Goat Guide
Goat Care with an Emphasis on Dairy
Lucas Farm
for a most exhaustive information guide, visit:
http://www.lucasfarmwv.com/herdhealth.html
Terms to know
FEMALE goats: Does
Male Intact goats: Bucks
Neutered Males: Wethers
Young goats: Kids
Udder: where the milk is held
Teats: where kids feed from or the area milked
Goats have a high learning curve. Most people have little success with raising
healthy goats because they believe they are hardy, eat anything, keep anywhere
livestock. Nothing could be more far from true.
Disease:
Serious diseases, like
Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE), Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL) and Johnes
are common in goat herds.
CL and Johnes are diseases that pose
threats to people and make the milk and meat unusable for human beings. The diseases are
highly contagious and blood testing isn't highly reliable. Fecal testing for Johnes and cultures of abscess from CL are reliable testing, but by the time testing shows positive, your land and herd
could already be exposed. Carriers contaminate the land and other goats.
Goats need euthanized if they carry the diseases. CL has been contracted by humans. There is no
cure for CL or Johnes.
CAE is transmitted to kids of does that have CAE. You do not want an animal with CAE.
Injuries where negative goats come into contacts with the white blood cells of carries
can give disease free animals CAE. Most goats with symptoms of CAE need euthanized. Elisa Blood tests for CAE are highly accurate. There is no cure for CAE.
There are many other diseases, but these are the greatest threat to the goat breeder today.
Precautions:
Work toward having a closed herd.
Blood test your herd yearly for CAE
Buy from herds that test and practice strict bio-security
Avoid auction animals or breeders that do not practice strict
bio security practices – your health and that of your animals depend on this!
Looks the body of your animals over often for lumps that could be CL
Minerals and Supplements
All local areas in the Tri-state are Copper and Selenium deficient.
These are both vital to goat health.
Remember anything labeled for sheep, minerals and feed, are NOT safe for goats, no matter
what the tag or bag say. Sheep cannot have copper. Goats must have high levels.
BO-SE is an RX injections of selenium needed bi-yearly for goats. You must get this from a vet.
Copper is needed in the form of COPAsure copper rods put into gel caps and bolused (given with a plastic rod down the throat) twice a year. This can be ordered at jefferslivestock.com or found on ebay. You must break down the cattle size into smaller gel caps. If you order on ebay, this step has already been taken care of.
BO-SE is 1cc per 40lbs in adult goats
Goat kids at birth receive ¼ cc per full size kid
Copper dose is: 2 grams per 22lbs
At the time of this writing, they can be ordered here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copasure-copper-bolus-GOATS-/150989388934?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2327ab3c86
Also, always provide a high quality loose mineral (not a salt and mineral block, as that is
not sufficent) like Cargill Right NOW ONYX or Sweetlix Meatmaker for the goats.
Goats have high mineral needs. Goats without enough copper and selenium will have
much less resistance to parasites, loose more kids, have harder births, grow less well,
the black goats will look rusty, hair will be rough and lack the slick, sheen they should have. Tails will have forks or a fish tail appearance and/or tail tips will be bald. Milk will taste bad or off. It will not keep as long.
PARASITES
The number one killer of goats is parasites, either in the form of coccidia in kids or worms in adults.
Currently barber pole worm is a huge threat. Sometimes, in this area, we encounter the meningeal worm picked up from white tailed deer populations.
First, do not worm unless the goat needs it and is showing signs. Rough coats, lack of weight gain and pale inner eye membranes/lids are signs of parasites. Poor growth, loose stools, clumpy stools and lethargic behavior are signs of worms and coccidia, as well.
Safeguard and Ivermectin have no impact on worm loads in goats.
I do not use or recommend them and fecals
show they aren't effective.
Currently the only truly effective wormer for goats is Cydectin/Moxidectin/Quest.
I use Quest horse wormer. I used it when needed. I mixed the contents of the tube well, and I dose
1cc per 100lbs. Always repeat in 10 days to break the life cycle of the parasites.
