08/23/2026
Just a little food for thought as we are entering the heat of the summer.
Sorry for the long post...
We've had several clients at my office recently whose goats were sold as coming from "parasite resistant" genetics but were still struggling with parasites, and these people are shocked when their goat has a high parasite burden. It made me realize this is probably a good topic to talk about because there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding it.
Please know that this is MY opinion and how I have interpreted the information I have read on this topic. This is not a dig to any farm(s) at all and I have described my herd as being parasite resistant until I really took time to dive in on this.
Parasite resistance and parasite resilience are not the same thing, and I think they get confused way too often.
A parasite resistant goat is one that naturally limits how many parasites it carries. A parasite resilient goat may still have a parasite load, but it is able to stay healthy, maintain body condition, and perform well despite it.
The tricky part is that you cannot truly claim your goats are parasite resistant just because they rarely need deworming. If you purchased foundation stock from someone else, those genetics are the result of *their* breeding decisions, not yours.
True selection for parasite resistance takes years of keeping replacements, performing f***l egg counts, monitoring FAMACHA scores, culling animals that consistently struggle, and repeating that process generation after generation. Until you've done that within your own herd, I think it's more accurate to say your goats come from parasite resistant lines rather than claiming your herd is parasite resistant.
This is also where parasite resilience can be misleading. A resilient goat can have a bright pink FAMACHA score, look healthy, maintain body condition, and still be carrying a significant parasite burden. In other words, the goat is tolerating the parasites rather than preventing them. That's exactly why f***l egg counts are such an important tool. A FAMACHA score tells you how a goat is responding to barber pole worms, but it does not tell you how many parasites that goat is carrying or shedding onto your pasture.
Something else that often gets overlooked is that parasite resistance is not always universal. The parasite pressure on my farm may be completely different than the parasite pressure on yours. Climate, rainfall, soil type, stocking density, forage availability, and even the parasite species present in a region all influence what a goat is exposed to. A goat that performs exceptionally well on one farm may not perform the same on another, especially if it moves to a completely different region. Genetics absolutely matter, but they do not exist in a vacuum.
Another thing to remember is that dairy goats have been selectively bred for generations to be incredibly efficient animals. Well-bred dairy goats are designed to grow quickly, convert nutrients into growth and milk production efficiently, recover from the demands of lactation, and maintain production through periods of stress. A well-bred goat that bounces back quickly after kidding or maintains body condition through a challenge is not automatically parasite resistant. Often, you're seeing the result of genetics for production paired with excellent nutrition and management. Those things can make a tremendous difference in how a goat responds to disease challenges.
At the end of the day, management is every bit as important as genetics. Goats evolved as browsers, not grazers. Their natural instinct is to eat leaves, shrubs, vines, and woody browse well above the ground where infective parasite larvae are far less concentrated. While goats certainly *can* graze, asking them to live on short, continuously grazed pastures works against the way they evolved to eat and increases their exposure to parasites.
Proper nutrition also plays a huge role. A goat cannot build a strong immune system without the nutrients to support it. High quality forage, balanced nutrition, adequate protein and energy, free choice goat minerals, clean water, and minimizing stress all contribute to a goat's ability to withstand parasite challenges. Pair that with rotational grazing, avoiding overstocking, limiting grazing close to the ground, and using f***l egg counts to make informed deworming decisions, and you've created a management program that gives your goats the best chance to succeed.
There is no single "parasite resistant" bloodline that replaces good management. The strongest herds are built by combining thoughtful genetic selection with excellent nutrition, sound husbandry, and management practices that work with the biology of the goat instead of against it. That's what creates healthy, productive goats for the long term.
