Sheep and goats are the species of farm animal with the highest growth rate in Paraná State. The main problems facing Paraná State flocks are gastrointestinal parasites and anthelmintic resistance. One of the newest resources used to slow down the development of anthelmintic resistance is the FAMACHA © system, a selective method useful for controlling gastrointestinal verminosis in small ruminants. The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the FAMACHA © system in sheep and goats and to compare the results for both species. The conjunctivae of 83 Suffolk ewes and 60 adult cross-bred Boer does were evaluated by the same trained person using the FAMACHA © system. The packed cell value (PCV) served as the gold standard for clinical FAMACHA © evaluation. To calculate the sensitivity and specificity of the FAMACHA © system, different criteria were adopted in turn: animals classified as FAMACHA © (F © ) 4 and 5, or 3, 4 and 5, were consid-ered to be anemic (positive test), and animals classified as F © 1, 2 and 3, or 1 and 2 were considered to be non-anemic (negative test). Three standard values of PCV, namely ≤19%, ≤18% or ≤15%, were used to confirm anemia. At all cut-off levels, the sensitivity increased if F © 3 animals were included as being anemic. However, changes in levels of sensitivity were associated with reciprocal changes in specificity. The sensitivity was higher for sheep than for goats, excepting when the criteria included PCV ≤ 18 and F © 3, F © 4 and F © 5 were considered positive. In contrast, the specificity was always lower in sheep for any criteria adopted. Other than in goats, using the ≤15 cut-off level for sheep, it is possible to opt not to drench the animals that were shown to be F © 3 because the sensitivity is still high, indicating that few animals that should have been drenched were overlooked. In goats, in contrast, the low sensitivity at all cut-off levels made it too risky to leave F © 3 animals undrenched. Even though the number of correct treatments for goats was always higher than that for sheep, the opposite was true for the kappa index for all the criteria tested. Therefore, the FAMACHA © system is suitable for the identification of anemic animals of both species. It is necessary that all small ruminants classified as FAMACHA © level 3 are also treated to increase the sensitivity of the method.

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The FAMACHA © system is a method for selective anthelmintic treatment comprising early detection of haemonchosis in sheep and goats. In order to evaluate the hands-on training methodology and the learning level of the participants, we analyzed data from 30 training

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In this study, the objective was to evaluate the efficacy of protein supplementation on gastrointestinal nematode control in lambs naturally infected. Sixty weaned Ile de France and Texel crossbred lambs, with 60 days of age, were divided into three groups (n=20) according to the level of protein in the concentrate: low protein (LP; 8.5%), moderate protein (MP; 15%), and high protein (HP; 25%). The daily amount of concentrate offered was based on 3% of live weight, which was continued throughout the experiment of 98 days. Evaluations were conducted biweekly from days 0 (D0) to 98 (D98). There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the average weight among the LP, MP and HP groups, which was 22.0, 21.4, and 21.1 kg, respectively, on D0 and 46.4, 48.3, and 48.2 kg, respectively, on D98. The daily weight gain was not significantly different among the groups (LP, 250 g; MP and HP, 276 g; p > 0.05). The average egg count per gram of feces (epg) of the LP group on D98 (6,765; an increase of 5,690 epg from D0) was higher than that of the MP and HP groups (1,617.5, p < 0.05 and 3,435, p > 0.05, respectively), which remained constant throughout the study. The hematocrit values decreased (p < 0.05) from D0 to D98 only in the LP group. Only in the HP group (p < 0.05), the mean serum total protein concentration increased from D0 (5.3 g dL-1) to D98 (5.8 g dL-1). The average albumin level on D98 (2.10 g dL-1) was lower than that on D0 (2.52 g dL-1) in the LP group (p < 0.05). During the study, 10 lambs overall were treated with anthelmintic because the epg values exceeded 10,000; six treated lambs were from the LP group, 3 from the HP group, and only 1 from the MP group. These results indicate that supplementation of diet with 15% protein increases the resistance and resilience of lambs to gastrointestinal parasites.

