Worm Prevention in Goats, and 14 Best Practices to Remember

Goats are like every other kind of livestock in that they are vulnerable to internal parasites, and worms in particular. Barber pole worm is one of the most well-known and most destructive, but no matter what sort of nasty, gribbly parasites you are dealing with, the end result is always the same if not managed: slow growth, reduced weight gain, reduced milk output, fatigue, disease, and in many cases, death.

Some folks would have you believe that intestinal parasites are just a part of life for goats and that there’s nothing you can really do about it. This is categorically untrue…

There are active measures you can take that will dramatically reduce the infection rate and subsequent parasite loads for your goats, and in some cases, you might be able to prevent infection entirely.

Keep reading and I’ll tell you about the best practices for preventing worm infestation in your herd.

Always Maintain Correct Stocking Density

One of the very best things you can do to help prevent worm infestation in your herd is to maintain the correct stocking density. Stocking density refers to the number of heads, meaning your goats, that you can keep on a given parcel of land or in a given space.

The more goats you pack into a given space, the greater the parasite population will be, and accordingly, this will greatly increase the risks of infection.

Stocking density is determined by the size of your goats, the quality of your land, and the typical parasite population in your area.

A good rule of thumb is to go for no more than 10 to 15 goats for every one or two acres. As a rule of thumb, the more room your goats have to themselves, the less you’ll have to worry about worms.

Your pasturing strategy will also impact the stocking rate, and we’ll talk more about that in the following sections.

Implement Rotational Grazing

Rotational grazing is a crucial strategy for all sorts of livestock, not just goats, and involves moving them to fresh pasture at regular intervals to keep them from both overgrazing the land and grazing too close to the ground; that’s where most parasite larvae will be located!

A simple rotational grazing strategy consists of nothing more than dividing your pasture into smaller sections, sometimes called paddocks, and then moving your herd into a new one every week, or every week and a half at the most.

Ideally, you will give each section at least 6 weeks, and preferably two months, to rest and recuperate before you put animals back on it.

This allows grass time to grow, parasite eggs time to die off, and it reduces the risk of exposure on subsequent visits. That all adds up to healthier, happier goats!

Share the Pasture with Other Species

This doubtless sounds counterintuitive to some folks, but it’s true: if you are able to share the pasture where you let your goats browse with other livestock species, it might well reduce parasite infestation levels for all of the animals.

That’s because most parasites are species-specific and optimized only for living in a certain kind of animal.

So, for instance, if your cows happen to eat the larvae or eggs that typically infest goats, the cows won’t wind up infected and those parasites will instead be destroyed most likely. The same works in reverse.

Obviously, this approach has some challenges all its own, including adjusting a mixed stocking rate and preventing conflicts, but it can be well worth the extra effort, especially if you have rich land that can support different species.

Properly Manage Pastures

It’s something that no one wants to do, least of all me, but we have to for the sake of our goats. Properly managing your pasture will not only ensure that your goats get the best possible nutrition, but it will reduce their exposure to parasites.

When planting or cutting grasses between cycles or out of season, don’t cut it too short even though that’s tempting. Leave it long, at least 4 inches, and that will keep most parasite eggs and larvae out of reach of your goats the next time they come around.

Likewise, if a particular pasture or paddock has been linked to significant infestation or just increased parasite loads, take it out of the rotation if you can and let it rest for several months. That might prove long enough to break the life cycle in conjunction with treatment of your animals.

Keep Your Herd Off of Wet Pastures

This is an old farmer’s piece of wisdom that is 100% applicable, and not just for preventing bloat: eating from wet pasture increases the likelihood that goats will be infested by worms.

If there is heavy dew in the morning or there’s been a passing shower or thunderstorm, give the water time to drain away and, preferably, the grass and plants time to dry out before you let your goats head out.

Try Keeping Goats in a “Dry Lot”

Not to be confused with keeping your goats off of wet grass, a dry lot refers to a paddock or other enclosure where there is no grass at all.

If your goats aren’t eating anything close to the ground, they will ingest far fewer worms, and that’s because most worm larvae cling to grass and other low-growing vegetation.

Obviously, you’ll still need to provide food for your goats, and you don’t want them eating hay or anything else right off the ground because you’ll be back to square one.

You should also consider that the grass growing at the edges of dry lots tends to be a real hot spot in terms of worm and other parasite populations, so you need to keep this cut well back so hungry goats don’t try and snatch a nibble from beyond the fence.

Diversify Available Browse

Even amateur keepers are becoming increasingly aware that a monotonous diet is not ideal for goats, both in terms of interest and nutrition, but also when it comes to fighting off parasites.

Goats allowed to forage and browse from a rich, diverse pasture containing a wide variety of plants, particularly those that are rich in tannins, have dramatically lower worm counts under all conditions with all other things being equal.

Tasty plants that appeal to goats and also contain high amounts of worm-busting tannins include chicory, acorns, and lespedeza.

Letting your goats nibble from many different shrubs, bushes, trees, grasses, and more will keep them healthy on the inside, while providing a diverse ecosystem that is difficult for worms to monopolize.

Optimize Nutrition

Whether you pasture your goats full-time or part-time, ensuring they’ve got optimal nutrition is imperative for overall health. Simply enough, healthy goats cope better with parasites and will have lower overall egg counts.

Part of this is giving them a diverse and nutritious diet, and the other part is keeping them topped up on essential vitamins and minerals using supplements if necessary, and paying close attention to their copper levels.

