A HERDSMAN'S HANDBOOK FOR THE MODERN HOMESTEADER

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Pasture rotation is the best single method of accomplishing this goal. Animals should not be allowed to graze any one area for longer than about three weeks or until the forage is cropped short. The section of pasture should then remain idle for at least six weeks, and preferably longer (which is a good idea for the land, in any case).

Using this system, the animals are removed from the grazing area before most of the newly hatched larvae become infective and before the ruminants are forced to eat too close to the soil surface (where there's a heavier concentration of the larvae). Then too, allowing the pasture to lie idle insures that most of the larvae will have died before the animals return.

To avoid reinfesting the gazing area with tapeworm eggs it's advisable to exclude all stray dogs by whatever means required and to avoid any contamination of the pastures with untreated human wastes.

Ponds and wet marshy areas are favorable places for the development of roundworm larvae and for the snails that harbor flukes. Fencing or draining these areas will do much to limit exposure.

Try to arrange calving or lambing dates so that the young are born in late winter or early spring. The cold weather tards the development of the parasites' eggs and larvae, thus giving the lambs and calves a head start in their race for healthy existence.

If conditions justify worming your entire herd or flock, so in winter when the animals are normally confined to a smaller area . . . or can be temporarily penned in a space that can either be thoroughly cleaned or left idle for the rest of the season.

Even though the adult parasites are killed by the worming treatments, their eggs are still alive and the droppings containing them should be disposed of where the eggs will not be a source of reinfection. (Any uncomposted manure hauled from the barnyard area should be spread on cropland and not on the pastures.)

For the same reason, whenever you worm animals on pasture, try to rotate the livestock to a clean grazing area within few days. It's also a good idea to drag all pastures with a harrow in the fall to break up the accumulations of animal droppings and expose the worm eggs and larvae to the killing effects of drying and freezing.

While good management is important for parasite control good nutrition is imperative. If an animal is in robust health and is receiving a properly balanced diet containing all the essential vitamins and minerals, it's doubtful if a moderate . posure to worms would ever cause symptoms. So, if for any reason you cannot follow all of these recommendations, by means follow this one: Feed your animals the most natural, nutritious, additive-free ration you can devise! This will a kill any worms, but it will enable the livestock to develop resistance necessary to combat these parasites on an equal footing.

Healthy, well-nourished animals seem to have the ability to develop a relative immunity to most internal parasites. The exact mechanism is unknown, but we have learned that when this immune state exists, the majority of infective larvae taken into the body fail to develop into adult parasites capable of reproduction.

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