Raising Goats Naturally

by Deborah Niemann

  Without blood testing, it’s tough to know whether a goat has a deficiency in selenium or vitamin E because the symptoms are so similar. Years ago a vet told me that no one tests for selenium because the supplement is cheaper than the test. However, if you have a goat that has symptoms of selenium deficiency, and you’ve already given a selenium supplement, then a vitamin E deficiency is a definite possibility. There have been no documented cases of vitamin E toxicity in small ruminants, unlike selenium, which has a fairly narrow margin of safety and can result in death if a goat gets too much. So, before using more selenium, especially injectable selenium, you might consider supplementing with vitamin E.

  All forms of vitamin E are equally well absorbed by goats, so you can use vitamin E gelcaps sold at your local pharmacy. If you pop one into a goat’s mouth and they bite it, the oil squirts out into their mouth, and you’re mostly done. Colostrum is rich in vitamin E, but if a kid is showing signs of deficiency after a couple of days, it may need additional supplementation as the dam’s colostrum changes to mature milk.

  Zinc

  The most obvious symptoms of zinc deficiency are in the hair and skin. A goat with zinc deficiency looks scruffy with flaky dandruff and odd shedding at unusual times of the year. I had a buck that developed bald patches of dry skin in the midst of a winter when temperatures were falling below zero Fahrenheit. Another symptom is excessive salivation, which generally makes a buck look like he is foaming at the mouth. They may also have joint stiffness, swollen feet, small testes, low libido, poor appetite, and weight loss.

  Zinc deficiency is often caused by excessive calcium in the diet, either from mineral supplements or calcium-rich foods, such as alfalfa. This means it is most commonly a problem with bucks because they don’t need a lot of calcium. Does, on the other hand, need a lot more calcium in their diet because they are growing babies and making milk. Kids also need a lot of calcium because they are growing.

  Simply eliminating excess calcium in the diet may correct a zinc deficiency. For example, our bucks only become zinc deficient in the middle of winter if they are consuming too much alfalfa. This used to be unavoidable because we can’t usually get good grass hay in our area. However, with the availability of grass hay pellets, we have been able to reduce the amount of alfalfa hay that the bucks consume and ultimately eliminate their problem with zinc deficiency.

  Goats do need some long-stem forage to keep their rumen working properly, so it’s not a good idea to feed them one hundred percent pellets because they require very little chewing and rumination compared to hay. If I have some grass hay that’s not the greatest quality, I give about a cup of timothy pellets to each Nigerian Dwarf buck morning and evening as a supplement. (They’re all fed together, so five bucks will get five cups of pellets in their feed trough.) If I only have alfalfa hay, I double the amount of grass pellets so the bucks don’t need much alfalfa — just enough to keep their rumen busy twice a day. My goal is to keep the alfalfa at less than half the bucks’ intake, and the lower the alfalfa intake, the better.

  Angora goats need more zinc than dairy or meat breeds because of mohair production. Some meat and dairy goats, however, seem to be more prone to zinc deficiency than others. Injectable zinc supplements are available by prescription, but they are formulated with other minerals. The combination of minerals might have the unintended consequence of delivering a toxic dose of a mineral the goat does not need.

  Last year Monarch, one of our bucks, started foaming at the mouth in March. I explained to my husband how odd it was that only one buck would be showing early signs of zinc deficiency, and I explained the alfalfa connection. He laughed and said that it made perfect sense. When he’d put a flake of alfalfa in the hay feeder, he said that Monarch would butt away the other goats and not let them have any until he’d had his fill. So he was consuming more alfalfa than any of the other bucks. Since I knew the bucks would be back on pasture in less than a month, I didn’t worry about Monarch, and as expected, the foaming stopped within a week or so of the bucks being off alfalfa entirely.

  Neonatal Mortality

  There are dozens of possible causes of death in newborns. If it happens rarely, it is probably not something that you can remedy. A very small percentage of kids are put together without all their pieces in the right places, and there isn’t always anything that can be done about it. However, if you have several stillbirths in your herd around the same time, an infection could be causing the problem. Several kids dying at birth throughout the kidding season could indicate a mineral deficiency.

  Hypothermia is probably the most common cause of newborn deaths in northern climates during the winter. When the air temperature is below freezing, kids can get hypothermia within 15 minutes of birth if they are not dried off quickly enough. I’ve even seen kids get hypothermia when born outside in 45°F weather when it was windy, lowering the temperature with the windchill.

  If several kids die at birth within a few days, having a necropsy performed will determine if the cause of death was an infection or something else that can be remedied. If you have multiple stillbirths, the placenta should be submitted along with the fetus because sometimes the answer is in the placenta rather than in the kid.

  Pinkeye

  Conjunctivitis in goats does not actually turn the eye red as it does in humans. Instead, the eyeball usually turns white or cloudy blue. Flies that feast on manure and then get into the goat’s eyes spread the infection, so fly problems in the barn area should not be ignored. Dust in the eye from eating dusty hay can also cause an eye infection. It is possible for a goat to have only one eye infected, and that’s usually because it was poked in the eye by something, such as a blade of grass.

