Abstract
Infections with the blood sucking parasite, Haemonchus contortus, are of primary concern for small ruminant producers, especially due to the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of copper oxide wire particles alone (COWP; n = 12; 1 g bolus Copasure; Animax Ltd), Cydectin alone (CYD; n = 10; 0.4 mg/kg; Bayer), a combination of COWP + CYD (n = 12) and an untreated control group (CON; n = 11) in reducing fecal egg counts (FEC) in meat goat kids. At weaning (88.4 ± 0.7 d), 45 meat goat kids with FAMACHA scores ≥ 3 and weighing 12.5 ± 0.4 kg were separated into the four treatment groups after accounting for initial FAMACHA eyelid color score, breed (Spanish or Myotonic), and birth type (single or multiple). Feces were collected on d 0 and 14 for determination of FEC. Pooled treatment group feces were also cultured on d 0 and 4 to determine gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) genera. Individual FEC were calculated, and treatment efficacy was determined according to the guidelines established by the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology. FEC were log transformed and analyzed using repeated measures in a mixed model with d 0 FEC as a covariate. Individuals were removed from the study if d 0 FEC was less than 400 eggs/g (n = 3, n = 3, n = 2, and n = 2 for CON, COWP, CYD and COWP + CYD, respectively). There was a mixed population of GIN cultured from pooled fecal samples (averaging 70.3%, 17.7%, and 12.0% for H. contortus, Tricostrongylus spp., and Oesphagostomum spp., respectively). Pre-treatment FEC averaged 1,262 ± 241, 2,794 ± 765, 2,050 ± 378 and 1,375 ± 221 eggs per gram (epg), for the CON, COWP, CYD and CYD+COWP, respectively. There was an effect of treatment on FEC with FEC on day 14 less (P < 0.05) for COWP (497 ± 200 epg), CYD (746 ± 334 epg) and COWP + CYD (559 ± 246 epg) treated kids than CON (1,701 ± 895 epg). CON group FEC increased by 35% while treatment with COWP reduced FEC by 71% (84 - 92% Confidence Interval; CI), compared with 56% (60 - 89% CI) for CYD and 67% (88 – 90% CI) for COWP + CYD. Even though all treatments were more effective than the CON, the effect of COWP + CYD was similar to COWP and CYD when used alone and no additive effect was observed. Under the conditions of this study, COWP, COWP + CYD and CYD were all effective in reducing FEC compared with leaving meat goat kids untreated.