OneFineAcre
Herd Master
Ok first let me say yes, a researcher with a PhD is certainly more qualified than a layman.
There is a bit of a disconnect here though. Which I will get to.
I do appreciate your post because I did go back to my veterinarian parasitology book and I am wrong. Which is GOOD! Why because it this is what this forum is for.
Education and helping one another. My response is based on working with different vets that see this subject a bit different. I am also not too proud to admit an error.
I have all my parasitology books but haven't really read or relied on them in so many years- I didn't even know this was there.
In the animal sciences there are Veterinarians, researches, and layman. Since we are talking about goats/sheep here I will restrict this to the first two.
Veterinarians and researchers do not always see eye to eye. I lean toward the researches more often then the vet side... the biggest issue is vets work in the field with seeing all the issues and the two don't always agree. Research is also ever evolving and old ways replaced with new info etc.. on and on it goes. This is not new, but rather old info.
Now attached are pages discussing this... I would however like to comment on what I see as a problem within the subject.
If it has to do with viability... how can it be said that in winter parasites go dormant and no need to deworm..
Do all parasites go dormant?
If an EPG is high in winter still don't deworm?
What about regions such as the SE where it was 70 degrees 2 weeks ago and will get back into the 50's possibly 60 soon.
What about Florida?
Winter is winter.
I am not contending the data or info but application of use of that data.
Is it responsible to say no one needs to deworm in the winter?
I have seen over the years on others farms where the vet said it is January, not the season for coccidia... yet a goat kid had diarrhea and blood. Fortunately that person felt the vet was wrong and took the fecal to Rollins lab. Loaded. Goat was treated by another vet from there on out. Another goat vet said goat is fine goat is fine... goat died- necropsy showed Barberpole.
When a goat is sick & anemic the simplest way to determine if there is a strong load is a fecal. The goat is ill. If they are in a dormant phase the results my not be great.
A poster here on BYH lost half their herd to Liver flukes- in the winter in a very cold region.
Personally I am not into deworming anything without an EPG. And if I had a sick goat that was thin and anemic, winter or not, I'd run a fecal second to taking the temp. Basic husbandry.
Continuing with my vet's advice and care protocol.
When you lost a kid to cocci would you have wanted someone to say that to you?
Below is some of the info mentioned above there are several more pages but this was the main portion....
(Parasitology for Veterinarians- Georgi)
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You spent way more time putting this together than you needed too,
I read the first paragraph.
I just past along something that I had heard from someone with some real knowledge, not internet based knowledge.
If you don't agree with that, then that's fine.
I could have misunderstood her
But, you really need to think about why you needed to spend this much time disputing what I said.
You really do