43 Goats Did Not Require Deworming

Resilience is the ability of the animal to withstand parasite infection:  to maintain health and productivity. For the barber pole worm, the primary measure of resilience is a FAMACHA© score. A FAMACHA© score estimates the level of anemia in a goat. Anemia is the primary symptom of barber pole worm infection. According to larvae ID, the majority of the parasites in the goats were barber pole worms (Haemonchus contortus).

Every two weeks, the goats were handled to determine their FAMACHA© scores. FAMACHA© scores were used to determine the need for deworming. Goats with FAMACHA© scores of 1 or 2 were not dewormed, whereas those with scores 4 or 5 were dewormed. Goats with FAMACHA© scores of 3 were dewormed (or not) depending upon the criteria of the Five Point Check©, along with growth performance and fecal egg counts.

FAMACHA© scores improved after the initial dewormings, but worsened as the test continued.  Excluding the initial dewormings (on June 23-24), seventy-eight anthelmintic treatments were administered, an average of 0.8 treatments per goat. Forty-three goats did not require deworming during the test. Some goats required multiple treatments. The ineffectiveness of the drugs may have contributed to the need for multiple treatments.


FAMACHA© scores and anthelmintic treatments (Tx) were used to determine differences in resilience among the bucks in the test. The most resilient bucks in the test were 648 (Murphy, NJ) and 687 (Weber, IL). Both of these bucks had FAMACHA© scores of 1 each time they were checked. Neither required deworming.

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