PPTED Parasite Prevention Through Environmental Design

Urban designers use a term CPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Put simply, there are design techniques that can help reduce the incidence of crime by using strategic lighting, creating visual transparency, introducing mobile coffee stands where there there is little pedestrian traffic to provide passive surveillance just to name a few. We can do much the same in the way we design our pastures and manage our livestock

Lowering the Incidence of Parasite Infestation Through Environmental Design.

Parasitic infestation

Occurs when there is an unacceptable build up of parasites in the horse’s  intestines

Causes:

·         Too many horses in too small an area.

·         Mono-grazing which involves the grazing of only one type animal species.

·         Monoculture which involves only one or two grass and clover species.

·         The lack of natural vermifuges and vermicides ( range of herbs)

Paddock Design and Management

This involves looking at shelter, hedgerows, strip grazing using electric fences, spelling pasture. Sterilizing infected soils using forerunner crops like mustard, harrowing, mixing livestock species

1. Shelter belts should include plants that act as vermifuges, ones you can prune to throw over the fence to your animals. Karo, the turpentine bush may be used.

2. Pastures no longer have natural mustard, fennel, wild garlic, wild turnip etc. Adding these to the pasture mix will assist in managing worm burdens. Check herbal leys to be soon published on our News Letter. Add some of them to your pasture seed mix.

3. We no longer have the age old tradition of hedge-rows. These make excellent semi-permanent visual barriers behind electric fences. They rarely exceed 1.5 metres in height and may include some of the following vermifuges, rue, wormwood, and hyssop, elder, ash and broom. Snip the tops off these plants and feed to  livestock.

4. Take stock off worn infested pasture and apply with lime, plough and sow heavily with a mix of mustard and chives. Then re-sow into pasture adding herbs to the blend like chicory, garlic, ramsons, thyme ,calendula, red clover, dandelion, corn flower.

5. Rotate your pasture with horses, followed by cattle and finally sheep, rest until the pasture re-grows. At one time it was recommended that 10% of your livestock should be goats to clean up the remainder of woody 'weeds'.

Alternative Preventative and Herbal Treatment.

·         Anthelmintics Are substances that are able to either kill or cause the expulsion of intestinal parasites

·         (vermicides) Kill intestinal parasites

·         (vermifuges) ) or cause the expulsion of worms from the stomach and intestines. Livestock grazing on this group of plants will demonstrate lower levels of parasitic eggs in their droppings after some months.

·         Purslane is a much-maligned weed which is an effective vermifuge and has the added unusual quality of containing linolenic acid in its foliage. The leaf is quite succulent and smells vaguely of fish oil. Only small amounts to be given with feed

·         Herbs that are classified as vermifuges may include garlic ( concentrated tincture is more effective) chives, hollyhock, honey suckle leaves, hops, horse radish, hyssop, nasturtium seeds( these are particularly safe and good) and thyme.

·         Vermicides must be used with caution and these may include the following: rue, wormwood (note thujone present in this herb is poisonous in large doses) santolina and plant based turpentine.

 Old effective treatments.

Bitter herbs found in the Three Thieves Blend, can be given to expel worms. Originally the Three Thieves Blend was an herbal concoction made up by three thieves during the Bubonic Plague which protected them from the ravages of the plague, enabling them to loot the homes of the unfortunate people who succumbed to the illness. This blend consists of no less than 5 bitter herbs and makes up the basis of a number of natural anthelmintics for livestock. 

Disclaimer: Information in this article is not to be used in place of professional medical advice and expertise. For diagnosis and treatment always see your health professional.