Abstract
This study was carried out with the cooperation of farmers owning communally grazed indigenous goats in southwestern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, where farmers had identified poor reproductive performance in their herds as one of their major problems. The aim was to quantify the effects of 3 interventions and the interaction between these interventions on goat productivity and gastrointestinal nematode infection. The interventions were: urea-molasses block supplementation during the dry winter seasons of 2004 and 2005, tactical anthelmintic treatment with ivermectin (400 microg/kg) during the wet summer period (on 3 January 2005) and symptomatic treatment with ivermectin (400 microg/kg) of all goats judged anaemic throughout the entire study period. The FAMACHA system was used as a gauge of anaemia. It was noted that goats considered anaemic tended to remain so throughout the study period. The tactical anthelmintic treatment was effective as it markedly reduced (P = 0.066) the summer peak in faecal egg counts and is therefore recommended. By contrast, while the urea-molasses block supplementation appeared to reduce the faecal egg counts immediately following the 2004 supplementation (P < 0.05), this did not hold true in 2005. Interestingly, in the tactically treated anaemic goats, the improvement in the number of kids suckled per doe year-on-year tended to be greater than in the non-anaemic goats. It is considered that the routine symptomatic treatment of anaemic goats may have been a key factor. More detailed investigations into the routine symptomatic treatment of anaemic goats are therefore recommended.
Highlights
In the summer rainfall area of South Africa internal helminth parasites are an important cause of disease in communally grazed indigenous goats belonging to resource-poor farmers of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa[19,20]
Boer goats on extensive grazing at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Gauteng Province, in the summer rainfall area of South Africa showed that ureamolasses block supplementation during the dry winter period (June to August) resulted in heavier cold dressed-out carcase weights compared with weights of non-supplemented controls[18]
The interventions were: urea-molasses block supplementation during the dry winter seasons of 2004 and 2005, tactical anthelmintic treatment during the wet summer period and symptomatic treatment of all goats judged anaemic throughout the entire study period
Summary
In the summer rainfall area of South Africa internal helminth parasites are an important cause of disease in communally grazed indigenous goats belonging to resource-poor farmers of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa[19,20]. Dry-season (winter) feed scarcity was identified as an important constraint to improving goat productivity in these animals[20]. Resourcepoor communities have indicated that poor reproductive performance of goats is a major concern[7]. Boer goats on extensive grazing at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Gauteng Province, in the summer rainfall area of South Africa showed that ureamolasses block supplementation during the dry winter period (June to August) resulted in heavier cold dressed-out carcase weights compared with weights of non-supplemented controls[18]. The increase in carcase value showed that supplementation was economically justifiable. The aim of the present investigation was to quantify the effects of 3
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