DAHLIA O'BRIEN
Virginia State University
Cooperative Extension
Douglas L. Wilder Building, 203H
P.O. Box 9081
Petersburg, VA 23806
Dr. Dahlia O’Brien is an Associate Professor and Small Ruminant Specialist in Cooperative Extension at Virginia State University. Dr. O’Brien received her PhD from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in December of 2005. Prior to her position at Virginia State University, she served as Associate Professor and Small Ruminant Specialist at Delaware State University (DSU) for several years. In her position at DSU, Dr. O’Brien conducted research on a number of projects including the characterization of anthelmintic resistance in gastrointestinal nematodes of small ruminants in the Mid-Atlantic U.S., evaluation of natural/alternative dewormers (pumpkin seeds, ginger, garlic, papaya seeds and commercially available herbal wormers) in parasite control, determining the efficacy of goat browsing as a biological control for invasive weeds, and the use of natural breed resistance in reducing internal parasite infections in meat goats. At Virginia State University, Dr. O’Brien plans to work collaboratively in providing needs based educational workshops and applied research for small ruminant producers locally and regionally. Her interests lies in low-input small ruminant production, natural/novel means of parasite control, and assisting producers in determining on-farm parasite resistance to chemical drugs.
Articles
Dewormer resistance on farms in the Mid-Atlantic area [May 2010]
Pumpkin seeds: do they control worms? [May 2010]
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Fact sheets
Dewormer resistance on Virginia sheep farms [2017]
Best Management Practices: Managing dewormer resistance [April 2018]
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Timely Topics
Do herbal dewormers work? [March 2014]
The impact of parasite infection on small ruminant productivity [May 2017]
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Videos
WORMX Live!: How to collect a fresh fecal sample from a sheep/goat [Jan 2022]