When in doubt, do a $5 fecal via mail to see if you need to worm or treat for coccidia:
http://www.midamericaagresearch.net/
Coccidia kills kids. Most people who end up with dead goat kids did so because they
did not raise on coccidia prevention.
Unless you can raise kids in a 100% sterile environment, cocci is a death trap
for goat kids in warm, wet environment like the tri-state.
We raise kids on coccidia prevetion. We use Baycox or Dimethox.
Baycox is $50 a bottle and a special online order from Canada only. It
is the most effective treatment and prevention.
Dimethox (generic for Albon) can be ordered in powder form from jefferslivestock.com
and you mix it 1 package per 1 pint of water. Keep in the fridge and use it all in 5 days or freeze
what is left.
Give goat kids from age 4 weeks if dam raised and age 8 weeks if bottle raised:
1cc per 2.6lbs
10# kid 4cc
20#=8cc
25#=10cc
30#=12cc
35#=14cc
40#=16cc
45#=18cc
50#=20cc
Repeat every 21 days until the kids are about 6 months old.
For those that chose to only treat and not prevent, you must be ultra diligent about pen cleanliness and
fecal every 21 days.
http://www.midamericaagresearch.net/
I have found that when you fecal, you will always find you need to treat in this area unless you
did a fecal during the times when coccida aren't shedding. This doesn't mean the kids aren't carrying
deadly levels of cocci, but it means they didn't show up on fecals because of the shed cycle.
WE always raise on prevention.
Full size goat kids should weight 80 lbs by 6-8 months old. If they do not,
you haven't managed their parasite issues in the correct way and they are stunted.
Thin kids, kids without sleek coats, kids with runny poop have COCCIDIA and/or barber pole.
TREAT quickly and save them.
I do not prefer Corid as a treatment as it is a thiamine inhibitor, and it can cause on set Goat Polio.
The larger the area you have for your goats, the better you will be able to keep the parasite load down.
Weaning and Bottle raising
Whether you bottle raise or dam raise, kids need to be on milk at least 12 weeks.
We prefer 24 weeks. Kids grow better and are healthier over the long term. NEVER
wean kids before 12 weeks from their dams. They are NOT ready to be without milk.
If you bottle raise, kids need colostrum in the first 12 hours every 2-3 hours.
After that, full size kids will work up from about
12 ounces the first 48 hours to 60 ounces at peak feeding.
We feed every 3-4 hours for the 1st week. We offer 4-6 oz bottles each feeding.
We feed 3 times a day from 2 weeks to 8 weeks. We are feeding 50-60 ounces by this time.
We feed 2 times a day from 8-16 weeks. 60 ounces a day.
We feed once a day from 16-24 weeks. 40-60 oz a day.
It is common to note a stall in growth once you wean, but it is better to note this on an 80 lbs kid than
a 20 lbs 8 week old little one.
Usually, we recommend not breeding kids until they are yearlings, so that would be the fall after they turn one. If you do breed the first fall after birth, I personally like to see doe kids at least 100 lbs
before breeding. Weight tapes can be purchased to check weight online and in feedstores.
NEVER feed goat kids milk replacer. Milk replacers cause failure to thrive, floppy kid syndrome and weak, sickly kids. If you do not have raw goat's milk from a health, disease free doe, ONLY purchase red cap / Whole cow's milk from the store for bottle raising kids.
Feeding ADULT goats
I recommend a higher fat (6% and up), horse feed for dairy goats.
I recommend Purnia Noble Goat medicated for kids, but you can use the higher fat, horse feeds
for kids, bucks and does. The higher fat helps the does keep condition when in milk
and keeps condition on bucks in rut (breeding season that runs through fall and early winter)
Some suggested feeds:
Purina Strategy Healthy Edge
Triple Crown Mare and Foal
Legends Mare and Foal
Triple Crown Complete
Goats like to browse and will thrive best on large acreage instead of small spaces.
