Pasture
Location
Elevation
Sampling Points
Geostatistical
Elevation Model
Flow
Model
Data Collection Sites
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Mapping
the Distribution of Horse Parasites in Pastures in New Jersey
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Project Coordinator: Mike Sukhdeo
Associate Professor, Dept. of Animal Science
Ph: (732)-932-9406
E-mail: (sukhdeo@aesop.rutgers.edu)
 PROJECT
GOALS
The equine industry in New Jersey contributes more than $600 million
to the state's economy every year. In the state and in the nation,
parasite control is an important health care measure for horses.
Horse owners in the U.S. spend more than $178 million annually. Even
on horse farms with good parasite control programs, the prevalence of Strongylus
vulgaris in the horse remains around 27%. Several anthelminthics
of varying efficacy are available, but continual use may lead to resistance.
In addition, there are environmental concerns about the effects of excreted
drugs such as the avermectins, which are toxic to beneficial organisms
involved in fecal degradation and nutrient recycling. Alternate methods
of parasite control are being sought, and many of these are aimed at controlling
the pasture stages before they are ingested by the horse. The goal
of this study is to develop a predictive model of parasite transmission
on modern horse farms to increase the efficacy of pasture treatments.
Data from previous studies on horse pastures suggest that parasites
aggregate in "hot" spots. They appear to aggregate in low lying areas
of fields and those areas that are most heavily grazed by the horses.
The hypothesis for this project is based on the idea that rainfall action
on a pasture brings small particulate nutrients to the low-lying areas,
and it is here that you get the growth of fresh succulent grasses that
are preferred by the horses. The worms are flowing along
with the nutrients.
To test this hypothesis, GPS, and GIS are being used to map the topography
of four experimental pastures located at Cook College in New Brunswick,
NJ. Flow models of terrain were constructed using ArcInfo, a GIS
package. In situ data were collected at various locations throughout
the fields, and the number of worms found in each spot were counted.
The project is on-going and the data will be analyzed this winter.
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