HOW TO DEAL WITH INTERNAL PARASITES

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SOME GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

There is, however, no need to throw your hands up in despair. Because there are many things that you can do to ease your animals' parasite problems . . . and fortunately, a number of these preventive measures are easy enough for anyone to undertake.

In the case of the sheep and goat parasite, for instance, there are several simple courses of action that could help break the egg-larva-adult life cycle.

You could, perhaps, allow your animals to use a large pasture rather than cramping them together in a small pen. This would insure that the critters had less exposure to their own manure and would also lessen the chance that any wandering snails (or other intermediate hosts) would pick up parasite eggs. Also, if the pasture is thick and lush, your beasts are less likely to gulp down one of those snails . . . because the little shelled critters like to stay hidden in moist places beneath the grass cover.

And, of course, you'll want to keep your animals' "living quarters"—whether these are in the barn or shed—scrupulously clean. Daily manure removal is a must with most farm beasts . . . and don't forget that the manure is "organic gold" for your compost pile. Remember, too, that many worm eggs won't attain their effective stage until after they've matured on the ground for a few days, so—by consistently removing the animal droppings—you can actually break the parasite's life cycle! (The rule around the Kidd house is: "If a stall isn't clean enough to sit down in, it's time to get the pitchfork out." This attitude has helped us keep our worm—and rusty pitchfork—problems to a minimum!)

If you have two or more pasture areas, it's wise to rotate your grazing livestock so the animals will only be pastured on a particular piece of land every two (or, better yet, three) years. This pasture rotation gives Mother Nature a chance to help you eliminate your parasites ... by either covering the eggs with dirt or killing them—over a period of time—with sun and frost. Also, the majority of the snails, etc. that might have ingested a larva will have disappeared after a span of a year or two.

As you can see, simple good husbandry can go a long way toward breaking the life cycles of most parasites. And you have another ally in your fight against worms, too . . . the natural resistance to parasites that your animals can develop. A beast's ability to resist parasitic infestation can be compared to your ability to "throw off" a cold. While you'll likely never completely avoid colds, your body may—as you grow older—become less and less susceptible to these minor illnesses. So it is, too, with animals and their parasites ... as the beast matures, it becomes at least partially resistant to some worms.

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