Vaccination & Deworming schedule

[westparkalpacas]

I am getting so many conflicting opinions.
What is the basic, overall 'normal' schedule for meds in Western PA?
What schedule do most farms follow & practice?
Thanks!

[OHL]

Vaccinations...
I think this is one of those questions that every breeder and vet have a different answer to.

For me, I would recommend vaccinating for Tetanus at the very least. I generally use a combined vaccine that covers Tetanus and Clostridium Types C & D. After the first year of booster vaccination, I only vaccinate every 2 years for Tetanus, as the titer has been shown to stay high for extended periods of time after an animal has been Tetanus vaccinated a few times.

Most people also vaccinate for Rabies, but I would caution you against vaccinating females with the rabies vaccine in the last 2 months of gestation. I have personally seen multiple stillbirths within the three days following rabies vaccination in late term pregnant llamas, so I would wait until after they deliver to vaccinate for Rabies.

Some folks vaccinate for Leptospirosis, Easter Equine Encephalitis, West Nile Virus, and many other things but it would depend on your comfort/risk level. Your vet should be able to tell you if there are documented cases of these diseases in your area and what the common practice is for other camelid owners in your area.

There are other vaccines you can give, but those are the ones that are most commonly given in the Northeast.

All vaccines will have a recommended schedule. Usually, this includes the initial series, usually 2-3 administrations 3-4 weeks apart, and an annual booster.

Some farms start vaccinating crias as early 4 weeks old and booster every 4 weeks until 16 weeks. From my observation and research, I don't feel this benefits the animal, but it probably doesn't harm them either (immunologically speaking). If the mother was healthy and the cria received adequate colostrum, they should be well protected until 8-12 weeks against anything the dam has immunity to, including whatever she has been vaccinated for.

With healthy crias, I like to wait until they are 8-12 weeks old to start any vaccination series. Rabies should not be started before 3 months of age.

[OHL]

Deworming...
This is a whole different discussion that there are very strong opinions on. I will give my take on it and ask you to do your own research and figure out what you are most comfortable with.

First, there are different classes of chemical dewormers that treat different parasites with different levels of effectiveness. Every time we deworm an animal, the goal is to kill 95%+ of the targeted parasites in that animal's body.

Realistically, there is never a possibility of killing 100% of the parasites. This means that we are, by default, selecting the parasites that are immune to the deworming medications we are using. This is why every time we deworm with the same class of drug, we see a decreased effectiveness. This decrease is very small at first, but builds exponentially under ideal conditions. This process develops parasites that are resistant to our chemical dewormers.

Let's look at what is involved in parasite management for a second...

There are a few of methods to selecting animals to be dewormed:
1) We can target certain animals that need to be dewormed and only deworm those individuals
2) We can decide that some number of animals require deworming and deworm the whole herd/group at the same time
3) We can work on a deworming schedule and deworm the whole herd/group on a specific date, regardless of need

In addition, there are different tools available to determine when an animal requires deworming. I am listing these in order of the level or skill/training required for each, but each has it's shortcomings:
1) Observing general appearance, behavior, and fecal consistency
2) Tracking body weight
3) Body condition scoring
4) Evaluating level of anemia (FAMACHA or other method)
5) Fecal flotation

When an animal or a group of animals is dewormed there are a few management techniques that can effect continuing the cycle of resistant parasites:
1) We can deworm and leave the animals on the same pasture, which allows reinfection by the now resistant parasite larvae in addition to the base population of existing larvae/eggs, essentially diluting the resistant parasites, but also increasing the overall level of infection in your animals
2) We can deworm and move the animals to a "clean" pasture after 48 hours, which allows the animals to shed the bulk of the larvae/eggs on their current pasture and then move to a "clean" pasture
3) We can deworm and drylot for 48 hours before moving the animals to a "clean" area, allowing them to shed the bulk of the parasite larvae/eggs in an area unsuitable for parasite survival

Remember though that in all of these situations, the animals will continue to harbor the now resistant parasites, so moving to a "clean" pasture after deworming the whole herd means that the only parasites that will be on that "clean" pasture now have some level of resistance to your dewormer.

In animals who are grazing, the longer an animal is on a pastured area and the higher the concentration of animals on that area, the higher the level of infective parasite larvae. This means that overcrowded grazing conditions, or overgrazing increases the parasite infection rate in a group of animals. It can take months to years to "clean" a pasture depending on environmental and pasture-management conditions.

Rotational grazing, when employed properly, can dramatically reduce the need for deworming, since every new section of grazing will start off "clean" have animals on it for a very short period of time, and then moved off before they begin to reinfect themselves.

So... (if you're still reading)
My recommendation is to use the tools available to you to select animals that are in need of deworming, only deworm those animals, and to always allow some number of animals who show fewer negative effects of a parasite burden to remain in the herd to help dilute the resistant parasites. This may be a couple of geldings, non-breeding females, whatever, that can have some level of parasite infection without showing the negative effects that a young, lactating, or older animal will.

There are many methods of strategically using dewormers that can help minimize resistance, but I do think it is something we all need to be aware of. There are also tests available to determine the level of resistance we are dealing with in our herds and which dewormers are most effective for our parasite population.

Now, I am not recommending that anyone should not deworm an animal that needs it. I am suggesting that a plan should be put into place to help minimize the development of resistant parasites so that we will continue to be able to treat those animals who need it effectively.

And just to throw a kink in the works, many of the camelids in this country are dewormed every 30 days with Ivermectin for meningeal prevention. In those herds, it is very likely that Ivermectin is essentially useless for internal parasite treatment due to the development of resistant parasites over years/decades.

Sorry for the essay, but this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart that I have done a lot of research in. I really don't think there is a simple answer to "how often should I deworm my camelids and with what?" It is really an overall management task.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I can't thank you enough Sara, for giving us that very thoughtful and detailed answer to a very thorny issue. It is one of those things where truly one size doesn't fit all and owners must sit and think and process and DECIDE for themselves what they think makes sense. There are no right answers. Your posts go a long way toward making the decsion much easier to make. Keep in mind all, that everyones situation is different depending on many factors... size of you farm, lay out, number of animals, kind of animals age, density. It is a very complicated issue. Thanks again Sara!

[westparkalpacas]

Thank you SO much for your input! It was really informative and interesting.
You don't know how much I appreciate your response!

[Nancy Woodward]

When I sell alpacas out of my own area, I always ask new people to consult with the best farms in their area re: good veterinarian, shot & worming protocols. I cannot offer useful advice on these matters for people out of my own immediate area. Needs differ.