They do not prefer to eat grass. They eat tops of weeds, leaves, brambles, brush and vines.
They need access to an unlimited supply of forage, either in natural growing form or high quality hay. If does are in milk, they need a mix of alfalfa hay or free choice alfalfa pellets, as well. If you're feeding kids, bucks, wethers or dry does, a grass hay works well.
Offer some type of forage 24/7
Bucks and Wethers have special diets needs. They suffer from urinary blockages often if they do not have proper calcium/phosphorous ratio. In order to make sure, regardless of the ratio, that your bucks and wethers do not suffer a blockage, top dress feed with a tablespoon or two of ammonium chloride if you offer grain. If you do not offer grain, you do not need to worry about blockages.
Offer baking soda free choice to PH level in the rumen consistent.
NEVER feed moldy hay or cow hay. Never offer silage.
Housing
Goats do not thrive when left out in the elements.
They hate rain, and they need a solid, clean, dry stall, 3 sided shelter or other similar
small barn to stay dry.
Keeping the area clean is vital to controlling parasites.
Birth
Do not overfeed does when they are late in pregnancy. The kids
can grow so large, the does cannot birth without assistance or a c-section.
Malpresentation of kids is not uncommon. Assisting during birth is something to prepare for.
Many resources are online to show how and when to help your doe.
Labor usually last 30 minutes from state to finish unless something is wrong.
Do not attempt to pull kids without first spending time researching before the doe
ever goes into labor to understand how and when to offer assistance.
Dry kids off and dip umbilical cords with iodine to prevent navel ill immediately.
Vaccinations
CD/T is given (helps prevent Tetanus and Enterotoxemia)
2cc – regardless of size/age – at 4-8 weeks and booster 20 days later
Booster adults yearly
Optional:
There is CL vaccine now being used that can be purchased online.
Lysigin – pre kidding vaccine sometimes used to prevent Staphylococcus aureus, which is a form of
mastitis found in dairy animals.
Common Health Problems
Mastitis
does in milk may encounter various type of mastitis. Redness in the udder, fever, swelling and changes in the milk are signs of mastitis. In order to treat mastitis, a milk culture before antibiotics are started, is needed. A vet can tell you more about how and where to culture. You may start Biomycin (never LA200 before of the sting factor) or Penicillin G as an antibiotic after freezing a sample for testing. Some forms aren't cureable. Some forms can result in a doe losing her udder or ½ of the udder.
Milking on time, keeping the area clean and using a disinfecting teat dip after milking are ways to help keep mastitis at bay.
Goat Polio
So common. Nearly every single producer of goats I know has experienced this. You must keep the treatment on hand, as it can be too late if you wait until they come down with it.
Signs: staring off as if they cannot see, loss of vision, neck arched in odd angles or toward back, staggering. Often causes by ingesting moldy hay.
Treat with many doses of RX Thiamine or Fortified B Complex offered online or in some feedstore. The Rx MUST be purchased from your vet. Keep a bottle on hand. 4-1/2 cc per 100lbs as often as every 3 hours and no less than every 6 hours until symptoms are GONE. It may take days. If you cannot get fortified B complex with 100mg of Thiamine, you can use Injectable multiple B vitamins containing only 25mg/ml of thiamine, but the dose is (18-1/2 cc) per 100 pounds bodyweight and you need to give this is two seperate injection sites. There is NO CURE without treatment, and the goat will die if not treated.
Symptoms mimic Listeriosis so always treat for both illnesses, so give Penicillin, as well.
Listeriosis
From the bacteria, Listeria, found in the environment and sometimes from feeding silage.
Treatment is high doses of Penicillin Procain
Symptoms mimic Goat Polio, so always treat for both illnesses, so give Thiamine, as well.
