As more producers get into goats, many are discovering there are few drenches registered for use and the ones that are, aren't terribly effective.
This was a key message from Dr Jillian Kelly, Animal health and Nutrition, Coonamble, at last week's Goat Production Field Day at Buena Vista, Collie.
Dr Kelly said a lot of management began with the worm test.
"What I commonly hear from people is 'but they look healthy' and the thing about looking healthy is there's a lot of lost opportunity," she said.
She said don't wait until your goats looked sick. Conduct a worm egg count as the test was important for whether drenching was necessary and what drench to use.
"It's illegal to use a sheep or a cattle drench in goats off label without a veterinary prescription,' she said.
"There's very few drenches that are registered for use in goats, and the ones that are aren't terribly effective. They're usually old fashioned single actives that don't work anymore. You've got to get a bit creative with which drenches you choose.
"You've got to get a prescription from your vet. You still can walk in and buy your drench, it's just that if you ever get audited, they are going to want to see your paper trail.
"The other thing is that a lot of these compounds, they're not registered for use in goats and abbatoirs are actively looking for compounds in the goat meat.
"Remember 95pc of goat meat is exported, so they take it really seriously and don't want any other compounds in the meat because it could jeopardise an export market. So be really careful with withholding periods."
Dr Kelly believes how goats feed can play a significant role in worm management.
"If you're looking at a rangeland goat, up to about 60 per cent of their diet is actually coming from browse, or eating above shoulder height," Dr Kelly said.
"From a veterinary perspective, the minute you hem these animals in and ask them to eat off the ground is when things go wrong.
"That's when you start to get worms, pulpy kidney, salmonella or coccidia, and that pretty much sums up 90pc of the reasons why goats die.
"Don't think that you can run them like sheep. They need a bit more space, a bit more browse and a bit more height in the plants, preferably shrubs and trees that are edible."
Dr Kelly said the lower goats eat, the more exposed they are to worms.
"Below (the goat's) shoulder height is where all your worm larvae live," she said.
"Most of the worm larvae live within five centimetres of the ground. So if they're eating down there, they're going to pick up heaps of worm larvae.
"Worms can remain fairly dormant for long periods of time if it's dry, if it's cold, if there's no livestock in the paddock.
"Then they'll wait for the ideal conditions, become active and migrate up the pasture to a point where the goat is going to eat it."
- Also, "Bettering worm control with an 'holistic' approach, p75.
