Tackling the parasitological challenges arising from organic farming practices

Summary

Parasitism is well recognized as a major challenge to the health and welfare of organic livestock. Although previous projects have largely delivered the underpinning scientific research, progress in the implementation of control strategies has been hindered by: i) limitations of research at farm systems level, ii) lack of clear cost-benefit analysis and iii) difficulties in reaching and educate the appropriate stakeholders. The overall objective of this project, which brings together nine academic partners from eight countries, is to generate information and tools that can be readily used by organic farmers to improve animal health and welfare; we aim to achieve this by targeting the interface between research and dissemination. In the UK, organic farmers were given a variety of options to consider for sustainable parasite control on farm. Participating farmers were asked to select one or more of these options, including protein supplementation, drenching on weight loss and bioactive grazing, use it in one group of animals, and then compare the results with another group managed in a “usual” manner. Drenching animals that lost weight did not appear to be affecting total faecal egg counts (FEC), as these were not necessarily the animals with the highest FEC, whereas protein supplementation around parturition and lactation of twin ewes reduced FEC of these animals.