In the United States there is exactly one ivermectin dosage form that a small-ruminant producer can use on label, and it is a sheep product: the 0.08% oral drench approved under NADA 131-392, with generic versions under ANADA 200-327. In the ivermectin sections of 21 CFR, sheep appear in one place only — 21 CFR 520.1195(e)(2), the oral liquid — where the dose is 200 mcg/kg (3 mL per 26 pounds) as a single oral drench and the limitation reads "For use in sheep only. Do not use in other animal species as severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs, may result. Do not treat sheep within 11 days of slaughter." Everything else that carries an ivermectin label belongs to a different species — dogs, cats, horses, swine, cattle, including the topical solution labeled for cattle, which has its own strength and its own much longer slaughter withdrawal.

For goats, there is no approved ivermectin product at all. A search of FDA's Animal Drugs @ FDA (Green Book) for ivermectin plus the species "Goats" returned zero applications when checked on 28 September 2026, and the residue tolerances at 21 CFR 556.344(b) cover only American bison, cattle, reindeer, sheep and swine. Every one of these products is an animal drug, labeled for animal use only and not approved for people; FDA states plainly that animal ivermectin products are different formulations from the human ones, that their safety in humans is not known, and that you should never use medication intended for animals on yourself or other people.

Key takeaways

  • The only ivermectin dosage form FDA has approved for either species is the 0.08% oral sheep drench — labeled for sheep, with an 11-day slaughter withdrawal and no milk statement of any kind.
  • No FDA-approved ivermectin product lists goats. Any use in goats is extra-label, which under 21 CFR part 530 is a veterinarian's decision inside a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship.
  • Goats clear these drugs faster than sheep, which is why the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control (ACSRPC) chart doubles the sheep dose — and why the withdrawal changes too.
  • No FDA-approved ivermectin product in the US has an established milk withholding period. Extra-label milk and meat intervals for goats come from FARAD through your veterinarian, not from the bottle.
  • ACSRPC states that most barber pole worm populations in temperate parts of the US are already resistant to ivermectin. Whether it still works on your farm is a testable question.

The one approved product: what the sheep drench label covers, and for which species

The IVOMEC Drench for Sheep label on DailyMed (SPL revised 10/2025, package text Rev 10/2024) identifies itself as a "0.08% Solution Parasiticide for Sheep Approved by FDA under NADA # 131-392," delivers 0.8 mg ivermectin per mL, and is dosed at 3.0 mL per 26 lb of body weight. Its residue warning is a single sentence: "Do not treat sheep within 11 days of slaughter." Machine search of the complete label found the words "milk" and "dairy" zero times, and the same is true of 21 CFR 520.1195 — neither the label nor the regulation contains a milk clause for sheep. The generic drench under ANADA 200-327 carries the same 11-day figure.

The indication covers gastrointestinal roundworms, the lungworm Dictyocaulus filaria, and "all the larval stages of Nasal Bot - Oestrus ovis." Labels in this family also carry a standard warning that "Parasite resistance may develop to any dewormer, and has been reported for most classes of dewormers," and, because this is a non-prescription anthelmintic, 21 CFR 500.25(b) requires the label to say conspicuously: "Consult your veterinarian for assistance in the diagnosis, treatment, and control of parasitism."

One practical caution: labels differ between relabelers. The Privermectin Drench for Sheep SPL on DailyMed, approved under the same ANADA 200-327, contains no residue warning or withdrawal statement anywhere in its text. Read the label on the bottle you actually bought.

Goats: why there is no approved product and what that means legally

Goats are a minor species, and the ivermectin approvals simply never covered them. That has a direct legal consequence. 21 CFR 530.3(a) defines extra-label use as use "not in accordance with the approved labeling," expressly including use in species not listed on the label. Under 21 CFR 530.11(a), extra-label use by a lay person is not permitted "except when under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian." ACSRPC puts the same point in its own words on the November 2024 goat chart: FDA regards extra-label use as a privilege of the veterinary profession, permitted only where a bona fide veterinarian-client-patient relationship exists and an appropriate diagnosis has been made.