ENTEROTOXEMIA
Known as overeating disease, but it isn't cause by overeating, though there is a connection to eating too much grain and it is seen more in the spring. The overeating of grain can stir up bacteria that usually causes no issues, basically. We give the antitoxin when a feeding mishap takes place. Kids that are feed too much milk are at risk, as well. Kids usually die suddenly.
Signs are water like diarrhea, arching the back and lethargic behavior
The bacteria is thought to be derived from sheep, and it is caused by the bacterium Clostridium perfringens type C or type D. This is what CD/T protects from (As well as tetanus).
Keep Clostridium perfringens antitoxin on hand. It must be ordered online. Most feedstores
do not keep it. If the symptoms are present, give the antitoxin and banamine injectable to offset pain and stress. The animals sometimes die suddenly and sometimes overcome it on their own. Giving the antitoxin whenever a the goat's gut has “been compromised” can save their lives, however!
There are many other goat illnesses, but these are what I've encountered most often. Please do more exhaustive research to learn about other illnesses you may encounter.
Disbudding Dairy Breeds
Do not confuse this with dehorning, which is not humane.
Disbudding is done with a hot iron on the horn bud at a young age, usually with
a pain reliever, like Banamine.
This should be done after watching long time goat breeders quite a few times. Pressure and timing are key to not killing or injurying the goat kids and are key to making sure the procedure works.
Disbudding assure the dairy goat keeps value and has the best chance at a
quality home. Shows do not allow horns in dairy breeds, and milking with a stanchion is very
difficult when the doe has horns.
Castration
We use banding with Banamine, and unless you can have a vet to the cutting method
while the goat has a local anesthetic, this is a humane option. We do not band without banamine.
Make sure to proceed slowly and do band before 8 weeks of age. Do not band after 8 weeks.
Tattoos
Any registered animal must be tattooed through the goat registry organizations. Each group has
their own requirements. If you tattoo and take part in a state scrapie eradication program, you do NOT have to use ear tags. Tattoos should be done on young kids and before they are sold.
Choosing Breed Stock
Meat Goats:
Kiko – Hardy
Boer – preferred commercially, know be quite unhardy
Myotonic Goats / Fainting Goats – typically pets only, but they are technically a
meat goat and a rare breed at this time
Pygmy Goats - typically pets only, but they are technically a miniature meat goat
Dairy Goats
Nubian – Most common breed. Lower production, very high milk fat, large, loud and personable. They are often less hardy than other breeds
Saanen – Hardy, highest production, low butter fat, large, docile and solid white
Alpine – High production, lower butter fat, hardy, can be aggressive in nature and less personable than other breeds, medium to large sized
Oberhasli – Red and Black in color, lower production, lower butter fat, rare breed. Personality somewhat like the Alpine, but they are smaller in size.
Nigerian Dwarf – Miniature dairy breed. Hardy, easy kidders and friendly. Many do not produce very well due to poor attention in breeders to milk production.
Toggenburg – Stronger milk taste preferred by cheese makers, very low milk fat, very high production.
Lamancha – Moderate production, good milk fat, very calm and friendly goats. Medium to Large in size. Earless and Elf eared varieties.
Consider your stock as an investment.
Save and purchase the absolute best stock you can afford and find.
Sometimes this means driving quite a distance.
Make sure the breeder practices ethical management and has a herd
you would like to see on your own land. If the goat herd isn't in the condition you'd
like to see stock in, buy elsewhere. Disease testing is vital.
Registered stock is typically are far higher quality and will assure kids
have significantly (double to quadruple or more) more value. Kids will
be sold to higher quality homes, as a general rule, as well.
Understand that purebred, American, Experimental and Native on Performance
are not the same things. True registered dairy breeds are either Purebred or American.
Recorded animals are Experimental and Native on Performance. They can have
certificates, but these goats are not the same as registered animals and have much
lower value in resale.
Be diligent in registering kids. The history behind the kids is important and should be tracked.
Milk records, show records in lineage and appraisals are all elements that set the value of your stock.
