Nutrition and the condition of sheep can have a major impact on the resistance and resilience of sheep to worms. Sheep that are resistant to worms can prevent some or all worms from establishing and as a result have lower worm egg counts. Sheep that are resilient to worms can grow and produce with less ill-effects from worms.
Good nutrition and managing the condition of ewes and the weight of young sheep is a vital component of WormBoss worm control programs. Nutrition of sheep relates to pastures, forage crops and supplementary feeding and being able to meet the requirements for growth and reproduction.
The resistance and resilience of sheep to worms is affected by different aspects of nutrition. It is the supply of protein that is most important for regulating the resistance of sheep to worms. This is largely because worm infection results in sheep diverting protein from muscle and wool growth to the immune response and the need to repair the damaged gut. In contrast, both protein and energy are equally important in improving resilience to infection.
Sheep need protein to maintain and grow muscle and wool and sustain pregnancy and lactation. Protein is also needed for the immune response that determines resistance to worm infection. Proteins are made up of building blocks called peptides that are composed of long chains of small compounds called amino acids.
The protein supply in grazing animals comes from two sources:
Extra protein can be given to sheep in one of several ways:
Sheep need energy to maintain themselves, grow, produce wool and sustain pregnancy and lactation. In contrast to protein, energy is less important for immunity and resistance to worm infection. Energy in pasture is mainly provided to animals by carbohydrates, such as cellulose and sugars, and to a very small extent, by fats.
Carbohydrates are fermented by rumen micro-organisms to provide metabolisable energy (ME) to the animal. ME is the energy used by the animal for maintenance, production and reproduction and the amount is expressed in units of megajoules (MJ) per kilogram of dry matter (MJ/kg DM).
The supply of ME to grazing animals comes from pasture or supplements. Rumen microorganisms convert the carbohydrates in pasture or supplements (e.g. grain, hay, silage) consumed by the sheep to provide ME. A pasture or forage with higher digestibility (i.e. young, green and leafy) will lead to more ME available for the sheep.
Extra metabolisable energy can be provided to sheep in one of several ways:
Major and trace minerals are generally less important than protein and energy in regulating resistance and resilience to worm infection. Mineral supplementation may only be useful in regions or situations where minerals are normally deficient.
Trace minerals have complex interactions and supplementation should be discussed with an advisor.
The classes of sheep most susceptible to worms are young growing animals in their first year and ewes during late pregnancy and early lactation. These animals have increased requirements for protein and energy.
Susceptibility of young sheep to worm infection is a major constraint to sheep production. Young sheep, especially Merinos, are most susceptible to worms between weaning and one year of age.
Young animals often can't get enough protein from pasture to meet their requirements, especially low quality pasture. It is even more difficult for them when they are infected with worms because this normally reduces the amount of pasture consumed.
The worm resistance and resilience of young sheep will benefit from providing them access to high quality pastures and from supplementary feeding with a protein-rich meal or grain. Contact an advisor to discuss your feeding plan and to establish growth targets for your young sheep.
Various experiments have demonstrated:
An example that illustrates these effects was an experiment conducted with young Merino sheep grazing a high quality pasture (11 MJ ME/kg DM; 20% crude protein). They were given either an effective anthelmintic capsule or 15,000 black scour worm larvae. Over the 10 weeks of the experiment the weight gains of the animals given either the capsule or the worm larvae were the same despite worm egg counts reaching 800 epg for the worm-infected animals and remaining at zero for the treated sheep.
During late pregnancy and early lactation the resistance of ewes to worm infection is usually lost or greatly reduced, resulting in a rise in worm egg count around the time of lambing. As a result, worm eggs from ewes can be a major source of worm infection for young lambs.
The loss of resistance occurs at the same time as nutrient requirements are increasing. The requirement for protein and energy increases 2.5–3.0 fold during late pregnancy and early lactation and ewes often cannot eat enough pasture to meet these needs. As a result, ewes will start to mobilize fat and muscle and this highlights the importance of having ewes in the optimum body condition (CS 3.0 or slightly better for twin-bearing ewes) at lambing.
Various experiments have demonstrated:
Nutrition and the body condition of goats have a major impact on the resistance and resilience of goats to worms. Goats that are more resistant to worms can prevent some or all worms from developing and can depress egg production from those worms that do establish, resulting in lower worm egg counts. Goats may invest fewer nutrients in defence and immunity than sheep, and so do not develop immunity as effectively.
