Good Morning Colleagues of the International Goat Association (IGA),
On behalf of the USAID-funded program, Farmer to Farmer, administered by Partners of the Americas with headquarters in Washington, DC, it is a pleasure to share the following opportunity for volunteering and collaborating with us. The Farmer to Farmer program was designed to bring US volunteers to developing countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. These volunteers support producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, extension units, and agricultural institutions to develop their local capacity, increase productivity, and position themselves as competitors in the market. As you can imagine, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected our activities and in the past couple months we have innovated and adapted our program to continue to support our communities through remote technical assistance with remote US volunteers. Previously, our program could only support the participation of volunteers with US citizenship or work permits. However, due to the travel restrictions associated with the pandemic, USAID has authorized a temporary modification to the program format to include the participation of local volunteers. These local volunteers include technical experts who can support their communities by sharing their knowledge as it relates to themes in agriculture and food security. We are looking for volunteer experts in Small Ruminants to support our programs in Guatemala and Jamaica who can collaborate with remote volunteers in the US and support our F2F programming. The hope is that both the local and remote volunteer will collaborate, complement each other in their expertise, provide robust contributions to the host. In this way, program beneficiaries will benefit from the knowledge of both volunteers. If you or anyone in your networks would be interested in volunteering with us, please contact our recruitment office in Washington, DC at [email protected]. Finally, we would like to clarify that these are volunteer assignments and participants will not receive any financial compensation for their time. We offer the opportunity for local volunteers to participate virtually with the host organization in their country should in-person participation be compromised by risks associated with COVID-19. Volunteers who will make in-person visits to the host will be provided with personal protective equipment and financial compensation for basic needs associated with the assignment. Please let us know should you have any questions and thank you for your interest in our F2F program. Best regards, The Farmer to Farmer team at Partners of the Americas
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![]() Emeritus Professor Israel Folorunso Adu passed away on June 7, 2020. A commendation service was held on August 19. Professor Adu was a Registered Animal Scientist and a well-known consultant on livestock production, particularly sheep and goats. He was the National Coordinator, Nationally Coordinated Small Ruminant Research in Nigeria from 1979 to 1987. He was a member of the Small Ruminant Research Network of International Livestock Center for Africa from 1990 and served as Chairman of the network from 1994 to 1998. He also served on the World Council for Animal Production from 1998 to 2000. We wish to express our condolences to his family. August 2020 – Year 1 / Edition 3 Agosto 2020 – Año 1 / Edición 3 Special thanks to Jesús Rincón and Clara Viviana Rua Bustamante (IGA Regional Director for South America)
Un agradecimiento especial a Jesús Rincón y Clara Viviana Rua Bustamante (Director Regional de IGA para América del Sur) ![]() The 21st Japanese Society of Goat Science (JSGS) Meeting on Goat Pro-duction and Management was about to be canceled due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, thanks to the passion and dedication of organizers to make it happen, this annual meeting was held as a web-based meeting on March 25, 2020. All the changes from ordinal face to face meetings to virtual meetings had to happen very quickly. We would like to thank all the members who participated. At present, Japanese agricultural policy and social situations are facing major changes. There is an emerging sense of crisis in the direction that has been pursued only for efficiency. Instead, maintaining and revitalizing forgotten mountainous areas have become a major issue. Moreover, the desire for agricultural education and healing people in urban areas has been also increased. Consequently, the use of goats is once again receiving attention. Juan Felipe Torres-Acosta (1*), Hervé Hoste (2), Carlos Alfredo Sandoval-Castro (1), Rafael Arturo Torres-Fajardo (1), Javier Ventura-Cordero (1), Pedro Geraldo González-Pech (1), María Gabriela Mancilla-Montelongo (3), Nadia Florencia Ojeda-Robertos (4), Cintli Martínez-Ortíz-de-Montellano (5) (1) Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Mérida, México (2) Interactions Hôtes - Agents Pathogènes (IHAP), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, Francia (3) Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Mérida, México (4) División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias (DACA), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), Villahermosa, México (5) Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de México, México ![]() Resumen El presente trabajo profundiza los conceptos de las infecciones por nematodos gastrointestinales (NGI) en rumiantes a la luz de nuevos hallazgos de la relación animal-parásito-vegetación y muestra cómo usar estos para orientar el uso racional de los métodos de control alternativo. Primeramente, se reflexiona acerca del control de NGI en la época actual y cómo el uso indiscriminado de los antihelmínticos (AH) ha generado un gran problema de resistencia a estos medicamentos. Le investigación de NGI resistentes a AH ayudó a reconocer que las cargas elevadas de NGI se encuentran en una baja proporción de animales de cada rebaño. Esto permite plantear un nuevo paradigma de control basado en el uso selectivo de los AH solo en los animales que lo necesitan. Se propone que las bajas infecciones por NGI en los rebaños se deben a: (i) el uso de razas nativas resistentes a los NGI, (ii) la baja infectividad de las praderas durante muchos meses del año, (iii) el consumo de plantas de la vegetación nativa tropical que contienen compuestos secundarios (CS) que afectan varias fases del ciclo de NGI y, (iv) conductas de pastoreo que limitan el consumo de fases infectantes en forrajes de baja altura a las horas de mayor infectividad. Se plantea la necesidad de usar alguna estrategia de desparasitación selectiva dirigida reduciendo problemas de falsos positivos y falsos negativos comunes a varias estrategias. Para reducir la dependencia por AH convencionales se requiere de métodos alternativos que afecten las fases fuera de los hospedadores o dentro de ellos. Posiblemente muchos productores ya estén usando algún método sin ser conscientes de esto. Por ejemplo, al usar animales de razas tropicales se aprovecha su capacidad de resistir a los NGI. Además, el pastoreo en vegetación de selvas tropicales implica consumir plantas nutracéuticas que aportan nutrientes y CS con actividad AH. Las estrategias mencionadas pueden ser reforzadas con la suplementación dietética para mejorar la productividad y la respuesta inmune contra los NGI. Algunos productores podrían interesarse en la rotación de praderas, que sirve para evadir a las larvas infectantes en los potreros. En un futuro pudieran tener acceso a hongos nematófagos que pueden usarse para evitar que las larvas L3 salgan de las heces y contaminen los forrajes. Un elemento que será importante es la vacuna Barvervax® que utiliza un antígeno obtenido del intestino de Haemonchus contortus para generar anticuerpos contra este parásito logrando reducciones de cargas parasitarias > 90%. En conclusión, es necesario seguir profundizando en la relación animal-parásito-vegetación para que ese conocimiento nos lleve a tomar mejores decisiones en cuanto a los métodos de control. Todo esto para permitir la sustentabilidad de la estrategia de control de NGI en cada rebaño. Palabras clave: Era post-anthelmíntica. Métodos alternativos de control. Combinación de estrategias de control. The "Art of War" against gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep and goat herds of the tropics7/31/2020 Juan Felipe Torres-Acosta (1*), Hervé Hoste (2), Carlos Alfredo Sandoval-Castro (1), Rafael Arturo Torres-Fajardo (1), Javier Ventura-Cordero (1), Pedro Geraldo González-Pech (1), María Gabriela Mancilla-Montelongo (3), Nadia Florencia Ojeda-Robertos (4), Cintli Martínez-Ortíz-de-Montellano (5) (1) Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Mérida, México (2) Interactions Hôtes - Agents Pathogènes (IHAP), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT), Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, Francia (3) Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Mérida, México (4) División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias (DACA), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), Villahermosa, México (5) Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de México, México ![]() Abstract The present work delves into the concept of infections by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in ruminants in the light of new findings of the animal-parasite-vegetation relationship and shows how to use these to guide the rational use of alternative control methods. First, we reflect on the control of the GIN in the current era and how the indiscriminate use of anthelmintics (AH) has generated a big problem of resistance to these drugs. The research on AH-resistant GIN helped to recognize that high GIN burdens are found in a low proportion of animals in each herd. This makes it possible to propose a new control paradigm based on the selective use of AH only in those animals that need treatment. It is proposed that low GIN infections in herds are due to: (i) the use of