Study the breed standards and take care to know breed for a better animal.
Lucas Farm
for a most exhaustive information guide, visit:
http://www.lucasfarmwv.com/herdhealth.html
Terms to know
FEMALE goats: Does
Male Intact goats: Bucks
Neutered Males: Wethers
Young goats: Kids
Udder: where the milk is held
Teats: where kids feed from or the area milked
Goats have a high learning curve. Most people have little success with raising
healthy goats because they believe they are hardy, eat anything, keep anywhere
livestock. Nothing could be more far from true.
Disease:
Serious diseases, like
Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE), Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL) and Johnes
are common in goat herds.
CL and Johnes are diseases that pose
threats to people and make the milk and meat unusable for human beings. The diseases are
highly contagious and blood testing isn't highly reliable. Fecal testing for Johnes and cultures of abscess from CL are reliable testing, but by the time testing shows positive, your land and herd
could already be exposed. Carriers contaminate the land and other goats.
Goats need euthanized if they carry the diseases. CL has been contracted by humans. There is no
cure for CL or Johnes.
CAE is transmitted to kids of does that have CAE. You do not want an animal with CAE.
Injuries where negative goats come into contacts with the white blood cells of carries
can give disease free animals CAE. Most goats with symptoms of CAE need euthanized. Elisa Blood tests for CAE are highly accurate. There is no cure for CAE.
There are many other diseases, but these are the greatest threat to the goat breeder today.
Precautions:
Work toward having a closed herd.
Blood test your herd yearly for CAE
Buy from herds that test and practice strict bio-security
Avoid auction animals or breeders that do not practice strict
bio security practices – your health and that of your animals depend on this!
Looks the body of your animals over often for lumps that could be CL
Minerals and Supplements
All local areas in the Tri-state are Copper and Selenium deficient.
These are both vital to goat health.
Remember anything labeled for sheep, minerals and feed, are NOT safe for goats, no matter
what the tag or bag say. Sheep cannot have copper. Goats must have high levels.
BO-SE is an RX injections of selenium needed bi-yearly for goats. You must get this from a vet.
Copper is needed in the form of COPAsure copper rods put into gel caps and bolused (given with a plastic rod down the throat) twice a year. This can be ordered at jefferslivestock.com or found on ebay. You must break down the cattle size into smaller gel caps. If you order on ebay, this step has already been taken care of.
BO-SE is 1cc per 40lbs in adult goats
Goat kids at birth receive ¼ cc per full size kid
Copper dose is: 2 grams per 22lbs
At the time of this writing, they can be ordered here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Copasure-copper-bolus-GOATS-/150989388934?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2327ab3c86
Also, always provide a high quality loose mineral (not a salt and mineral block, as that is
not sufficent) like Cargill Right NOW ONYX or Sweetlix Meatmaker for the goats.
Goats have high mineral needs. Goats without enough copper and selenium will have
much less resistance to parasites, loose more kids, have harder births, grow less well,
the black goats will look rusty, hair will be rough and lack the slick, sheen they should have. Tails will have forks or a fish tail appearance and/or tail tips will be bald. Milk will taste bad or off. It will not keep as long.
PARASITES
The number one killer of goats is parasites, either in the form of coccidia in kids or worms in adults.
Currently barber pole worm is a huge threat. Sometimes, in this area, we encounter the meningeal worm picked up from white tailed deer populations.
First, do not worm unless the goat needs it and is showing signs. Rough coats, lack of weight gain and pale inner eye membranes/lids are signs of parasites. Poor growth, loose stools, clumpy stools and lethargic behavior are signs of worms and coccidia, as well.
Safeguard and Ivermectin have no impact on worm loads in goats.
I do not use or recommend them and fecals
show they aren't effective.
Currently the only truly effective wormer for goats is Cydectin/Moxidectin/Quest.
I use Quest horse wormer. I used it when needed. I mixed the contents of the tube well, and I dose
1cc per 100lbs. Always repeat in 10 days to break the life cycle of the parasites.