Goats that are resilient to worms can, despite carrying a worm burden, continue to grow and produce with less ill effects from worms. Resilience to worms is heavily dependent on the availability of good nutrition and goats being in good body condition.
Good nutrition and managing the body condition of does and the weight of young kids is a vital component of WormBoss worm control programs. Nutrition of goats relates to pastures, forage crops and supplementary feeding and being able to meet the requirements for growth and reproduction.
Different macronutrients affect the resistance and resilience of goats to worms. Protein is most important for regulating the resistance of goats to worms. This is largely because worm infection results in goats diverting protein from muscle, fibre growth, and milk production, to the immune inflammatory response in the gut and repair of the damaged gut. With barber’s pole worm infection, extra nutrients are also required to replace lost red blood cells.
In contrast, protein and energy are equally important in improving resilience to worm infection.
Goats need protein to maintain and grow muscle and fibre and to sustain pregnancy and milk production. Protein is also needed for the immune response, which bolsters resistance to worm infection.
The protein supply in grazing animals comes from two sources:
Extra protein can be given to goats in one of several ways:
Goats need energy for maintenance, fibre production and to support pregnancy and lactation. Compared to protein, energy is less important for immunity and resistance to worm infection, but does enable better use of available protein. Energy in pasture is mainly provided to animals by carbohydrates, such as cellulose and sugars, and to a very small extent, by fats.
Carbohydrates are fermented by rumen microorganisms to provide metabolisable energy (ME) to the animal. ME is the energy used by the animal for maintenance, production and reproduction and the amount is expressed in megajoules (MJ) per kilogram of dry matter (MJ/kg DM).
Grazing animals obtain ME from pasture or supplements. Rumen microorganisms convert the carbohydrates in pasture or supplements, e.g. grain, hay, silage, consumed by the goat to provide ME. Pasture or forage with higher digestibility (i.e. young, green and leafy) will provide more ME for the goats.
Goats can get extra metabolisable energy by:
Major and trace minerals are generally less important than protein and energy in regulating resistance and resilience to worm infection. Mineral supplementation may only be useful in regions or situations where minerals are usually deficient.
Also, gut damage from worms can reduce the absorption of many nutrients including minerals from the diet. Mineral deficiencies causing anaemia, such as cobalt deficiency, can exacerbate barber’s pole worm infections as blood cells are already reduced in number.
Copper supplementation with copper oxide wire particles (COWP; e.g. Coopers Permatrace Copper Capsules for adult Sheep and Goats) can help goats to increase packed cell volumes i.e. the amount of red blood cells, and to reduce numbers of barber’s pole eggs shed in the faeces. Australian research in goats showed that, compared to untreated control animals, a 98% reduction in barber’s pole worm egg counts occurred after administering COWPs.
However, note the following:
Trace minerals have complex interactions and some are toxic in excess. Supplementation should be discussed with an advisor. Supplementing too much can be more harmful than too little.
Young growing animals in their first year and does during late pregnancy and early lactation are most susceptible to worms. These have increased requirements for protein and energy. In particular, does can abort if their energy needs are not met during pregnancy. Unlike sheep and cattle, the sole source of the hormone that maintains pregnancy in goats is the corpus luteum, located on the ovary. The corpus luteum can be destroyed by very low blood glucose levels.
Susceptibility of young goats to worm infection is a major constraint to goat production. Kids are susceptible to worms up to 12–18 months, and especially after the stress of weaning. Young animals often can't get enough protein from pasture to meet their requirements, especially if pasture is of low quality. This may be worsened by worm infections that can cause loss of appetite.
High quality pastures and supplementary feeding with a protein-rich meal or grain improve the worm resistance and resilience of young goats.
Contact an advisor to discuss your feeding plan and to establish growth targets for your young goats.
During late pregnancy and early lactation the resistance of does to worm infection is usually lost or greatly reduced, resulting in a rise in worm egg count around the time of kidding. As a result, worm eggs from does can be a major source of worm infection for young kids.
The loss of resistance occurs at the same time as nutrient requirements are increasing. The requirement for protein and energy increases 2.5–3.0 fold during late pregnancy and early lactation. Does often cannot eat enough pasture to meet these needs and so will start to mobilize fat and muscle. This highlights the importance of having does in the optimum body condition (CS 3.0 or slightly better) at kidding. Does, especially rangeland does, in poor body condition in late pregnancy can either abort or develop pregnancy toxaemia.
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