ACSRPC also notes that, with the exception of fenbendazole at 5 mg/kg and morantel tartrate, the dewormers on its goat chart are not FDA-approved for goats. Because the test in 21 CFR 530.20(a)(1) turns on an approved product containing the same active ingredient, an approved goat fenbendazole does not by itself close off extra-label ivermectin — but which drug to reach for is a clinical judgment, not a shopping decision. Goats are at least a labeled species somewhere in US veterinary medicine; for a comparison with a species that has no ivermectin approval of any kind, the picture is starker still.

Why goats are not small sheep — the pharmacokinetic reason extra-label dosing is a veterinary decision

ACSRPC's Best Management Practices states that goats metabolize dewormer medications more rapidly than sheep, so they require higher doses, and that in most cases the sheep dose is doubled for goats — with levamisole the exception at 1.5 times the sheep dose. That is why the November 2024 ACSRPC goat chart gives the sheep drench at 0.4 mg/kg orally in goats, against 0.2 mg/kg in sheep. Changing the dose changes the residue picture, which is the whole reason the withdrawal cannot be copied off the sheep bottle.

ACSRPC also advises giving dewormers by mouth rather than by injection or pour-on, because oral administration puts the drug where the worms are, and warns against giving injectable products made for cattle and pigs orally. The cattle and swine injection label is explicit that it "has been developed specifically for use in cattle, swine, reindeer, and American bison only" and that use in other species may cause severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs. These are animal products, for animals, and each one is limited to the species on its own label.

Extra-label use under AMDUCA: what your veterinarian is required to do, including setting a withdrawal

AMDUCA — Public Law 103-396, enacted 22 October 1994 and effective on adoption of the implementing regulations, which took effect 9 December 1996 — added paragraphs (4) and (5) to 21 U.S.C. 360b(a) and is implemented at 21 CFR part 530. Ivermectin does not appear on the list of drugs prohibited from extra-label use in food-producing animals at 21 CFR 530.41(a).

Before prescribing or dispensing for extra-label use in a food animal, 21 CFR 530.20(a)(2) requires the veterinarian to do four things: make a careful diagnosis and evaluation of the conditions treated; establish a substantially extended withdrawal period supported by appropriate scientific information; institute procedures to identify the treated animals; and take measures to assure that no illegal residues occur. Dispensed product must carry labeling with the prescribing veterinarian's name and address, the established name of the drug, directions for use, cautionary statements and the veterinarian's specified withdrawal time (21 CFR 530.12), and records are kept for 2 years "or as otherwise required by Federal or State law, whichever is greater" (21 CFR 530.5(b)).

Milk and meat withdrawal for a dairy goat: why it has to come from FARAD, not the bottle

No FDA-approved ivermectin product in the US has an established milk withholding period — the cattle products say so in terms, substituting a prohibition ("Because a withdrawal time in milk has not been established, do not use in female dairy cattle of breeding age"), and the sheep drench says nothing about milk at all. ACSRPC's sheep chart makes the same point from the other side: it gives no milk withholds "due to the fact that uniform milk withholds have not been established in sheep."

For goats, ACSRPC's November 2024 chart gives a 20-day meat withdrawal and a 20-day milk withdrawal for oral ivermectin at 0.4 mg/kg, and states that these figures come from FARAD, not from FDA labels, and may change. It is worth knowing that ACSRPC's own dairy goat article, reviewed and updated November 2024, states a 9-day milk withdrawal for oral ivermectin at double the sheep dose. Two documents from the same body, both dated November 2024, give different numbers for the same drug and route. That conflict is exactly why the operative interval has to be set for your animals by your veterinarian, who can query FARAD's extra-label withdrawal interval service, and not read off a chart or a bottle.