When in doubt, do a $5 fecal via mail to see if you need to worm or treat for coccidia:
http://www.midamericaagresearch.net/
Coccidia kills kids. Most people who end up with dead goat kids did so because they
did not raise on coccidia prevention.
Unless you can raise kids in a 100% sterile environment, cocci is a death trap
for goat kids in warm, wet environment like the tri-state.
We raise kids on coccidia prevetion. We use Baycox or Dimethox.
Baycox is $50 a bottle and a special online order from Canada only. It
is the most effective treatment and prevention.
Dimethox (generic for Albon) can be ordered in powder form from jefferslivestock.com
and you mix it 1 package per 1 pint of water. Keep in the fridge and use it all in 5 days or freeze
what is left.
Give goat kids from age 4 weeks if dam raised and age 8 weeks if bottle raised:
1cc per 2.6lbs
10# kid 4cc
20#=8cc
25#=10cc
30#=12cc
35#=14cc
40#=16cc
45#=18cc
50#=20cc
Repeat every 21 days until the kids are about 6 months old.
For those that chose to only treat and not prevent, you must be ultra diligent about pen cleanliness and
fecal every 21 days.
http://www.midamericaagresearch.net/
I have found that when you fecal, you will always find you need to treat in this area unless you
did a fecal during the times when coccida aren't shedding. This doesn't mean the kids aren't carrying
deadly levels of cocci, but it means they didn't show up on fecals because of the shed cycle.
WE always raise on prevention.
Full size goat kids should weight 80 lbs by 6-8 months old. If they do not,
you haven't managed their parasite issues in the correct way and they are stunted.
Thin kids, kids without sleek coats, kids with runny poop have COCCIDIA and/or barber pole.
TREAT quickly and save them.
I do not prefer Corid as a treatment as it is a thiamine inhibitor, and it can cause on set Goat Polio.
The larger the area you have for your goats, the better you will be able to keep the parasite load down.
Weaning and Bottle raising
Whether you bottle raise or dam raise, kids need to be on milk at least 12 weeks.
We prefer 24 weeks. Kids grow better and are healthier over the long term. NEVER
wean kids before 12 weeks from their dams. They are NOT ready to be without milk.
If you bottle raise, kids need colostrum in the first 12 hours every 2-3 hours.
After that, full size kids will work up from about
12 ounces the first 48 hours to 60 ounces at peak feeding.
We feed every 3-4 hours for the 1st week. We offer 4-6 oz bottles each feeding.
We feed 3 times a day from 2 weeks to 8 weeks. We are feeding 50-60 ounces by this time.
We feed 2 times a day from 8-16 weeks. 60 ounces a day.
We feed once a day from 16-24 weeks. 40-60 oz a day.
It is common to note a stall in growth once you wean, but it is better to note this on an 80 lbs kid than
a 20 lbs 8 week old little one.
Usually, we recommend not breeding kids until they are yearlings, so that would be the fall after they turn one. If you do breed the first fall after birth, I personally like to see doe kids at least 100 lbs
before breeding. Weight tapes can be purchased to check weight online and in feedstores.
NEVER feed goat kids milk replacer. Milk replacers cause failure to thrive, floppy kid syndrome and weak, sickly kids. If you do not have raw goat's milk from a health, disease free doe, ONLY purchase red cap / Whole cow's milk from the store for bottle raising kids.
Feeding ADULT goats
I recommend a higher fat (6% and up), horse feed for dairy goats.
I recommend Purnia Noble Goat medicated for kids, but you can use the higher fat, horse feeds
for kids, bucks and does. The higher fat helps the does keep condition when in milk
and keeps condition on bucks in rut (breeding season that runs through fall and early winter)
Some suggested feeds:
Purina Strategy Healthy Edge
Triple Crown Mare and Foal
Legends Mare and Foal
Triple Crown Complete
Goats like to browse and will thrive best on large acreage instead of small spaces.