The study evaluated the reproductive performance of Ile de France, Texel, Suffolk and crossbred ewes in different seasons, considering season of mating, age, body condition score and breed. The herd was located at geographic coordinates −25.66114429 S, −49.27262198 W, in Fazenda Rio Grande, Paraná State, southern Brazil, in a semi‐intensive system. 643 mating were evaluated, under natural oestrous conditions in 10 consecutive breeding seasons (2015–2019), under a body condition score between 2.5 and 3.5 in 93.9%. Data were analysed using Chi‐square tests, binary logistic regression, ANOVA and t‐test. Considering the breeds and crossbred animals, a pregnancy rate (PR) of 83% (winter), 91% (autumn) and 89% (summer) with no differences between them was obtained, except for 77% PR in spring (p < .05). Ile de France and crossbred ewes showed similar PR in all four seasons. Suffolk ewes showed similar fertility rates in summer, autumn and winter, but reduced in spring (p < .05); Texel ewes showed lower PR in summer and spring compared to autumn and winter (p < .05). The twin PR (TPR) in autumn, winter and spring showed no differences, except for summer (p < .05). Age did not influence the PR of ewes <2 years, 2–8 years and >8 years in the seasons, except in summer. It was concluded that the reproduction of European ewes breeds under medium latitude, combined with the use of constant management and feeding conditions, resulted in a fertility rate above 77% in all seasons, resulting in constant production of lambs.

ResumoEste estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a quantidade de tecido linfoide associado à mucosa retal obtido pela técnica de biopsia retal e a possibilidade de se realizarem duas biopsias consecutivas, em diferentes intervalos de tempo, para monitoramento e diagnóstico ante mortem de scrapie. Para isso, foram estudados 56 ovinos e 32 caprinos. No dia zero, todos os animais foram submetidos a biopsias e, posteriormente, divididos em grupos. As colheitas foram realizadas aos dias sete, 14, 21 e 28 para os ovinos, e 14, 21 e 28 para os caprinos. De 176 amostras, 151 (85,8%) foram colhidas da mucosa retal e, em 25 (14,2%), houve falha de colheita. Considerando-se as amostras colhidas da mucosa retal (151), em 56,86% das amostras de ovinos e 51,61% de caprinos, no dia 0, havia ≥3 folículos linfoides (FL). Na segunda colheita, 58,97% das amostras de ovinos possuíam ≥3 FL e, para caprinos, 33,33%. Na comparação do número de FL entre a primeira e a segunda colheitas houve diferença (p<0,05) entre os dias 0 e 7 (com mais FL no dia 0) e 0 e 28 (com mais FL no dia 28) para ovinos, e entre os dias 0 e 28 (com mais FL no dia 0) para caprinos. Comparando-se as duas espécies, não houve diferença no número de FL nos dias 0, 14 e 21. No dia 28, a proporção de amostras com ≥3 FL foi maior nos ovinos (p<0,05) que nos caprinos. Concluiu-se que a técnica de biopsia retal compreende método útil para a obtenção de tecido linfoide associado à mucosa para avaliação imuno-histoquímica voltada ao monitoramento e diagnóstico ante mortem de scrapie em ovinos e caprinos. Porém, a colheita inadequada e a obtenção de número insuficiente de FL podem ocasionar a necessidade de repetição da técnica, o que pode ser realizado após 14 dias da primeira colheita, sem redução no número de FL. Palavras-chave: doença priônica; encefalopatias espongiformes transmissíveis; imuno-histoquímica; pequenos ruminantes; tecido linfoide associado a mucosa retoanal. AbstractThis study aimed to evaluate the amount of lymphoid tissue associated with the rectal mucosa obtained by rectal biopsy and the possibility of two consecutive biopsies at different time intervals, for monitoring and ante-mortem diagnosis of scrapie. Rectal mucosa samples were collected from 56 sheep and 32 goats in two steps. In the first step, on day 0, all animals were tested and, for the

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