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Worms, disease and flooding

Posted by James Tinker on January 25, 2015 at 4:44pm in Goats 101

Part of the land I have for the goats that I want floods. Usually when it floods, from the river,  it holds 1-2 foot of water for a week or two. Will this help clear the the ground or make it worse. Any thoughts? This will be the first time that the ground will have ever had livestock on it. Goats and Chickens. It is also next to farm land, mostly rice but some soybeans.

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  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle January 27, 2015 at 7:27pm
    Ditto on everything Patty said. As for meningeal worm and snails or slugs ... I've lost almost all of my llamas (4 of 6) to meningeal worm, and I have never seen a snail or slug. You have to have both deer and snails/slugs in your pasture for that to be a problem. Deer don't come into our regular goat pastures, but they do wander around across the creek, which is where we had our llamas, basically patrolling the perimeter to keep coyotes from getting to our goat pastures.

    I don't have a definitive answer about how the flooding will affect intestinal worms. I was just sort of tossing it around in my head like Patty did. I would think that as long as temps are above the 50s, the worms would hatch and die in the water, but timing would have to be right for that to happen.
  • James Tinker January 26, 2015 at 9:24pm
    Yes it does dry completly between floods. It is also the high side of the river so they cant actually get to the water. I havent noticed snails and slugs there before but will look harder for them. Thanks for the information.
  • Patty Meyer January 26, 2015 at 11:20am

    Usually wet means worse, but considering it floods over and is covered in water, I don't know.  If it then dries out completely after, it may not be any worse than any other land.  Ir it stays damp at all, or the goats can get near the river where it is wet, it might pose more of a danger  to them as far as meningeal worm is concerned.  It passes through deer, them snails and slugs.  The goat eats the infected snails or slugs while grazing and then gets the worm in its system.

    There's a gal you can find on Facebook or find her blog, and she has some experience with this situation, living on a flood plain.  I know she'd be glad to talk with you.  In fact, she is also a member here.  Her farm is called Nigerian Meadows Farm.  Her name is Jordana Heath (I'm pretty sure).  I'll search her name here and see if that's right.  If not, I'll respond again with corrections.  

    I'm sure there are others here who will answer this question better, too.

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