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Symptoms of Worms
A goat suffering from worms may show a variety of symptoms, including a dull-looking coat, pale-colored gums, persistent coughing, a refusal to eat, diarrhea, or a drop off in the amount of milk produced. A goat with worms may also give an apathetic or low-energy impression. Worms may also be seen in the goat's stools.
Use of Wood Ash
Because of the desire to avoid using chemical dewormers, some goat farmers have attempted to use natural products with supposed deworming properties. These include garlic, cayenne pepper, wood ash and charcoal. Since the ashes left over from any wood fire usually contain both ashes and charcoal, these are for all intents and purposes the same remedy. Farmers who use a wood stove can obtain ash and charcoal from their own fires. One type of wood used for this purpose is sugar maple.
Effectiveness of Wood Ash
The effectiveness of wood ash and charcoal as natural or alternative dewormers is essentially anecdotal. Some farmers who have experimented with using wood ash have reported mild but positive results. However, according to McGill University's Ecological Agriculture Project's article on controlling internal parasites, there is not sufficient scientific evidence to verify that wood ash or charcoal can be effectively used for deworming purposes. The same is true for the use of peroxide, another dewormer supported only by anecdotal evidence rather than scientific data.
Effects on Milk
Accordng to a study of goat husbandry in Nigeria, which was conducted by the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University's Research Farm, ash can find its way into goat milk. Goats whose feed contained 8.4 percent ash mixed with other ingredients such as protein, rice bran and maize offal produced milk with a higher amount of ash in it compared to the milk produced by cows. Farmers who keep goats primarily for the purpose of milk production should be aware that the use of ash for deworming may increase the ash content in the milk their goats produce.