There will be a FAMACHA Certification Training for Goat and Sheep Producers on Thursday, May 10th at 4 pm at West Bladen High School, located at 1600 NC 410 Hwy Bladenboro, NC. The training will be behind the school at the greenhouse. Becky Spearman, Extension Livestock Agent in Bladen County and Liz Lahti, Extension Livestock Agent in Cumberland and Hoke Counties, will present the training. There will be a classroom portion of the training and a hands-on portion at the school. The cost is $15 per card (a farm can certify multiple people and get 1 card or more). Please bring money to class – either cash or check made payable to Bladen Extension. Please call 910-862-4591 to reserve your space for the training by Friday, May 4th. There is a limit of 20 people, so please register early.
The FAMACHA system is a parasite control method for controlling Haemonchus Contortus (Barber Pole Worm) in small ruminants. This parasite is one of the most problematic among sheep and goats. It is an intestinal parasite that survives by sucking the blood of its host. The parasite sucks large amounts of blood and the result is a severely anemic animal that most frequently dies. Resistance to dewormers is a problem when treating Haemonchus. Instead of treating every animal in the herd or flock, FAMACHA allows the producer to treat only the animals that need to be dewormed. This aids in lowering the resistance to dewormers that can occur when animals are wormed on a regular basis. The system uses a chart showing the different levels of anemia. From the chart, the producer learns to recognize anemia in the eyelid of the animal. In order to use the FAMACHA system, a producer must be trained and certified by a certified instructor.
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