Krazo Acres Biology Class

Today's homeschooling lesson was on Biology; namely pathogenic nematode eggs and amoebas.

The nematode eggs came from the backside of one of our goats.

Nettie had some poop'n problems on Monday ago so I dosed her with some Probios, Vitamin B Complex and limited her to hay & alfalfa pellets.  A day later, she was poop'n pretty much like normal so I gathered some fresh goat turds and went about to making a fecal solution to check for worms.

I had just wormed everyone on the 3rd of January with Positive Pellet Goat Dewormer and it is supposed to take care of Haemonchus Contortus (barberpole worm), Ostertagia Circumcincta (brown stomach worm) and Trichostrongylus Axel (small stomach worm).  I know, I know, I should be doing a fecal test before and after worming the goats in order to establish if the wormer is actually working.  One day I will.

Anyways, I tested Nettie's poop and found about fifteen (what I think are) barberpole worm eggs and two thread worms.  

Barberpole Worm Egg (I think).

I'm not too concerned about those numbers, but I think it's something I'll have to check up on again in a month.  Now I just have to remember to do it.  I also need to order some slides with grids on them.  When searching for stuff on slides, you're supposed to do a up-across-down-across-repeat movement in order to make sure you cover the entire slide.  But when searching at a higher magnification, it's difficult to keep on track.  I also found some other funky looking round things, which I am assuming are some sort of grass pollen.  The pollen is not in the air this time of the year, but we are feeding hay and I'm sure there's plenty of pollen trapped in the bales.

Pollen (I think).

The amoebas came from my daughter's bedroom.  Not from the carpet or the bed or in some corner of the closet, but from the fish tank.  The fish tank that was waaaaaaaay overdue for a cleaning.  So I saved a little of the green gunk from the filter and put that under the microscope.

Classic example of an amoeba.  Eating something or other.

Some sort of nematode, just cruising 'round the block.

Rhiannon found the fish tank microscopic life much more interesting (as did I) and to quote her, the fish tank goo was neat and the poop was "just poop".

I love homeschooling on the homestead!