Abstract:
The present study was conducted to determine the occurrence of clinical haemonchosis and methods of controlling Haemonchus contortus and other internal parasites in a communal farming system of Limpopo province, South Africa. Twenty-six sheep and one-hundred and sixty-three goats were evaluated for clinical haemonchosis using the FAMACHA© diagnostic system. Information on the methods of control used by the smallholder farmers was gathered through a questionnaire-based survey that was carried out by interviewing forty-seven Small ruminants farmers (both males and females) of mixed ages. The average FAMACHA© score for the goats was three while for
sheep the average score was 2.62. Ninety-eight goats (60%) had a FAMACHA© score of three and above while fourteen sheep (52.4%) had a FAMACHA© score of three and above. There was a high occurrence of haemonchosis in goats compared to sheep (p<0.05). Differences in occurrence between age groups, sex and physiological status were found to not be statistically significant in both small ruminants (p>0.05). The methods of internal parasite control used by the smallholder farmers in the study area were commercial anthelmintic drugs (38.3%), ethno-veterinary based methods (12%) while 46.8% did not control gastrointestinal parasites. It can be concluded that clinical haemonchosis presents a potential challenge in the study area due to a low adoption rate of internal parasite control measures among the farmers interviewed.
