drench, the faster you select for resistant worms.

TAPEWORMS:

1. Tapeworms can sometimes be a problem in young goats.
2. Use a drench that contains abamectin plus praziquantel which kills the tapeworms.

# Again, check the withholding period.

LICE  MANAGEMENT:

For lice management, a spray is used (a line down the back) eg: Zapp, a couple of times a year.
For export AQIS requires use of Barricade S, a cattle drench, with the application thoroughly wetting the goats

PARASITE MANAGEMENT:

For parasite ticks prevalent during the summer in the coastal areas, sulphur, mixed in with the goats feed, secretes through the skin and repels ticks. Unpasteurised apple cider vinegar  with garlic, added to the feed or drinking water will also work in a similar manner.

VACCINATION OF GOATS:    (GLANVAC 6)

It is good management to co-ordinate vaccinations with the drenching program.

When?

• All adult goats have a 1ml injection twice per year: eg: Oct 1st and April 1st each year
• For control of cheesy gland and the prevention of pulpy kidney disease, tetanus, black disease, malignant oedema and blackleg in sheep, lambs, goats and kids
• Kids:  1ml at 6 weeks and another 1ml at 3 months, then 1ml every 6 months following.