Targeted application of anthelmintics to control trichostrongylosis in dairy goats: result from a 2-year survey in farms.

The targeted application of anthelmintic treatments represents one of the current available solutions to slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance within worm populations. Within an experimental flock of dairy goats, control of gastrointestinal parasitism by such selective treatments, targeting the most receptive animals within a flock, was previously found to be effective and to have no detrimental consequences on milk production. The objectives of the current study were to verify the validity of this method in farm conditions. Eleven dairy goat farms from three main areas of production in France were surveyed for 2 years. In six farms, the survey was prolonged for a third year. During year 1, systematic treatments were applied during the grazing season whereas in year 2 and or year 3, treatments were given exclusively to the goats in first lactation and to the multiparous ones with the highest potential of milk production. The level of nematode infection was measured four times per year through individual coproscopical examinations and the mean annual production of milk was recorded. No significant changes in egg excretion nor in milk production were noticed in any farm during years 2 or 3 after switching from the systematic to the selective mode of treatments. These results confirmed that targeted application of anthelmintics might represent a way to combine the control of trichostrongyles and the prevention of anthelmintic resistance.

A questionnaire survey on the practices adopted to control gastrointestinal nematode parasitism in dairy goat farms in France.

To evaluate the efficacy with which recommendations of means to avoid the spread of anthelmintic resistance in parasitic nematode populations are communicated to farmers on dairy goat farms in France, a questionnaire survey was undertaken on their use of antiparasitic drugs. Information was collected from 73 farms in two main areas of dairy goat production. The data referred to three years. Anthelmintics were used in 69 farms, the mean number of treatments per year being 2.74. Changing the drug from one year to another was not practised. Moreover, of the 58 farms using two or more treatments per year, only 37% used anthelmintics from different classes in the lactation and drying-off periods. Benzimidazoles and probenzimidazoles were given in all except two farms and these substances represented more than 80% of all the treatments. Levamisole/pyrantel or avermectins were used in 15% and 27% of the farms, respectively. Double the ovine dose, as recommended in goats to ensure efficacy of benzimidazoles, was applied in 55% of the farms. In addition, in all the flocks, the substances were given on the basis of a mean estimated live weight and not by reference to the heaviest animal. These results indicate that errors in the use of anthelmintics are still frequent in dairy goat farms in France, with probable consequences for the spread of anthelmintic resistance in the populations of parasites.