  In severe cases, goats can be blind from the infection, although this is usually temporary. It is common practice to isolate goats with conjunctivitis so they don’t infect other goats. Because the infection can be spread by flies, however, the effectiveness of separating infected goats will be determined by how far away you are able to move them. A separate building or a distant pasture with a small fly population would provide better protection for uninfected goats than simply putting an infected goat in a separate stall in the same barn as the others.

  A variety of over-the-counter medications are available for treating conjunctivitis in goats. However, if pinkeye is just one of many symptoms in your goats, you should see a veterinarian because mycoplasma, chlamydia, listeria, and organisms that cause other systemic diseases can also cause conjunctivitis.

  Polio (Polioencephalomalacia)

  Goat breeders usually use “goat polio” and “thiamine deficiency” interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. For years, the two terms were used interchangeably because goats with symptoms of polio responded to treatment with thiamine, leading people to believe thiamine deficiency was the cause of the symptoms. There are a number of causes for goat polio, however, such as lead poisoning, sulfur poisoning, salt poisoning, moldy hay, too much grain, and not enough water.

  Thiamine (vitamin B1) is produced in a healthy rumen, so it is not a vitamin that goats need to consume. Thiamine deficiency can happen whenever the rumen is upset by any number of things, including ingesting excessive grain, which is why it is most often seen in feedlot cattle and sheep. It can happen on the homestead, however, when a goat gets into the chicken grain one time too many. Administration of white dewormers, levamisole, or amprolium can also upset the rumen and cause a thiamine deficiency, especially when used long term.

  “Stargazing” is the most often cited symptom of thiamine deficiency, and I’ve seen more than a few new goat breeders start giving their goat vitamin B injections for days or even weeks simply because a goat was tipping its head back and moving it from side to side as if it was looking at the sky. If the goat is otherwise healthy, the stargazing could just be a habit of the goat. Also, some goats with horns will appear to be stargazing when they scratch their back with their horns.

  Polio is a disease of th
e brain, so there will be multiple symptoms, and the goat will be very sick. It will be depressed, off feed, and often have diarrhea. Unfortunately, these symptoms are very similar to enterotoxemia and listeriosis. And as the list of possible symptoms gets longer, it just gets more confusing. A goat with polio may also be blind or start circling, which are also symptoms of other diseases. As you have probably realized, a quick trip to the vet is your best bet.

  A goat with polio can die within a day or two if left untreated. Because diagnosis is so challenging and treatment for polio is most likely to be effective if started early, the vet usually gives an injection of thiamine, which is by prescription, if polio is suspected. Over-the-counter injectable B vitamins do not contain enough thiamine to treat polio. If treatment is going to be effective, it will work within a day or two. In the worst cases of polio, treatment may save the goat’s life, but it will never completely recover and will be partially blind or mentally impaired forever.

  So, why is a goat with polio treated with thiamine if polio isn’t the same thing as thiamine deficiency? Thiamine often works to reverse symptoms, although no one knows exactly why. Studies have shown that a goat suffering from lead poisoning or sulfur toxicity will also respond positively to treatment with thiamine, even though it is not thiamine deficient. This is important to know because the treatment of a goat with thiamine injections is not supposed to be long-term. If the goat continues to relapse or if other goats are having the same symptoms, there is something in the diet or the environment that is causing the problem, such as a diet with too much grain, which upsets the rumen balance. You may also want to test your water for the presence of lead or sulfur.

  Respiratory Conditions

  When a goat has a runny nose or cough, people often assume it has a respiratory infection or lungworms. But those symptoms could be caused by something as simple as dust from hay or living on a gravel road. Ammonia buildup in a barn, as well as smoke or exhaust from machinery, can also cause coughing and runny noses. Treating respiratory issues caused by environmental factors will be a waste of time, as they will not go away until the environmental problem is corrected. This is why barns should not be insulated. In fact, we keep a door open year-round unless we are in the midst of a blizzard with blowing snow.

  A goat can develop a runny nose following any type of injury to the bones in the head, such as disbudding, a damaged horn, an infected tooth, or a cracked bone in the face. Something as simple as a tight collar can cause coughing. If a goat starts to cough only when being led by the collar, the problem is not illness in the goat. Holding a collar too tightly can restrict a goat’s airflow, resulting in the goat falling to its knees. This is not an uncommon sight at goat shows when someone is showing a goat that hasn’t been trained to lead or simply does not like to lead.

  What I Learned from Charlotte

  During kidding season one year, I walked into the barn and saw Charlotte lying in the straw with her head up. She was alert and chewing her cud, looking perfectly normal for a goat that should be giving birth within a few days. But even though I was several feet away from her, I could hear her labored breathing, which reminded me of Darth Vader. I panicked, immediately thinking she had pneumonia, and I rushed back into the house to pull out all my books and search online for information on pneumonia in pregnant goats. Finding nothing that specifically addressed that topic, I decided to go back to the barn and watch her for a while. A little later when she decided to stand up, the labored breathing disappeared. Charlotte’s belly was extremely wide, and the obvious finally occurred to me. She was having difficulty breathing when she lay down because the kids were compromising her lung capacity. A few days later, she gave birth to quadruplets, and my suspicions were confirmed when her breathing was again quiet.

