Managing Parasites in Goats
An Overview & How-To
How do you sort it all out when more often than not, your frantic Google search provides hundreds of options, several of which completely contradict each other…?? I’ve spent countless hours (most of which were very, very last minute-not the best for stress-free decision making) Googling different questions- from a calm image search asking, ‘is this plant toxic for goats?‘, to yelling into the phone since my gloves were covered in something beyond icky and taking them off was just out of the question while I was wrestling a frustrated goat riddled with parasites in desperate need of treatment.
I’m here to share these glorious ( 🤭) moments with you, so hopefully you won’t be the one unsure of what to do next all the while being stuck on the milk stand with an agitated goat in dire straits who seems to have lost any ounce of civility you managed to previously bestow upon them.
I’ll keep it real and authentic, sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly moments- because honestly, sometimes we learn more when things go a little haywire. I whole heartedly believe in research, and more research, then a little more just to make sure- I like to know the why of things. So, with that, let’s jump in!
Want to Jump Ahead?
The Essentials of Parasites & Goats
To be so stubborn and somewhat fearless little daredevils, goats sure can be finicky little creatures. While we may sometimes think of rough and tough mountain climbers when we consider goats, I have learned that this couldn’t really be further from the truth-especially in the unbelievably hot, humid wetlands that are home to an abundance of barber pole worms and deer worms (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis if you’re feeling fancy).
Now, if you are joining us from somewhere far, far away-maybe the desert or a snowy mountain top- of course your specific problems might be slightly different, but I’m sure there is something lurking in the shadows.
In the beginning, I was aware of and considered worms; however, I didn’t consider the logistics of parasites that are resistant to the antiparasitic medicine, or dealing with a really, really bad infestation, or potential mineral deficiencies playing a role, etc.
Basically, I had no idea how in depth I would need to get to make sure my goats are actually healthy- they’re instinctually excellent maskers- which makes sense given their prey status.
But, having learned from experience, I am 100% convinced that yes, you really do need all of that ‘stuff’ you’ve probably heard about from other goat people- they’re not just being crunchy, over-the-top goat mommas.
Trust me, if you’re faced with a medical emergency or a significant parasite load that will require some intense treatment, you’ll be so relieved when you have the supplies on hand and don’t have to scour local stores (most of which won’t have everything you’ll need) or end up with no choice but to order and pray for speedy delivery, kicking yourself for not already having it. Most of these things have a decent shelf life if stored properly, so consider it an investment to protect your other investment, because we know goats aren’t free.
When time is of the essence, this is the last thing you want. I’ve been there and the peace of mind of just knowing that I now have an arsenal of animal husbandry supplies is worth every penny when that inevitable moment comes! Plus, it’s a fun excuse to create a cute (yet practical) little supply area😉.
Taking a Proactive Approach
A stitch in time saves nine!”– I can just hear the little old ladies going on about this in the past- I’m guessing I heard this a lot growing up because I think about it frequently- usually playing it in a stereotypical grandma voice in my head. Honestly, I didn’t used to continuously have it pop into my head, this is a relatively recent development that started when my wing-it-DIY projects would inevitably backfire or fall apart leaving me in an even worse predicament than before.
Damage control + starting over = STRESS & RESENTMENT.
So yes, a stitch in time saves nine! Taking a few extra steps now and being intentional with my planning is likely to save days (or even longer 😬) doing damage control down the road.
Keeping Your Goats Healthy:
The First Line of Defense
The ultimate proactive approach is to ensure that you are setting your herd up for success by giving them everything they will need to stay in tip-top shape with a clean bill of health. Now, of course, this in no way means you’ll never have a problem, but it at least makes it a little less likely, and more manageable when it inevitably does happen.
There is no shaming here whatsoever, just because your goat may have a parasite overload or some illness, that doesn’t mean you’re a horrible goat owner and don’t care. If you’re anything like me, self-deprecation comes naturally and can take you all the way down the rabbit hole. 🤷♀️
Maya Angelou’s famous quote hit me so differently recently- “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” That’s exactly what this is! We do the best we can until we learn how to do something better. Once we learn that there is a better approach, we’re given the opportunity to take action and do better. So, no shame, just growth!
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Maya Angelou
Minerals: A Fundamental for Healthy Goats
To be such adamant rough housers, goats sure are delicate little creatures when it comes to their susceptibility to mineral imbalances. A mineral imbalance can lead to a whole host of other problems, leaving the goat ill and possible leading to death. Like parasites! A goat with certain mineral deficiencies is much more likely to experience a parasite overload reeking some serious havoc.
