We urge goat and sheep raisers to become more knowledgeable about Integrated Parasite Management (IPM) in small ruminants. A good first step is to take an IPM/FAMACHA certification course.
- Contact your local Cooperative Extension office or Dr. tatiana Stanton or go to https://www.wormx.info/workshops to see if a course is scheduled near you. You can also join the Cornell sheepgoatmanagement list serv to be notified of IPM/FAMACHA workshops.
- The University of Rhode Island offers an online course at https://web.uri.edu/sheepngoat/famacha/
Here are some favorite resources for learning more about managing parasites in goats and sheep as well as resources specifically from the Cornell Goat & Sheep Program. There are lots of good resources out there so we apologize in advance for any omissions.
Proper use of dewormers
Overuse of dewormers selects for worms that are resistant to chemicals used for deworming. There is significant information about this topic on this website, but the main theme is that dewormers should be reserved for animals that really need them. When deworming is needed, follow recommendations from the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control.
Introductory resources from Cornell University:
- Integrated control of internal parasites in pasture based small ruminants – 2017 article by Drs. tatiana Stanton and Michael Thonney
- Dewormer resistance (Part 1) – summarizes the results of two 2007 Cornell studies on dewormer resistance in NY/PA meat goat herds
- Dewormer resistance (Part 2) – identifies and explains herd management practices to combat dewormer resistance on NY goat and sheep farms
- Pest management recommendations for sheep, goats and swine – a Cornell and Penn State Extension publication focusing on external parasite (lice, mites, etc.) and fly control
- Tis the season for deer worm – an introductory article on deer worm infection in small ruminants in NY.
- Be sure to also check out the research and educator pages of this website for more info on deer worm treatment and barber pole worm control
General resources about goat and sheep parasites
- Animations of Goat Parasite Life Cycles – a terrific way to learn more about parasites!
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Gastrointestinal parasites of sheep and goats – a comprehensive directory
- Parasitipedia.net – The sheep and goat article is a directory containing numerous articles on goat and sheep parasites with detailed info on life cycles, anatomy and management.
- eXtension goat parasites
National and international websites with articles or projects about integrated parasite management for small ruminants
- American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control – main repository of small ruminant parasite info for the United States.
- URI Northeast Small Ruminant Parasite Control – “how to” videos, etc.
- ATTRA Small Ruminant Toolbox – The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s ATTRA program has put out a 978 page Small Ruminant Resource Manual. Check out their excellent “tools for managing internal parasites” fact sheets found in the health section.
- WormBoss – good way to keep up to date on small ruminant parasite control innovations in Australia.
- Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Project Searchable Archives (USA) – searchable data base that includes research results from several studies on innovative methods of coping with internal parasites in small ruminants
- Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada’s Organic Production of Sheep and Goats – also contains a good list of past research on parasite control in small ruminants.
Looking for articles in scientific journals that commonly contain small ruminant parasite research articles:
You can use the advanced search function in search engines such as ScienceDirect to look up scientific articles on parasite research studies. For example you can ask the search to find articles with the words ” sheep parasites H. contortus ” in specified journals such as Journal of Veterinary Parasitology or Small Ruminant Research Journal that regularly publish U.S. research on goat and sheep parasites. You can then go to the bottom of the page and hit the search button and a list of publications meeting this criteria will come up. You will be able to look at the abstracts for these articles for free but unless you are affiliated with a college you will not be able to download the complete articles at no cost.