Project Number: 6227-21310-009-91
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Oct 01, 2010
End Date: Aug 30, 2014

Objective:
The objectives are to examine farm management systems for year-round gastrointestinal nematode control, identify resistant animals to minimize problems with nematode infection, conduct on-farm studies on the feasibility of techniques developed from research studies, and educate outreach professionals and producers on adopting available organic gastrointestinal nematode control strategies in small ruminants by disseminating state-of-the-art knowledge and procedures.

Approach:
The impact of continuous use of integrated methods that have been developed by these investigators previously will be examined using a systems approach in a long-term experiment. Groups of sheep or goats using different control strategies will be managed separately for at least four years, and infection level and production efficiency will be measured. Forage systems (including sericea lespedeza and birdsfoot trefoil) will be examined to minimize parasite infection. Genetic selection for resistant sheep and goats will be examined by correlating fecal egg counts of parents and offspring, and selected sires will be used to generate stock with a greater resistance to parasites. Integrated approaches described above will be examined on-farm by producers who will submit information on the success of approaches employed.