Fundamentally, all goats have some worms in their digestive tracts, it’s the imbalance, or overload, that goes on to create problems like anemia and potentially death. Mineral deficiencies, or even a surplus of certain minerals, can also impact how effective the treatment is, or how effectively other minerals are absorbed, in turn impacting the goat’s health.
I was quickly engrossed in this world of goat minerals and health when I was frantically trying to figure out why my goats were so anemic despite treatments. Iron and B-Complex may as well have been water. No improvements at all, and they just seemed so unhealthy. Something was wrong and I was missing it. After going down several rabbit holes, I learned SO many interesting things about the weird world of goats and the significance that minerals play in their lives. At some point I plan to do an entire post on just minerals, so I’m not going to go into great detail here, but I’ll lay out a few of the simple things I have learned.
Let’s venture back to my personal experience of giving iron and B-complex to my anemic (like severely anemic) goats and seeing no improvement. Certain minerals and elements act as antagonists, or ‘blockers’ to different essential minerals. For example, Iron, Calcium, and Sulphur block the absorption of Copper, a critical mineral for a goat’s health and balancing parasites.
Calcium and Sulphur can both be prominent in well-water (which we have), and this alone can lead to a Copper deficiency despite a goat having access to free choice Copper, making the goat much more susceptible to parasites, leading to anemia, and so on.
This is what was happening with my goats, and then immediately thinking of Iron when I noticed the anemia, I most certainly didn’t help the situation by giving Iron. It was a Copper issue all along, due to the surplus of other minerals blocking the absorption of Copper.
Crazy, right?! My mind was totally blown, and I was immediately hooked and so invested in learning as much as I could! So, stay tuned for a fun post breaking all of that down in the near future! It goes way beyond just what is in your herd’s feed or even the hay you supply, the root cause can be something as fundamental as the soil or water source.
Balancing Parasite Load & Antiparasitic Resistance
Parasites are a goat keeper’s nightmare- they are tricky because obviously a parasite overload can cause significant harm, or even death, for a goat; but the caveat is that goats will always have some parasite load. It’s the overload that is concerning.
I was fascinated when someone explained it as a symbiotic relationship in a way. Think about it- species specific parasites are 100% dependent on their unsuspecting host to complete their lifecycle. So ultimately it would instinctually make no sense for a species-specific parasite, like the barber pole worm, to infect the goat with the intent (used loosely since we’re talking about worms…🤭) to kill the host. All of the worms living inside would inevitably die off when the host dies.
Controlled levels of these parasites are normal in goats, so it’s a balancing act that leaves many goat owners & homesteaders struggling.
Speaking of struggling, to make matters worse, the resistance that parasites have developed to several of the antiparasitic drugs make things all the more challenging. Resistance has been reported in most classes of dewormers, some more so than others with certain parasites.
Since the type of parasite that is most problematic varies by location/climate, it’s a good idea to do some digging and read up on the parasites in your area. Your local agricultural extension’s office would be a great resource to use.
Here in the warm, muggy South, one of our most problematic parasites would be the barber pole worm, which has developed a resistance like an impenetrable force field to several dewormers, especially those commonly available at the trusty neighborhood Tractor Supply.
You read and hear all the time that ‘careful and accurate’ dosing is critical when deworming…I mean, I never disagreed but used to only think of it in the terms of not harming the goat with too much. Obviously, this is a true and valid consideration, however, here’s what blew my mind:
Parasites that are exposed to antiparasitic, but survive, basically pass this resistance to their offspring genetically- so the hundreds of offspring produced by that parasite will also be resistant to that antiparasitic…and so on and so forth🫨
Wow. That sure gave me a new perspective on ‘careful and accurate’ dosing- they’re talking about UNDERdosing. By doing this, you’d expose the parasites, and most would survive, thus passing on resistance. Once this was explained to me, it clicked!
If we’re not careful, we’re basically helping these blood suckers outsmart us. This is where actually taking the time to calculate how much your goat weighs is paramount. Sure, some of us are great at estimating weight, but why risk it?
I have found that goats, especially cute little babies and yearlings, can be deceptively heavy. Just recently, I estimated that two little ones would weigh 50 pounds each. I was close…but I estimated too low- they weighed in at 68 and 58 pounds. Not a huge difference, but had I gone with my estimation, I would’ve underdosed!!