Sheep — label use Goats — extra-label
Approval NADA 131-392; generics under ANADA 200-327 No FDA-approved ivermectin product lists goats (Green Book, checked 28 Sep 2026)
Dose 200 mcg/kg, 3 mL per 26 lb — 21 CFR 520.1195(e)(2)(i) 0.4 mg/kg orally — ACSRPC goat chart, November 2024
Meat 11 days — label and 21 CFR 520.1195(e)(2)(iii) 20 days — ACSRPC chart, FARAD-derived, not a label withdrawal
Milk No milk statement on the label; ACSRPC says none established in sheep 20 days (ACSRPC goat chart) vs 9 days (ACSRPC dairy goat page) — conflicting; ask your vet
Legal basis Approved labeling 21 CFR part 530; veterinarian within a valid VCPR

The resistance problem: what US surveys have found for Haemonchus contortus

ACSRPC's Best Management Practices document (written March 2019, reviewed and updated June 2024) states that most barber pole worm populations from sheep, goats and camelids living in temperate parts of the United States are already resistant to ivermectin, and that resistance to moxidectin is becoming more and more common. Its Managing Dewormer Resistance factsheet (written April 2018, reviewed and updated November 2024) cites a drug resistance study on 14 sheep farms and 20 goat farms in the Mid-Atlantic in 2008–2009 in which benzimidazoles were not effective on any farm, 82 percent of farms had ivermectin resistance and 47 percent had moxidectin resistance; a more recent sheep survey in Maryland, Virginia and Georgia found resistance to benzimidazoles, ivermectin, moxidectin and levamisole on 100, 97, 83 and 50 percent of farms respectively.

ACSRPC notes that moxidectin will kill ivermectin-resistant worms for a while, but that using it against ivermectin-resistant worms drives resistance levels up over several grazing seasons until moxidectin loses effectiveness too. Its recommended combination treatment for clinically parasitized small ruminants in the US is albendazole plus moxidectin plus levamisole, each given as a full separate dose and never mixed in one syringe — ivermectin is not in that combination. Where drugs are combined, ACSRPC says the meat and milk withdrawal is that of the component with the longest withdrawal time.

FAMACHA scoring and selective treatment

ACSRPC's Targeted Selective Treatment factsheet (reviewed and updated October 2024) describes TST as deworming only those animals that require treatment or would benefit most from it, and says it differs from earlier whole-flock and calendar-based recommendations. The FAMACHA card scores eyelid mucous membrane color in five categories: 1 red, 2 pinkish-red, 3 pink, 4 pinkish white, 5 white. Score 1 corresponds to a PCV above 28%; score 5 to a PCV below 12%.

  • ACSRPC recommends that sheep, goats and camelids scoring 4 or 5 always be dewormed with effective drugs, while 1s and 2s generally do not need deworming unless other signs of parasitism are present.
  • For goats specifically, ACSRPC notes it is not uncommon to deworm any goat scoring 3 or greater, since goats tend to have lower PCVs than sheep.
  • Animals need checking every 1 to 3 weeks during the peak Haemonchus contortus transmission season, and can be checked less often outside it.
  • Technique is taught as "Cover, Push, Pull, Pop"; both eyes are scored and the higher score used. All animals with bottle jaw must be treated whether or not they appear anemic.
  • FAMACHA is useful only for blood-feeding parasites such as the barber pole worm. Liver fluke, undernourishment, Johne's disease, caseous lymphadenitis and coccidia can also cause anemia.
  • Producers must take an approved training course to obtain a card; veterinarians may buy cards without training. Louisiana State University is the sole North American distributor.

Fecal egg count reduction testing: finding out whether it still works on your farm

Given the survey figures above, the honest answer to "does ivermectin work in my goats?" is that nobody can tell you without testing. ACSRPC defines an effective deworming treatment as one that reduces fecal egg count by 95 percent or more, and says resistance can be determined by comparing before-and-after counts from 10 or more treated animals with counts of 250 epg or higher. Its dairy goat guidance is to do a fecal egg count 7 to 14 days after deworming at least once a year to see whether the dewormer reduced egg counts to a low level. Your veterinarian or a diagnostic lab can run this; it is the only way to know what your own worm population is doing.

