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COLLECTION: GOAT HANDBOOK
ORIGIN: United States
DATE INCLUDED: June 1992
Extension Goat Handbook
This material was contributed from
collections at the National Agricultural Library.
However, users should direct all inquires about the
contents to authors or originating agencies.
DOCN 000000057
NO G-3
DISEASE MANAGEMENT
C. S. F. Williams; Michigan State U., East Lansing
S. B. Guss; Pennsylvania State U., University Park
DE Health and Disease Management
1 It is important to recognize that the principles
and problems associated with raising goat kids are
no different from those of raising other farm animals.
the beginner who is raising only a few animals in
a place where kids have never been housed will experience
fewer and simpler problems than the person who has
been raising large numbers of kids in the same building
for many years. It follows, that the system of management
used in the early years of raising goats may not give
the same results three or four years later, when the
kid numbers have increased, and the pens have been
in constant use. Pens should be cleaned, sanitized
and left vacant for as long as possible between each
batch of newborn kids. Raising kids outside in small
portable pens or hutches has been useful in preventing
kid losses due to diarrhea, pneumonia and some other
diseases that have become a problem in long established
goat herds.
2 Preparations Prior to Breeding
(1) Cull the problem goats before breeding. Does with
chronic pneumonia and mastitis, disabling arthritis
and poor body condition will not have kids with the
best chance of living. These does will serve as a
focus of infection for the rest of the herd and the
next generation. Cull does who have a history of producing
kids with problems. Cull poor producers and those
with personality traits that make them a nuisance
in the herd. Devote more time to your higher quality
and best producing goats. The return on investment
of time and money will be greater and efforts more
satisfying than being burdened with work on a large
number of lesser quality goats.
(2) Keep only as many does as can be fed and cared
for properly. Undernourished goats in late pregnancy
are likely to develop pregnancy toxemia, and may deliver
kids with poor livability. Overnourished goats have
a tendency to do the same thing. Pay attention to
the condition of individual does.
(3) Check with a veterinarian regarding the iodine
and selenium status of soils in the area. Goats in
iodine dificient areas should have access to loose
iodized salt at all times. If not, the kids will be
born with goiters, may be born dead or die shortly
after birth. In selenium deficient areas, it may be
advisable to supplement the goats with selenium, in
one or more of the following ways:
a) use a trace mineral salt or a mineral mix fortified
with selenium;
b) inject the pregnant does with vitamin E plus selenium
preparations;
c) selenium can be incorporated into grain mixes such
as calf starter and dairy concentrate;
d) inject the young kids with vitamin E plus selenium
preparations.
If the necessary supplements are not provided, the
kids may die of acute muscle damage in the heart,
or suffer from muscular weakness, may be especially
susceptible to pneumonia or have difficulty sucking
and may inhale milk. Selenium-vitamin E supplementation
may prevent losses from various forms of white muscle
disease in selenium deficient areas of the US. Selenium
poisoning may occur in areas of the country where
soil selenium levels are high, so it is important
that you discuss with your veterinarian the need for
selenium supplementation. Extra selenium may be vital,
a waste of money, or toxic, depending on the area
of the country.
3 Preparations Prior to Kidding
(1) Plan ahead and buy supplies like vaccine, nipples
++++MISSING DATA++++
(6) Kid pens should have three solid sides with the
fourth side gated and open to the floor. This provides
adequate air movement and yet prevents drafts. A design
similar to a calf hutch, with an outside pen, is appropriate.
Avoid wood preservatives and all lead-based painted
surfaces because these may be toxic or irritating.
Slotted floors with spaces not exceeding 3/8 inch
wide may be used for hot weather pens for kids. Avoid
construction methods that permit heads or legs to
be caught in openings, thus causing broken legs or
strangulation.
(7) Decide with the help of a veterinarian what the
health program will be for the kids. Devise a record
keeping system to make sure the program and plan is
followed, which kids received which treatment and
what needs to be done.
(8) There are various infectious goat diseases which
may be controlled or reduced by removing baby kids
from their dams at birth and raising them in facilities,
separate from mature animals in the herd.
4 Kid Care at Parturition
(1) The kid born during a normal parturition seldom
needs human help to survive.
(2) Kids born during dystocias or difficult birth
may need help. The most important thing is to clear
the mucus out of the mouth and start the kid breathing.
Poke a straw up the nose to provoke sneezing. Pinch
hard on the skin between the toes or on the ears or
the tail. This will usually make a kid scream and
in order to scream, it must breathein first. A kid
which is not breathing well, will not inflate its
lungs properly and will be a candidate for pneumonia.
(3) The umbilical cord may be trimmed to about one
inch long and then dipped in tincture of iodine. This
will control infections such as bacterial arthritis
(joint-ill) and septicemia, caused by bacteria entering
via the cord.