They do not prefer to eat grass. They eat tops of weeds, leaves, brambles, brush and vines.
They need access to an unlimited supply of forage, either in natural growing form or high quality hay. If does are in milk, they need a mix of alfalfa hay or free choice alfalfa pellets, as well. If you're feeding kids, bucks, wethers or dry does, a grass hay works well.
Offer some type of forage 24/7
Bucks and Wethers have special diets needs. They suffer from urinary blockages often if they do not have proper calcium/phosphorous ratio. In order to make sure, regardless of the ratio, that your bucks and wethers do not suffer a blockage, top dress feed with a tablespoon or two of ammonium chloride if you offer grain. If you do not offer grain, you do not need to worry about blockages.
Offer baking soda free choice to PH level in the rumen consistent.
NEVER feed moldy hay or cow hay. Never offer silage.
Housing
Goats do not thrive when left out in the elements.
They hate rain, and they need a solid, clean, dry stall, 3 sided shelter or other similar
small barn to stay dry.
Keeping the area clean is vital to controlling parasites.
Birth
Do not overfeed does when they are late in pregnancy. The kids
can grow so large, the does cannot birth without assistance or a c-section.
Malpresentation of kids is not uncommon. Assisting during birth is something to prepare for.
Many resources are online to show how and when to help your doe.
Labor usually last 30 minutes from state to finish unless something is wrong.
Do not attempt to pull kids without first spending time researching before the doe
ever goes into labor to understand how and when to offer assistance.
Dry kids off and dip umbilical cords with iodine to prevent navel ill immediately.
Vaccinations
CD/T is given (helps prevent Tetanus and Enterotoxemia)
2cc – regardless of size/age – at 4-8 weeks and booster 20 days later
Booster adults yearly
Optional:
There is CL vaccine now being used that can be purchased online.
Lysigin – pre kidding vaccine sometimes used to prevent Staphylococcus aureus, which is a form of
mastitis found in dairy animals.
Common Health Problems
Mastitis
does in milk may encounter various type of mastitis. Redness in the udder, fever, swelling and changes in the milk are signs of mastitis. In order to treat mastitis, a milk culture before antibiotics are started, is needed. A vet can tell you more about how and where to culture. You may start Biomycin (never LA200 before of the sting factor) or Penicillin G as an antibiotic after freezing a sample for testing. Some forms aren't cureable. Some forms can result in a doe losing her udder or ½ of the udder.
Milking on time, keeping the area clean and using a disinfecting teat dip after milking are ways to help keep mastitis at bay.
Goat Polio
So common. Nearly every single producer of goats I know has experienced this. You must keep the treatment on hand, as it can be too late if you wait until they come down with it.
Signs: staring off as if they cannot see, loss of vision, neck arched in odd angles or toward back, staggering. Often causes by ingesting moldy hay.
Treat with many doses of RX Thiamine or Fortified B Complex offered online or in some feedstore. The Rx MUST be purchased from your vet. Keep a bottle on hand. 4-1/2 cc per 100lbs as often as every 3 hours and no less than every 6 hours until symptoms are GONE. It may take days. If you cannot get fortified B complex with 100mg of Thiamine, you can use Injectable multiple B vitamins containing only 25mg/ml of thiamine, but the dose is (18-1/2 cc) per 100 pounds bodyweight and you need to give this is two seperate injection sites. There is NO CURE without treatment, and the goat will die if not treated.
Symptoms mimic Listeriosis so always treat for both illnesses, so give Penicillin, as well.
Listeriosis
From the bacteria, Listeria, found in the environment and sometimes from feeding silage.
Treatment is high doses of Penicillin Procain
Symptoms mimic Goat Polio, so always treat for both illnesses, so give Thiamine, as well.
