A project in Bergville, KZN, is teaching communal goat farmers to fight wireworm by early detection of worm infestation, culling to improve herd resilience and using low-cost remedies like copper oxide to obtain better production, improved fertility and new kids. Lloyd Phillips reports.
According to a 2004 survey by Statistics SA, there are about 930 000 goats in KZN – roughly 14% of SA’s total goat population. About 690 000, or 74%, of KZN’s goats are found in communal areas. “A 2006 survey by the KZN Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) survey estimated there were about 31 000 goat owners in KZN’s communal areas, each owning, on average, 22 goats,” says Dr Hannes de Villiers, KZN DAEA deputy manager for research in the southern region. While communal goat farmers are familiar with the effects of parasitic worms in the digestive tracts of goats, many still struggle to identify and treat worm infections. They also aren’t always aware of what treatments are available and how to use them. Often the larger packagings of deworming remedies (anthelmintics) are too expensive for these generally poor farmers, exacerbating the problem. All this keeps communal goat herds at subsistence levels, and prevents farmers producing a surplus that can be sold to generate valuable income.
International efforts
The parasitic worm challenges facing KZN communal goat farmers are common to goat farmers throughout Africa. They are the focus of a project called “Novel approaches and technologies to reduce the impact of nematode parasitism on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers of sheep and goats in Africa”. he project is spearheaded by the Wellcome Trust, an independent charity funding research to improve international human and animal health. Also involved are SA’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI), the KZN DAEA’s Farming Systems Research Section, Kenya’s International Livestock Research Institute, Sweden’s National Veterinary Institute and the UK’s University of Warwick. “The South African component of this project is underway with goat farmers and their goats in the Bergville district of KZN, in the Hoffenthal, Ogade, Dukuza and Maswazini communal areas,” says the leader of the Bergville project, Dr Adriano Vatta, a veterinary researcher for OVI’s Parasites, Vectors and Vector-Borne Diseases Programme. “This project aims for better control of wireworm (Haemonchus contortus) in indigenous goats owned by communal farmers,” he explains, “We’re also training the 15 participating farmers to improve their goat-herd health management in general. We diagnose anaemic goats according to the FAMACHA system and treat them with regular anthelmintics. The in-field aspect of the project runs from September 2007 until the end of 2008.”
Know your enemy
Dr Vatta, the Bergville project team and their partners want to understand the epidemiology of internal parasites – that is, the factors determining their occurrence – in communally farmed indigenous goats. More specifically, they want to understand how seasons, herd management, communal grazing practices, natural resources and the indigenous breed of goats affect the diversity and numbers of parasitic worms. Dr Vatta explains that wireworm is probably the most important gastrointestinal parasites in sheep and goats in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide, and is also becoming a problem in temperate areas. Its blood-sucking feeding technique causes anaemia, which can result in high lamb and kid mortalities if left untreated. The Bergville project is also researching other internal parasitic worms. “We’re collecting data by carrying out worm egg counts in dung samples, and culturing the dung to determine the species of worms present in the animals,” Dr Vatta says. “Wireworms have been predominant in the goats during the past summer – an expected result for SA’s summer rainfall area.”
Health skills training
The Bergville communal goat project trains small-scale farmers to improve the overall health management of their herds. This includes teaching them how to inject and drench goats with medication, trim their hooves and diagnose common illnesses, and improved goat handling. Farmers are also taught about the medicines and vaccines for particular illnesses; their withdrawal periods; how to store them correctly and how to calculate correct dosages. Dr Vatta and his team tag specific goats to sample the health of their herd as a whole. Once a month these goats are stringently evaluated for parasitic gastrointestinal worm loads and other health issues, and blood samples are analysed for anaemia. Animals that require treatment are weighed so the correct dose can be calculated. Particularly at feedback and information days hosted by the project’s partners, farmers are encouraged to ask questions or raise concerns so that researchers and technicians can give them informed answers.
The FAMACHA system
The project’s partners teach the farmers the FAMACHA system to diagnose anaemia in goats, caused by wireworm, because these farmers can’t afford large quantities of anthelmintics for blanket treatments, which could also contribute to the worms developing anthelmintic resistance. Named after Dr Faffa Malan, the South African scientist who developed it, FAMACHA encourages more targeted, judicious anthelmintic use, culling them to improve the herd’s resilience against worms. The system’s copyright is held by the SA Veterinary Association. Farmers use it to evaluate anaemia levels in individual goats using a colour-coded chart to evaluate the colour of a goat’s inner eye membrane on a scale of one to five. A red membrane (Score 1) indicates good red blood cell levels while a white membrane (Scale 5) indicates a severely anaemic animal. Anaemic goats are treated with an effective anthelmintic, while healthy goats are left untreated. The FAMACHA score the farmer has determined is then compared with a blood test which measures the goat’s level of anaemia more accurately. This allows the researchers to determine the accuracy and appropriateness of the FAMACHA system in that particular area. Studies indicate the FAMACHA system can be safely used, without the blood tests, in communally grazed goats, provided farmers retain their normal general vigilance about the health of their animals. “The FAMACHA system is easily understood and applied, even by semi-literate people,” Dr Vatta says. “Although it isn’t currently one of our project’s aims, farmers could use it to identify animals that need repeated anthelmintic treatments.”
The pay-offs
Vusi Madinane, one of the farmers participating in the Bergville project, told Farmer’s Weekly the project has significantly improved his knowledge of goat health management. He liked knowing how to identify sick animals, and what medicines to use against worms. “Other goat owners in my area have seen how healthy my goats are now and want to learn what I know,” says Vusi. “I’m looking forward to breeding extra animals I can sell to make money. Other goat farmers in KZN should also learn what I’ve learned.” As a long-term result of the Bergville project, concludes Dr De Villiers, herds will grow and their owners will be able to sell animals on a commercial scale. “This project is gradually resulting in better production, better fertility and more kids,” he says. “The combination of poor nutrition and poor goat health has historically kept communal goat growth rates low. We hope the project will change this. “Agricultural extension officers and animal health technicians are learning what the needs of these communal goat farmers are, and can take this information to farmers outside the project. It’s definitely a two-way learning curve for everyone involved.” Two manuals, Goatkeepers’ Animal Health Care Manual and Worms in Your Goats, Sheep and Cattle are available from Dr Vatta. Contact Dr Adriano Vatta on (012) 529 9111, fax (012) 565 6573 or e-mail [email protected]. Contact Dr Hannes de Villiers on (033) 343 8350, fax (033) 343 8423/30, or e-mail [email protected].