(4) Be sure the kid gets colostrum early. Hand milking
the doe and bottle feeding the kid is the most certain
method of insuring a known intake. Colostrum contains
antibodies which gives the kid temporary protection
against diseases to which the doe was subjected. Feed
colostrum as quickly as the kid will nurse to gain
the greatest benefit from antibodies. Save extra colostrum
for later feeding. Freeze several ice cube trays of
colostrum and store the cubes in a plastic bag in
the freezer. If a fresh doe is ill with mastitis or
has no milk, it's easy to thaw several cubes and warm
them to body temperature in order to give the newborn
kid its first feeding of colostrum. If there is no
goat co lostrum available, use day-one cow colostrum,
pay extra attention to sanitation, and raise the kid
away from other goats, until it is several weeks old
and is better able to resist infection.
5 Kid Care Till Weaning (1) Dirty
milk bottles, dirty nipples and erratic feeding schedules
will cause digestive scours. Baby kids may be successfully
fed with a pan and it's easier to clean them than
a bottle. A lamb bar may be a labor saver and use
of cold milk in the lamb bar can prevent kids from
drinking too much milk at one time. Nursing the mother
is a time honored method and often used, especially
after the first couple of hand feedings with colostrum.
The choice of rearing method depends on the owner's
preference.
(2) To control pneumonia, ventilate the barn so that
there is never any smell of ammonia and that means
down at floor level where the kid has to breathe,
not 5 feet up in the air where you breathe. If moisture
condenses on the ceiling in winter, insulate the ceiling
and ventilate more. Young kids are much healthier
in a cold, dry environment than they are in a warm,
damp, smelly one. It makes no sense to let kids out
in the fresh air in the daytime and then lock them
in a smelly barn overnight.
(3) Restrict contact of kids with adult goats, other
goat raisers, and especially newly purchased kids.
New arrivals and any goats that have left your premises
and are returning, should go into quarantine for at
least two weeks.
6 Some Disease and Parasite Problems
and Control Procedures Tetanus -- This occurs infrequently
but is very distressing to both the owner and the
goat. Occasionally, it follows disbudding and is more
likely to occur with rubber band castration, than
any other method. If the risk is considered to be
high, then kids should receive 150 units of tetanus
antitoxin at the time of disbudding and castration.
This will give temporary protection. For complete
protection, vaccinate the kids with 2 doses of tetanus
toxoid starting three weeks after the initial dose
of the tetanus antitoxin.
7 Ear Mites -- Ear mites are quite
common in kids if the adults are infected. When they
scratch their ears and shake their heads at an early
age, they should be examined and treated with a miticide.
The infected ears often show a scaly, grayish material
in the ear canal. The mites can be seen easily when
the material is examined with a magnifying glass on
a piece of black cloth.
8 Lice -- When kids scratch and rub
themselves, they should be examined carefully for
lice. All goats should be checked periodically, especially
in late winter. Blood sucking lice are large and easy
to see because they don't travel much. Biting lice
are tiny and straw colored; they may cause intense
itching. When it is necessary to treat any animal
in the herd for lice, all animals including baby kids
and the bucks should be included.
9 Worms -- Bottle or pan fed kids
raised in isolation rarely become infected with worms
prior to weaning. However, kids allowed to run with
their dams may become infected. Clinical signs include:
weakness, unthriftiness, anemia (gums and membranes
under eyelids are pale), chronic constipation or diarrhea
by the time they are two to three months old.
10 Coccidia are single-celled parasites
that live and multiply in the intestinal wall. It
is important to understand that many kids and adults
carry light infections of the parasite, yet are ++++MISSING
DATA++++
11 If you do not vaccinate prior
to the show season, you run the risk of acquiring
the diseae on the circuit, and this will put your
show string out of commission for several weeks as
the disease works its way through your herd. If you
have a small herd with little or no contact with outside
goats, and you have never had the disease in your
goats, do not vaccinate. Both the vaccine and the
natural disease can cause lesions in humans, so be
very cautious in handling vaccinated and affected
animals.
12 Caprine arthritis - encephalomyelitis
(C.A.E. virus) -- This virus is widespread throughout
many goat herds in the USA. Adult goats that are infected
may show no signs at all, or they may have puffy knees
or various stages of crippling arthritis. Occasionally,
kids will be affected by an incurable, progessive
paralysis usually starting in the hind legs. The major
route of transmission appears to be milk and colostrum
from infected does. Kids drink the milk which contains
the virus and become infected. On farms where the
disease is a problem and goats show arthritis 1 year
of age, owners are now experimenting with raising
the kids on cow's colostrum or pasteurized goat colostrum,
followed by cow's milk or pasteurized goat milk, because
pasteurization kills the virus. While this technique
results in a marked improvement in the appearance
of the legs of yearlings, it cannot be counted on
to eliminate the disease, since there are other possible
routes of transmission. There is no vaccine and there
is no cure so far.
DISEASE MANAGEMENT
COLLECTION;GOAT HANDBOOK
ORIGIN;United States
DATE_INCLUDED;June 1992
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