How healthy is your homestead? When evaluating the health of your homestead, it is important to look at the whole picture. The condition of the soil, the health of the plants on your property, the water quality, as well as the immunity level and overall health of people, pets and livestock.
如果在这些领域中有明显的问题,你的家园的生态和管理系统可能需要解决和改变。你的问题可能是寄生虫。
Parasites And People
Every homestead, both rural and urban, populated with farm animals, poultry, wildlife, plants, pets and people is a breeding ground for parasites.
In the United States, millions of people develop parasitic infections. Symptoms are often ignored or misdiagnosed. A parasitic infection can lead to significant health issues including pregnancy complications, heart failure, blindness, seizures and death.
Infants, small children, persons with compromised immune systems, a co-existing health concern and the elderly are at the highest risk of a life-threatening response to a parasitic infestation.
What Are Parasites?
Parasites are a huge problem on some small farms. Parasites that prey on both humans and animals are organisms that live in or on or obtain their food from another host organism.
Parasites come in a diverse array of forms broadly classified into three main groups:
- Arthropods, which include lice, ticks and mosquitoes
- Helminths, or in other words, worms
- Protozoa.
Defining The Problem
Parasites can be internal or external, depending on how and where they affect their host. Did you know that there are more than 1,000 species of parasites that infect people and animals worldwide? No homestead is ever truly free of parasites.
External parasites irritate and infect by embedding, biting and stinging. Internal parasites take residence in the blood or tissue of the host, be it human or animal.
Microscopic parasitic organisms are typically ingested through contaminated water or food. Other parasites burrow through the skin and enter the bloodstream.
https://www.instagram.com/p/9HHIxPLA1Z/?tagged=externalparasites
The United States Centers For Disease Control (CDC) provides the following statistics on parasitic infections in persons living in the United States, noting:
- More than 300,000 people are currently infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease.
- Chagas disease can cause long-term cardiac, digestive and neurological problems.
- If ignored, death by a heart attack can result from the infection. However, if diagnosed early, the condition is easily correctable with medication.
Watch Out For Worms
各种各样的寄生虫可以寄生在动物和人体上。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国其中包括蛔虫、扁虫、钩虫、绦虫和吸虫。
The two main types of parasitic worms common to a homestead environment are roundworms and flatworms. They can be found in a diverse array of habitats and are not always visible to the naked eye.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTRjfQkDEjz/?tagged=roundworms
Roundworms are a concerning issue for many homesteads, infecting chicken flocks, grazers, dogs and cats. Each year more than 70 people, the majority of them children, are blinded bytoxocariasis.
Another 70 or more people die from the infection each year. However, about 15 percent of the population develop antibodies against toxocara. The rest of us are at risk for contracting this nasty parasitic infection. Toxocara is transmitted through roundworms found in the intestines of cats, dogs and farm animals.
How To Protect Yourself Against Worms
- Avoid raw or undercooked meats. The leading cause of seizures and epilepsy, neurocysticercosis is contracted from eating undercooked pork.
- Thousands of people are hospitalized withneurocysticercosis每年;寄生虫病占所有急诊病例的10%。
- Hookworms are contracted when handling animal feces or coming in contact with contaminated soil. Wear gloves when gardening.
- 与农场动物一起工作后要洗手。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国
Practice Mosquito Control
蚊子可以传播一系列严重疾病,如寨卡病毒、西尼罗河病、莱姆病、登革热和疟疾。
The CDC reports that malaria alone kills approximately 660,000 people each year worldwide.
Parasites and Pets
狗通常会被体内和体外的寄生虫感染。感染可以表现为简单的皮肤刺激或导致危及生命的健康问题。寄生虫让我们的宠物痛苦不堪,还会影响我们家人的安全。
Follow your veterinarian’s recommendations, and have your pets tested and treated for parasites annually.
Toxoplasma
More than 60 million persons are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii.Toxoplasmosis这种病通常被称为“猫屎”病,是由于与受感染的猫密切接触而引起的。
Found in uncooked meats, vegetables and fruits, Toxoplasma gondii can cause pregnant women to be at risk for birth defects. Symptoms include muscle pain, eye complications and swollen lymph nodes. If left untreated, problems become chronic.
Are Your Chickens Losing Feathers?
Feather loss can be the result of an inadequate diet, but the problem is commonly parasites.
Keep your poultry coop clean to break the lifecycle of this unwelcome pest. Check out our article onchicken diseasesto learn more about what to look out for.
Parasite Management In Livestock
In the past, the traditional method of controlling animal parasites was to deworm the entire herd at the same time, typically twice annually. Once in the spring and again in the fall. Along with mass medication, a different kind of dewormer was used each time.
Experienced homesteaders have learned that while this approach may work for some large livestock breeders, the practice tends to contribute to parasite resistance. Once homestead livestock develops a resistance to a particular dewormer, the resistance is permanent, making the medication ineffective for use on the family farm forever.
Research indicates that adult farm animals build up a natural immunity to parasites and that typically less than twenty percent of the herd will be infected. Therefore, it is best to only deworm those animals in need of deworming and to carefully manage your farm animals’ environment.
Good management practices include using the following natural and organic methods to control parasites:
- Feed your livestock garlic. Many homesteaders recommend mixing garlic with molasses, which increases its effectiveness in parasite control.
- Diatomaceous earth, a naturally occurring substance of fossilized sea creatures, mixed with mineral salts, is a proven natural remedy for parasitic infections in sheep.
To check for parasites in your farm animals, take fecal samples to your herd vet or local veterinary diagnostic lab to test for parasite eggs.
应该从你怀疑可能被感染的动物身上取样,或者你可以从牛群的12022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国0%中随机取样。你的动物卫生保健提供者可以为你的农场上发现的特定寄生虫开出合适的除虫剂。
Tips To Manage Parasites In Farm Animals
- 管理宅基地农场的寄生虫需要密切关注牧场、围栏、鸡笼和动物。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国保持所有物品的清洁和干燥。注意卫生管理有助于控制寄生虫问题。
- Keep pastures clean and evaluate how often your animals are rotated on pastures.
- 如果你只饲养一个物种,比如山羊,考虑将其他物种,如牛、猪或马纳入你的牧场轮作,以更有效地利用牧场。
- Pasture vegetation is most nutritious 30 days after the last grazing or cutting. However, when grasses are short (2 to 4 inches) it is at the most highly infective stage.
- Reduce larval numbers on pasturelands by rotating pastures frequently and mowing down any tall vegetation left after animals are finished grazing.
- Manage stocking rates to allow for adequate grazing room.
- Avoid feeding livestock on the ground. Use feed bunks or racks.
请记住,每一种牲畜都容易受到各种不同寄生虫的侵害。寄生虫控制方法改变。
咨询你的兽医,确定影响你的动物的寄生虫类型,以及控制寄生虫感染的最佳药物和家园管理实践。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国
Follow your veterinarian’s suggestions and have horses, cows, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, mules, pigs and pets tested and treated accordingly.
References
- Parasites, United States Center For Disease Control
- Internal Parasites And The Ecology Of The Farm, Maine Organic Farming And Gardening Association
- Animal parasites and their effect on agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture
- The Pet Owner’s Parasite Resource, Pets And Parasites
- Neurocysticercosis, American Epilepsy Society
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