  There are many types of pneumonia in goats, and in spite of how common it is, it can be a challenge to diagnose and treat. It can be caused by parasites, fungus, and a long list of viruses and bacteria. Treatment with antibiotics may or may not be effective, depending on what is causing the pneumonia. Sometimes pneumonia can be a symptom of a much larger problem, especially when occurring with stillbirths and abortions.

  A kid with pneumonia may cough or have a runny nose, but the only symptoms in adults may be lethargy and going off feed. You may hear rattling in the lungs or base of the throat by using a stethoscope. A stethoscope is inexpensive to purchase and can be used to familiarize yourself with the sound of healthy goat lungs for comparison. Although a goat with pneumonia will usually have an elevated fever, a temperature below normal is even more of a concern because that means its body is starting to shut down and it is near death.

  Inhalation pneumonia will appear in a goat after being drenched with medication that accidentally goes into the windpipe instead of down the throat. It may also happen when a goat throws up, which they do so rarely that some sources say goats don’t vomit. However, when a goat does vomit, it is usually because it has consumed something poisonous. A kid born with a cleft palate can develop pneumonia from aspirating milk.

  Determining the cause of a respiratory ailment can be tricky, and if the goat has a fever of 104°F or more, is off feed, or lethargic, call the vet. If antibiotics were recommended and you have been treating a goat for 48 hours and are not seeing improvement, the antibiotic is not working. You might need a different antibiotic, or the cause of the pneumonia is a virus, which won’t respond to antibiotics. If you have seen an improvement, it is recommended that you continue treatment for at least 48 hours after symptoms have disappeared. Stopping antibiotic therapy too early contributes to the development of antibiotic-resistant bugs.

  There are a number of different organisms that can cause pneumonia, and vaccines are only available for a couple of them. Even if you vaccinate for pneumonia, you still need to make sure your goats get plenty of fresh air and do as much as possible to create an environment that is not conducive to respiratory infections.

  Ringworm

  A goat that is losing hair in patches and exposing scaly, crusty skin, especially on the face, neck, and legs, might have ringworm, which is contagious to humans, and should be diagnosed by a vet because it looks similar to mange to the untrained eye. Ringworm is a fungus infection and usually infects goats that are already debilitated by another illness or have poor nutrition.

  Scours

  Scours is the word used for diarrhea in livestock, although some people treat it as a disease itself. Diarrhea is a symptom. In Diseases of the Goat, John Matthews presents 28 pages on the causes of diarrhea, which include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasites, as well as nutrition, stress, and toxic agents, such as drugs, minerals, and plants.26 Treating diarrhea without knowing what is causing it can do more harm than good. Giving a dose of medicine to stop diarrhea in a goat with coccidiosis or an infection will do nothing to cure the actual illness. The danger of giving antidiarrheal drugs is that you may think the problem is gone when in reality you have only masked the symptom, and you could wind up with a dead goat.

  The most common cause of diarrhea on our farm for the first several years was the goats breaking into the chicken house and gorging on grain. Luckily the diarrhea was always short-lived and cleared up on its own within 12 to 24 hours. It could have ended badly, however, if a goat’s rumen had been so upset as to lead to bloat, enterotoxemia, or goat polio.

  The most common cause of diarrhea in kids three weeks of age or older is coccidia. Diarrhea in kids younger than three weeks of age is likely due to nutritional problems, such as too much milk or switching from goat milk to milk replacer. An infectious agent, such as E. coli, cryptosporidium, or salmonella, may also be the cause of diarrhea in kids under a month of age. These infections need to be diagnosed and treated by a vet.

  If one of my goats has diarrhea but no other symptoms, and otherwise appears healthy, I will wait a few hours before doing anything because many times the diarrhea goes away on its own, which generally means that the goat ate something that upset i
ts digestive system. Once a goat has diarrhea, its back end is messy, so it is not immediately clear when the diarrhea has ended. I press a paper towel against the messy area to see if it is still wet. If it is dry, it means it has been at least a few hours since the goat had diarrhea, and I’ll continue to check to make sure it stays dry. If it is wet, I’ll continue checking every few hours, and if it hasn’t dried up in about 12 hours, I’ll usually treat for coccidia if it is a kid over a month old. Because adults rarely get diarrhea and the cause tends to be something more complicated, I usually check the goat’s temperature, listen for rumen sounds, and then call the vet.

  Scrapie

  In the same family as mad cow disease, scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). At this time, there is no evidence that humans can contract scrapie from infected goats. It is caused by a prion, rather than by a bacteria or virus. There is no treatment, and it is highly infectious. Scrapie is practically nonexistent in goats in North America, but because the disease is closely related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), complete eradication is the goal of most governments. There is a scrapie eradication program in the United States, and the USDA requires goats being sold across state lines or being exhibited in fairs and sales to come from a herd with a scrapie identification number. Goats must have a permanent form of identification, which is usually a tattoo for dairy goats or an ear tag for meat or fiber goats, so that they can be traced back to their herd of origin.