native GIN-resistant breeds, (ii) the low infectivity of grasslands for many months of the year, (iii) the consumption of native tropical plants containing secondary compounds (SC) affecting several stages of the GIN cycle, and (iv) grazing behaviour that limits the consumption of infective phases of GIN in low-rise fodder at hours of increased infectivity. There is a need to use a targeted selective treatment strategy aiming to reduce false positives and false negatives events commonly found in several strategies. To reduce reliance on conventional AH, alternative control methods affecting GIN phases outside or inside the host are required. Possibly many producers are already using some alternative method of control without being aware of this. For example, the use of tropical breeds takes advantage of their enhanced ability to resist GINs. In addition, browsing in the tropical forest vegetation involves consuming nutraceutical plants that provide nutrients and SC with AH activity. The aforementioned strategies can be reinforced with dietary supplementation to improve productivity and immune response against GINs. Some producers might be interested in rotational grazing, which serves to evade the infecting larvae in the pastures. In the future they may have access to nematophagous fungi that can be used to prevent L3 larvae from leaving the faeces and contaminate the fodder. One element that will be important is the Barbervax© vaccine that uses an antigen obtained from the Haemonchus contortus intestine to generate antibodies against that parasite achieving parasitic burdens reductions >90%. In conclusion, it is necessary to continue deepening the animal-parasite-vegetation relationship in order to be leaded by such knowledge to make better decisions about control methods. All this to allow the sustainability of the GIN control strategy in each herd. Keywords: Post-anthelmintic era. Alternative control methods. Combined control strategies. ![]() Abstract Many emerging and re-emerging zoonotic infectious diseases occur in Africa. These are projected to increase as human–animal host contact increases owing to increasing environmental degradation that shrinks nature habitats for wildlife over the continent. The current outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for causing coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has reinvigorated discourse on the disruptiveness of the zoonotic emerging infectious diseases, owing to their transboundary character. Even as the world focuses on the COVID-19 sweeping pandemic, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS)-CoV re-emerged in Saudi Arabia infecting 18 people with five deaths; this has barely received any attention. This outbreak is particularly of concern to the pastoralists in the Horn of Africa, a region that has in recent past seen an increase in camel trade with the Gulf States, especially Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic infectious diseases are complex, depend on human–animal–environment interaction and pose a strain on public health systems. There is a need to address these diseases dynamically through a synergistic approach, drawing on expertise from diverse sectors. One Health approach has distinguished itself as an integrative action able to bring together multiple actors on a global, national and local scale to advance the attainment of optimal health outcomes for people, animals and the environment. One Health works by strengthening the preparedness, response, mitigation and monitoring of zoonotic infectious disease risks collaboratively. We opine that as zoonotic emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases continue to rise over pastoral Africa, comprehensive implementation of the One Health approach will be urgently required. READ MORE… ![]() Epidemiology and disease control by region Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in Africa and Asia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the prevalence in sheep and goats between 1969 and 2018, Veterinary Medicine and Science, 2020
Immunology & Vaccines, Virology & Diagnostics READ MORE… August 14-15, 2020 event will now be in-person and online ![]() The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has announced changes to the 2020 Texas Sheep and Goat Expo. The annual event, originally slated to take place at the 1st Community Federal Credit Union Spur Arena on the San Angelo Fairgrounds Aug. 14-15, will now be both at the arena and online. “With everything going on right now with COVID-19 and rules and associated recommendations continuously changing, the planning committee wanted to ensure the event could go on,” said Robert Pritz, AgriLife Extension regional program leader, San Angelo. “As of now, we plan to hold the event both online and at Spur Arena Aug. 14 and online Aug. 15.” READ MORE… Visit the Texas Sheep and Goat Expo Facebook page for updates. Registration will be available on the Texas Sheep and Goat Expo website.
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