ENTEROTOXEMIA
Known as overeating disease, but it isn't cause by overeating, though there is a connection to eating too much grain and it is seen more in the spring. The overeating of grain can stir up bacteria that usually causes no issues, basically. We give the antitoxin when a feeding mishap takes place. Kids that are feed too much milk are at risk, as well. Kids usually die suddenly.
Signs are water like diarrhea, arching the back and lethargic behavior
The bacteria is thought to be derived from sheep, and it is caused by the bacterium Clostridium perfringens type C or type D. This is what CD/T protects from (As well as tetanus).
Keep Clostridium perfringens antitoxin on hand. It must be ordered online. Most feedstores
do not keep it. If the symptoms are present, give the antitoxin and banamine injectable to offset pain and stress. The animals sometimes die suddenly and sometimes overcome it on their own. Giving the antitoxin whenever a the goat's gut has “been compromised” can save their lives, however!
There are many other goat illnesses, but these are what I've encountered most often. Please do more exhaustive research to learn about other illnesses you may encounter.
Disbudding Dairy Breeds
Do not confuse this with dehorning, which is not humane.
Disbudding is done with a hot iron on the horn bud at a young age, usually with
a pain reliever, like Banamine.
This should be done after watching long time goat breeders quite a few times. Pressure and timing are key to not killing or injurying the goat kids and are key to making sure the procedure works.
Disbudding assure the dairy goat keeps value and has the best chance at a
quality home. Shows do not allow horns in dairy breeds, and milking with a stanchion is very
difficult when the doe has horns.
Castration
We use banding with Banamine, and unless you can have a vet to the cutting method
while the goat has a local anesthetic, this is a humane option. We do not band without banamine.
Make sure to proceed slowly and do band before 8 weeks of age. Do not band after 8 weeks.
Tattoos
Any registered animal must be tattooed through the goat registry organizations. Each group has
their own requirements. If you tattoo and take part in a state scrapie eradication program, you do NOT have to use ear tags. Tattoos should be done on young kids and before they are sold.
Choosing Breed Stock
Meat Goats:
Kiko – Hardy
Boer – preferred commercially, know be quite unhardy
Myotonic Goats / Fainting Goats – typically pets only, but they are technically a
meat goat and a rare breed at this time
Pygmy Goats - typically pets only, but they are technically a miniature meat goat
Dairy Goats
Nubian – Most common breed. Lower production, very high milk fat, large, loud and personable. They are often less hardy than other breeds
Saanen – Hardy, highest production, low butter fat, large, docile and solid white
Alpine – High production, lower butter fat, hardy, can be aggressive in nature and less personable than other breeds, medium to large sized
Oberhasli – Red and Black in color, lower production, lower butter fat, rare breed. Personality somewhat like the Alpine, but they are smaller in size.
Nigerian Dwarf – Miniature dairy breed. Hardy, easy kidders and friendly. Many do not produce very well due to poor attention in breeders to milk production.
Toggenburg – Stronger milk taste preferred by cheese makers, very low milk fat, very high production.
Lamancha – Moderate production, good milk fat, very calm and friendly goats. Medium to Large in size. Earless and Elf eared varieties.
Consider your stock as an investment.
Save and purchase the absolute best stock you can afford and find.
Sometimes this means driving quite a distance.
Make sure the breeder practices ethical management and has a herd
you would like to see on your own land. If the goat herd isn't in the condition you'd
like to see stock in, buy elsewhere. Disease testing is vital.
Registered stock is typically are far higher quality and will assure kids
have significantly (double to quadruple or more) more value. Kids will
be sold to higher quality homes, as a general rule, as well.
Understand that purebred, American, Experimental and Native on Performance
are not the same things. True registered dairy breeds are either Purebred or American.
Recorded animals are Experimental and Native on Performance. They can have
certificates, but these goats are not the same as registered animals and have much
lower value in resale.
Be diligent in registering kids. The history behind the kids is important and should be tracked.
Milk records, show records in lineage and appraisals are all elements that set the value of your stock.
Study the breed standards and take care to know breed for a better animal.