Traditional Arab ethno-veterinary practices in small ruminant breeding in Israel

The activity of shepherding in the Middle-East is laden with millennia-old cultural content - not the least of which is the recognition by shepherds of the medicinal uses of indigenous vegetation for treating humans and animals. In Israel of the 21st century, this knowledge survives in no more than fifty individuals and there is serious concern that all the ethno-veterinary knowledge in Israel, including drug preparation from local plants, could be lost in this generation. We have surveyed the ethno-veterinary practices of 30 informants in the Galilee, the Carmel Heights, the Samaria Hills, the Northern Negev, and the Golan Heights. Most of the retrieved information was related to the treatment of small ruminants. We grouped our findings into the following categories of ailments: external parasites; stomach disorders, internal parasites, and poisoning; infections, fevers and external wounds; reproductive management; bites and stings; and kai or wasm - cauterization medicine. We added a category of magical practices. Most herbal recipes consisted of plants offered as fodder, monospecies infusions or decoctions, ointments with olive oil as excipient, generally involving wild plant taxa that were neither rare nor endangered such as Pistacia lentiscus, Inula viscosa, oak and cypress or cropped species such as tobacco, barley, sesame or grapevine. We also report management practices aimed at improving reproductive performance, improving sanitation in premises, and coping with toxic plants on rangelands. Comparisons of our results with other published sources from the Mediterranean and the Arab world suggest that the same plant species are often used with different applications. Some preparations and practices having proven anthelmintic and anti-coccidial value might gain interest as anthelmintics are under consumers' scrutiny and challenged by parasitic resistance and chemical coccidiostats are being ruled out. Some practices that emerge from this survey challenge our understanding of plant chemistry and pharmacology and animal physiology.