Refugia, and why blanket deworming made the problem worse

"Refugia" is shorthand for the part of the worm population that is not exposed to a given treatment and therefore stays susceptible. The guideline passages quoted here do not use that word, but they describe the same logic. ACSRPC's dairy goat guidance is that the only time to blanket deworm a whole herd is around kidding time, treating only animals that need it the rest of the time. Its TST factsheet acknowledges the trade-off directly: scoring is most sensitive when 3s, 4s and 5s are all treated, but research shows 3s are only rarely anemic and treating all 3s greatly increases the total number of treatments.

The equine guidelines make the underlying point bluntly. The American Association of Equine Practitioners' May 2024 Internal Parasite Control Guidelines state that the goal is to keep animals healthy and reduce clinical illness, not to eradicate all parasites, and that pursuing eradication produces accelerated development of parasite drug resistance. AAEP's take-home list tells owners to discontinue deworming all horses at fixed intervals year-round "(e.g., every 2 months)" and to stop blindly rotating anthelmintic classes. Those guidelines are written for horses, not small ruminants — AAEP separately says using ruminant-labeled anthelmintics off-label in horses is inappropriate and not recommended — but the resistance arithmetic is the same.

External parasites: what the labels do and do not claim

This is where searches for "ivermectin for goat mites" run into the label. The sheep drench's indication, as published on DailyMed, covers gastrointestinal roundworms, the lungworm D. filaria, and all larval stages of the nasal bot O. ovis — nasal bot is a fly larva, not a mite. Mite claims do exist on US ivermectin labels, but they belong to other species' products: the cattle and swine injection label names mange mites among cattle and swine parasites; 21 CFR 522.1192(e)(6) approves the injection in ranch-raised foxes for ear mites (Otodectes cynotis); and 21 CFR 524.1195 approves an otic suspension for adult ear mites in cats and kittens 4 weeks and older, with effectiveness against eggs and immature stages not proven. The cattle pour-on's indication, at 21 CFR 524.1193(d)(2), names lice and horn flies.

None of those approvals reaches goats. All of them are animal drugs labeled for animal use only, not approved for people. An external parasite problem in goats is a diagnosis question first — mites, lice and keds are different problems with different answers — and the drug choice that follows is a veterinary one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just give my goats the sheep drench?

That is extra-label use. The label says "For use in sheep only," and 21 CFR 530.11(a) does not permit extra-label use by a lay person except under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian. ACSRPC's goat chart labels its own ivermectin entry "EXTRA-LABEL use in goats" for the same reason.

Is there an FDA-approved ivermectin dose for goats?

No. A Green Book search for ivermectin plus goats returned zero applications on 28 September 2026, and there is no goat entry among the ivermectin tolerances at 21 CFR 556.344. The 0.4 mg/kg figure widely quoted for goats is ACSRPC's extra-label recommendation from its November 2024 chart, not an approved dose.

How long should I discard milk after treating a dairy goat?

There is no approved answer, because no US ivermectin product has an established milk withholding period. ACSRPC's November 2024 goat chart says 20 days; its dairy goat page, also reviewed in November 2024, says 9 days. Your veterinarian sets the interval and can request a FARAD estimate; 21 CFR 530.20(a)(2)(ii) requires a substantially extended withdrawal period supported by appropriate scientific information.

Can I use the cattle injectable orally in goats or sheep?

ACSRPC advises avoiding oral administration of injectable products made for cattle and pigs. The injection's own label restricts it to cattle, swine, reindeer and American bison and warns that use in other species may cause severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs — the same warning appears in the regulation at 21 CFR 522.1192(d)(2).

Will ivermectin clear mites on my goats?

No US ivermectin approval covers goats for any indication, mites included. Existing ivermectin mite claims sit on labels for cattle, swine, ranch-raised foxes and cats. Diagnosis comes first, and the treatment decision is your veterinarian's.

Is animal ivermectin safe for people?

FDA states that animal ivermectin products are different formulations from those approved for humans, that their safety in humans is not known, and to never use medication intended for animals on yourself or other people. Everything described on this page is labeled for animal use only.

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