Parasites

Parasites are little animals that live on the skin or in the body of other animals.

PARASITES ON THE SKIN

· Ticks

Ticks stick to the animal's skin and suck its blood.
If an animal has many ticks, it can lose a lot of blood.
After a time, it will become very weak.
Kill ticks with chemicals such as DDT or BCH.

· Mange or scab

The parasite makes little holes under the skin and lays its eggs there.
If an animal has many parasites, it scratches a great deal.
Treat mange with products containing sulphur.
Skin parasites injure animals.
The animals become restless, they walk with difficulty, they eat little.
Skin parasites can carry many serious diseases.

PARASITES THAT LIVE IN THE BODY

· Usually they live in the digestive tract., For example, worms such as tapeworm and ascarid. They damage the digestive tract and prevent animals from digesting their food. Animals with worms get thin and sometimes die.

To kill these parasites, give the animals a medicine to drink, such as phenothiazine. You can also use some traditional medicines.

· Parasites also get into the liver. The animal does not digest well. Give it a medicine to kill the parasites.

· Parasites also live in the muscles. The animal has difficulty in walking. It has fever. An example is the trichinella of pigs.

· Parasites can live in the lungs. The animal has difficulty in breathing. It has broncho- pneumonia.

· Parasites even attack the brain. The animal turns round and round. This is the gid or sturdy of sheep. The animal dies.

The treatment for parasites often has to be repeated. The agricultural service will tell you what medicines to use.

With the digestive tract animals and people digest and absorb food and reject the waste matter.

A good way of controlling parasites is to let pastures rest.

Why is this?

The eggs of parasites fall on to the pasture in the animals' droppings.

The eggs develop in the grass.

Then they may stick to the animals' skin or be eaten with the grass, for instance, ticks and worms.

If you let the pasture rest long enough, the parasites cannot feed on the animals' skin, or live inside the animals, and they die.

So in order to control parasites, let the pastures rest. Do not put the animals always in the same pasture.

· Pay attention to the animals' wafer.

Dirty water contains many parasites. Give the animals clean water to drink.

· Clean the animals' housing.

On the floor and walls put a disinfectant that will kill parasites (see Booklet No. 8, page 36).