Navigating Parasite Administration on an Natural Sheep Operation
Written by Mary Hathaway, OFRF’s Analysis & Schooling Program Supervisor, and Amy and Madeline Lucas, FLT Program members
This on-farm trial at Chestnut Acres Farm will take a look at the effectiveness of utilizing an natural oral drench of black walnut powder, garlic powder, and molasses to cut back inner parasite-load in sheep. Outcomes from this examine will assist natural farmers handle parasites whereas adhering to natural certification necessities.
Supply: Chestnut Acres Farm
Amy Lucas and her daughter Madeline with the lambs of Chestnut Acres Farms.
Nestled within the Tennessee Valley, in Kelso, Tennessee, Chestnut Acres Farm is a small, diversified household operation. Managed by the Lucas household, they specialise in three principal areas: seasonal produce, pastured lamb, and free-range eggs. Central to their farm is a dedication to sustainable practices, together with the cultivation of an natural orchard. They started the method of transitioning the land to natural in 2023; in early 2026 the farm accomplished natural certification inspection and now gives licensed natural produce, eggs, and lamb to their neighborhood.
Natural Options to Parasite Challenges
Probably the most persistent challenges going through small-scale natural sheep producers is managing inner parasites, significantly barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus), with out counting on standard chemical dewormers. For the Lucas Household, this problem grew to become particularly acute as they labored towards natural certification. Natural certifiers require that any product used on livestock be particularly labeled to be used in that species, a restriction that eliminates lots of the natural and botanical merchandise generally mentioned within the small-ruminant farming neighborhood.
Through the years, the Lucas Household have employed rotational grazing throughout 18 acres of pasture, shifting the flock each three days in summer time, and weekly in winter, as a key technique to interrupt parasite life cycles. Whereas this follow helps scale back pasture contamination, parasite strain in younger lambs stays a major concern. Lambs start consuming grass at just some weeks of age, quickly exposing them to infective larvae on the pasture. Discovering an efficient, certifier-approved intervention to cut back parasite hundreds throughout this weak early interval has been a persistent want on the farm.
After researching botanical choices and consulting with their natural certifier, Madeline Lucas, with the assistance of her mother and father, recognized an oral drench utilizing a mixture of black walnut powder, natural garlic powder, and natural molasses as a promising method that could possibly be authorized to be used on her licensed operation.
