Fecal egg counts go down

Fecal egg counts for the samples collected on August 4 ranged from 0 to 2,650 epg and averaged 338 eggs per gram, compared to 876 on July 20.  Only 7 goats had egg counts above 1,000 epg.  Only 1 goat had a fecal egg count above 2,000 epg.The seven goats with higher egg counts accounted for 42 percent of the eggs shed onto pasture while only representing 9 percent of the herd.

Anthelmintic treatment (levamisole @ 3 ml/50 lbs) was extremely effective for the three goats that required deworming on July 20.

ID	July 20 FEC	Aug 4 FEC	% Reduction
16	900	25	97.2
76	4275	50	98.8
0	7750	75	99.0

Several goats may be showing evidence of the "self-cure" phenomenon, whereby animals expel adult worms after ingesting large numbers of infective worm larvae.  The self-cure phenomenon is well-documented in sheep; less so in goats. At the same time, there could be other factors, even a combination of factors, which caused some egg counts to decrease significantly without any anthelmintic treatment.

ID	July 20 FEC	Aug 4 FEC	% Reduction
1	1,475	100	93.2
2	1,429	75	94.8
5	1,033	375	63.7
14	1,000	50	95.0
20	1,229	300	75.6
48	1,025	100	90.2
51	1,733	275	84.1
52	2,550	225	91.2
54	2,960	575	80.6
79	3,300	425	87.1

So far, almost half (n=36) of the goats on test are meeting the gold standard of performance for parasite resistance.  All of their fecal egg counts have been below 500 epg and their average fecal egg counts are below 500 epg.

#46 is a low egg shedder
Boer buck consigned by Sherrie Losch (PA)

Test	Consigner		6/23	7/7	7/20	8/4
ID		Breed	FEC	FEC	FEC	FEC
3	Adams	PB Kiko	0	75	40	25
6	Allen	75% Kiko	28	50	300	150
7	Allen	88% Kiko	0	0	400	125
9	Allen	PB Kiko	0	240	375	300
10	Allen	88% Kiko	0	67	0	125
12	Burke	94% Kiko	0	0	475	50
15	Burke	NZ Kiko	0	367	100	25
17	Cooper	Spanish	28	160	0	75
18	Cooper	Spanish	0	125	50	50
19	Cooper	Spanish	0	0	75	150
21	Cooper	¾ Spanish	0	75	150	250
27	Dietz-Band	% Kiko	0	25	200	275
28	Dietz-Band	% Kiko	0	0	343	50
29	Dietz-Band	% Kiko	0	0	200	300
30	Francis	PB Kiko	0	0	67	75
31	Francis	PB Kiko	0	0	50	100
32	Garrett	Sav x Kiko	0	0	160	57
33	Garrett	Sav x Kiko	0	0	na	350
34	Garrett	Sav x Span	0	50	520	250
37	Gladstone	Kiko x Nubian	0	80	300	50
38	Gladstone	Boer x Kiko x	0	0	280	25
42	KSU	Spanish	0	75	25	50
46	Losch	Boer	25	0	175	0
47	Miller	Kiko x Boer	0	0	125	75
49	Miller	Kiko x Boer	0	400	80	575
50	Murphy	PB Kiko	0	400	250	300
57	Ozkum	Myotonic	40	67	na	325
58	Ozkum	Myotonic	0	125	33	0
62	Renick	NZ Kiko	0	25	125	50
63	Renick	75% Kiko	0	0	100	125
64	Renick	75% Kiko	0	na	133	0
65	Renick	PB Kiko	0	0	75	150
66	Renick	75% Kiko	50	67	67	450
71	Sweitzer	Kiko	200	120	200	75
72	Sweitzer	Kiko	0	86	120	50
74	Thorne	Boer	0	0	0	25

Download Aug 14 FEC report