Goats that are copper-deficient are especially vulnerable to all kinds of worms, so don’t neglect it!

Feed Natural Herbal Dewormers Periodically

One of the very best things you can do to prevent infestation of your herd is simply to implement proactive countermeasures. And no, you don’t have to reach for the medicine cabinet to do it.

Nature furnishes many natural medicines, and one of the best for worms is common herbs. Goats love the stuff as a rule, and you’ll love how it can make their digestive systems an inhospitable place for these nasty little critters.

Common kitchen herbs like oregano, thyme, clove, sage, and rosemary have proven parasite-fighting power. They can prevent the larval forms of these creatures from taking up residence in their digestive tract, and in some cases, kill them outright.

Another good option is wormwood, an extremely potent natural remedy. However, you should never give wormwood to pregnant does because it increases the risk of miscarriage.

Mixing in herbs to your goats’ usual feed just a couple of times a month is often enough to greatly reduce or even completely eliminate the risks of infection.

If you know your animals are already infected and suffering, you can increase the dosage to a couple of handfuls per goat a day and continue the regimen for five to seven days.

That’s usually enough to do the trick!

Minimize Stress for Your Herd

Your goats probably cause you plenty of stress if they are anything like my own, but despite how aggravating these stubborn animals can be, you need to do everything you can to keep their stress levels low.

Goats that get stressed or sick, and if they are living in a constant state of anxiety, agitation, fear, or pain, will be much more vulnerable to worms.

Remember what I said above about healthier goats being more resistant to worms overall? Their mental and emotional well-being is part of that.

You won’t always be able to prevent stress in your herd, but if you can avoid scaring them, avoid overcrowding, and keep them safe from predators, that will go a long way.

Keep Bedding and Housing Clean and Sanitized

Your goats won’t just pick up worms when they are out in the pasture or in the enclosure; they can also pick them up from close contact with each other and their bedding while they’re in the barn or shelter.

Goats are notoriously messy and nasty, but despite this, you need to take it upon yourself to keep their housing and bedding clean.

Muck out old straw when and as needed, always strive to keep their living area dry, and occasionally give all surfaces and spaces they contact or inhabit a thorough deep cleaning and disinfection.

Don’t forget to disinfect feeders, feeding areas, and waterers routinely, also! Parasite eggs and larvae can exist in all of these spots, so don’t forget them.

Monitor FEC (Fecal Egg Counts) Regularly

Awareness is half the battle when preventing worm infections, and if you aren’t staying on top of checking your herd’s FEC numbers, or fecal egg counts, you aren’t going to know what their parasite load is until it’s too late.

It’s gross, but it’s just another part of keeping goats. The process, though, is pretty simple. Simply collect fecal samples from a random selection of your goats every month to every month and a half when they are out in the pasture during grazing season.

Make sure those specimens stay separated, and then you can send them off to a livestock vet or a lab to analyze them.

If the FEC is within an acceptable range, you are good to go. But if it is climbing or markedly high, you need to implement treatments or preventative procedures as detailed here. This statistic, either way, is essential for informing your pasture management strategy.

Use Dewormer Medicine Strategically and Sparingly

Sometimes, you’ll have no other choice to control parasites, or prevent them, than turning to specialty dewormer medicines.

Cheap, easy to administer, readily available, and undeniably effective, there is a reason why these things are a mainstay in most keepers’ arsenals.

However, you shouldn’t rely on them all the time as a preventative or turn to them too readily as a cure: like so many other nasty germs we are dealing with in life, the proliferation and overuse of pharmaceutical countermeasures is increasingly resulting in treatment-resistant parasites.

This means you need to be selective in administering them, persistent in completing the required course of treatment, and stay on top of rotating out which drugs you use to prevent inadvertently breeding your own strain of monstrously resistant worms on your property, which could then spread to other places!

Always, ALWAYS, Quarantine New Goats!

Something that almost everyone is guilty of skipping from time to time, and that includes me.

Nonetheless, it is essential that all new additions to the herd, no matter how healthy, no matter what their health checkup said, and no matter how much you trust the breeder, must be quarantined for at least a month.

This gives you enough time to conduct an FEC and administer treatment before you release them to go be with the herd and inhabit those same spaces. A single badly infested goat can undo all of your hard work in a very short period of time.

During the quarantine interval, make it a point to observe the goat closely and inspect them for obvious signs of parasites using the FAMACHA system.

Worm Prevention Strategies in Summary

If you need a quick summary of all the worm prevention strategies we covered here, I’ve got them below in an itemized format:

• Maintain correct stocking density
• Use rotational grazing strategies
• Consider multi-species pasturing
• Take care of your pasture
• Don’t put goats on wet pasture
• Try keeping goats in a dry lot
• Diversify available browse
• Optimize nutritional intake
• Incorporate herbal dewormers in diet
• Minimize herd stress
• Keep bedding and housing clean and refreshed
• Monitor fecal egg counts regularly
• Use dewormer medicines strategically
• Always quarantine new goats

How Can You Effectively Deworm Infested Animals?

For goats that are seriously infested, as mentioned above, you will usually turn to specific deworming medications. There are many different types, all with their own pros and cons and specific parasite species that they work on.

A few of the most well-known include ivermectin, fenbendazole, albendazole, and moxidectin. Each is available under various trade names, so talk to your vet about what is appropriate for your situation and your goats.