Turn goat feces into ‘black gold’

Bothered by the stink of goat feces?

Think positive: Turn them into "black gold" — as fertilizer.

Or more scientifically, use them in determining the presence of internal parasites among these small ruminants.

"Knowing when the herd needs to be dewormed saves money and makes goat production more efficient," pointed out the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

Consider the experiences of farmers in Pangasinan and Cebu, who had allowed their animals to undergo fecal testing for three years under the R&D project "Participatory Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Goats" jointly undertaken by PCARRD and the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

In the Pangasinan towns of Balungao and Malasiqui, farmer-participants collected fecal samples monthly on predetermined dates. Agricultural technicians assigned to the barangays gathered and sent these to the Central Luzon State University-Small Ruminant Center in the Science City of Muños, Nueva Ecija. In Cebu, the farmers sent their samples to the Department of Agriculture-Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (DA-RADDL).

Essential as it is, fecal testing determines the presence of parasites, their types, and how serious they are: establishes the right time to deworm; determines if the entire herd deworming; and identifies in the worms are becoming resistant to the current dewormer so that rational control measures can be instituted immediately.

"It is best not to guess but to worm-test," PCARRD stressed. — Rudy A. Fernandez