Location: Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center
Project Number: 6020-21500-001-006-G
Project Type: Grant
Start Date: Oct 1, 2022
End Date: Dec 31, 2024
Objective:
1. Examine practical approaches to administer Duddingtonia flagrans (Df) to sheep and goats to obtain good gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) control.
2. Examine complementary approaches of using genetics, Df and other GIN control technology within the small ruminant grazing system.
3. Develop new outreach materials as fact sheets, videos and webinars in collaboration with farmers, and increase use of available technology for GIN control to disseminate strategies of GIN control that minimize the need for deworming.
Approach:
The objective is to examine practical and economical approaches to administer Df (as BioWorma®) to sheep and goats to obtain good larval kill (> 50%) and low FEC (< 1000 eggs/g per animal), ultimately reducing the need for dewormers. We will determine a) whether feeding half the recommended Df will be effective (ARS, FVSU); b) whether Df can be included in a mineral mix for grass-fed operations (ARS; LSU), and c) determine effectiveness of a or b on-farm (cooperator farms – included in Objective 2). Naturally infected sheep and goats will be dewormed using 1 to 2 g copper oxide wire particles (COWP; Burke et al., 2004) before beginning Df treatments.
The second objective is to determine the effectiveness of mixing Df in mineral to sheep on pasture. This objective is contingent on success of Objective 1 in that Df spores must survive long term exposure to mineral. In Year 2, at LSU, 60 to 90-day old Katahdin lambs will be randomly assigned to 1) a control of no Df, 2) Df to be fed as recommended top dressed on a supplement, or 3) incorporated at a rate estimated to be the same in a loose trace mineral mix.
Similar studies will be conducted on farms in AR, GA and LA.
