Small ruminants are sheep, goats, guanacos, including alpacas and llamas, and deer. Gastrointestinal parasites remain the biggest challenge of organic small ruminant animal husbandry. This can severely impair the health and well-being of small ruminants and can even cause death. This risk is even higher in organic husbandry, as grazing is obligatory and preventative anthelmintic treatments are restricted. There are many preventative measures used to reduce the parasite pressure such as mixed species grazing, diversified pasture composition, and the use of certain forage plants such as chicory have proven useful, for example.

These approaches, and many more, related to organic small ruminant husbandry, are featured here.