Of course, weighing properly with an accurate scale is the most accurate way to get their weight; however, all of us don’t happen to have a livestock scale lying around (this is after all the homestead blog for the rest of us 🤭). If you do have one though, absolutely use that! Or, if you’re weighing kids small enough to pick up, grab the bathroom scale and on a flat surface (learned that the hard way!) weigh yourself, then grab the goat and weigh yourself with the goat, then subtract your original weight from the combined weight.
But of course, this method eventually is not a viable option, I will not be picking up Stu Pickles to grab a quick weight for multiple reasons: he weighs nearly 100 pounds and depending on the time of year, he can be quite smelly- nothing like a buck in rut! Not to worry though, there is a simple way to calculate a goat’s weight- all you need is a measuring tape- like the type you’d use for sewing or body measurements and a calculator (or just your brain if math is your strong suite🫨)
Calculating a Goat’s Weight- (Click For Detailed Instructions)
- Measure the goat’s heart girth in inches: wrap the tape measure snugly around the chest, right behind the front legs and shoulder blades
- Measure the goat’s body length in inches: measure from the front of the leg bone to the bony point at the base of the tail
- Then calculate:
- (heart girth x heart girth x body length )/300
- The answer will be the goat’s weight in pounds
- Example:
- Stu Pickles has a heart girth of 36 inches and a body length of 30 inches
- 32 x 32 x 28 = 28,672
- 28,672/300 = 95.57 pounds
Antiparasitic Dosing Considerations
Metabolic Rate and Drug Effectiveness
Goats have much higher metabolisms than horses, sheep, and cattle- the primary animals livestock medication is available for. Of course there are some goat specific medications available, however, a lot of the medications are used “extra label” (ie. a drug marketed for cattle that is commonly used for goats). Knowing your goat’s weight and understanding their metabolic system and how it differs from the intended species is crucial for accurate, effective dosing.
It can be alarming initially to learn that goats will often times need a much higher dose of a given medication that cows or horses…they are significantly smaller! But, there is more at play than simply size.
Basically, horses have one stomach and are ‘hind-gut chewers’ whereas cows, sheep, and goats are ruminants with a four-compartment stomach. I am definitely no pro on these differences, but even so, the different digestive tract anatomy still doesn’t fully explain why the goat would need a much higher and potentially more frequent dose of a given medication than cattle or sheep, who share the four-compartment stomach setup.
It all comes back to the rate at which goats metabolize- goats have a much faster metabolism than cattle, sheep, and horses. Because of this, goats can process and clear a medication from their system way before cows, sheep, or horses, and more importantly, way before the medication has had a chance to do its job! Sounds like a setup for parasite resistance 🫣.
Interestingly, this originates from a dietary adaptation that goats have developed given their natural browsing feeding behaviors. Unlike cows and sheep who are grazers, goats are naturally browsers and eat a substantial amount of woody plants, brush, and vines, all of which are more likely to contain toxins than the grass diet of grazers.
Having a faster metabolism is essential for detoxifying and eliminating harmful plants that may have been consumed. Ironically, an adaptation that is naturally supposed to protect the goat makes treating them with medication incredibly challenging. Not impossible, just challenging because there is more to the story than weight alone.
Ideally, it is always recommended to consult your veterinarian or local agricultural extension veterinarian. I am definitely not a vet and am only speaking from experience and things that I have learned along the way.
With that said, there is a lot of really great information in different online groups, just be sure to fact check and make sure what you’re being told is the most up-to-date and accurate information. Dealing with parasites and drug resistance, making sure you have the most up-to-date information is critical because of resistance!
If you’re following the same exact protocol that Betsy Sue used in the 1950s, odds are, your local parasites have already built a resistance.
Stay tuned for a much more detailed blog post on specific antiparasitic medications and the like!
Join the Herd!
Follow along for more and be sure to check out my blog or Pinterest for more specific posts! I’ll bring the real-life advice, after all, this is the homestead blog for the rest of us! Goats are inherently adorable, but I don’t go out of my way to match the internet’s obsession with aesthetics.
I’ll keep it real and relatable, and I can guarantee that my projects and solutions (aside from medications, unfortunately) do not cost an arm and a leg-the closer to free, the better! Also, no fancy building workshops or barn upgrades and machines-just me and the basics, so its relatable, because otherwise, what’s the point?!
If you don’t have goats but are considering- yay! This is the perfect space to explore- I’ll give you a real-life glimpse at what you can expect once you bring home your adorable little ruminant friends! Make sure to follow along so you’ll be notified when I post something new and exciting!
A stitch in time saves nine!
Thomas Fuller