[DISCLAIMER: we are not veterinarian professionals, we are only sharing our story and experiences. Seek professional advice prior to purchasing/treating animals]
Dealing with ill farm animals is never fun. They can’t tell you that they have an upset stomach or that they feel depressed. At least a child will cry. Farm animals though, often don’t show signs of illness until the problem is major. Being new to the whole “goat farming” thing, we really didn’t know much about goat illnesses. Obviously, we give them feed with a medicated ration for urinary tract health and have them on a feed-through deworming schedule. They always have fresh water and clean hay…access to roam freely about their large pasture. What could possibly go wrong?
Spring in southern Indiana was incredibly wet and soggy this year. This causes poor grazing conditions and allows bacteria and parasites to thrive. That means trouble for your livestock. At the time, our herd consisted of three goats from one farm, two from another, and two from an auction as well as a horse and mini donkey. One evening we noticed one of the goats was acting a little sluggish and didn’t have much of an appetite. (If you read my previous post, you would’ve seen our goat Jane.) We chalked it up to the gloomy weather, all of the goats stayed inside and weren’t full of energy that day. The following day my husband noticed Jane was quite filthy and hadn’t moved from where she had bed down the night before. He nudged her a bit to get her to stand up and noticed she had bloody diarrhea all over her bottom! There were small, maggot looking worms in her poo and stuck all over her backside as well. Our local vet’s office does not treat animals as far out as we live, so My husband called his uncle (long time goat farmer) for assistance. With the symptoms given, it could be bad worms or coccidia-which is a type of parasite that eats the stomach and intestine lining.
Initial thought was it’s simply a bad case of worms. We picked up some strongid liquid goat dewormer along with a bottle of Nutri-Drench to try and clear her gut up and get some nutrients into her system. By the time I arrived home to give her the medications, her mouth was very cold and she barely had enough energy to hold her head up. A goat’s normal temperature is 102-103 degrees fahrenheit, I would guess her temp was around 85. We checked our other livestock for any signs of diarrhea or listlessness and found that two more goats, that came from the same farm, had the same symptoms. We built a pen inside our barn to keep them separate from the healthy goats and to ease the treatment process. By the next morning, Jane had passed away. In less than 36 hours of the first sign of illness, she was gone.
We could have done fecal samples/test which will tell you exactly what you are dealing with and how bad it is (you can obtain these at your local vets office). In this case we really didn’t have time. A normal, healthy goat will likely have the presence of coccidia in a fecal test, just not enough to cause harm. Wet, dirty conditions will allow the parasites to multiply which is where the problem starts. Keeping pens clean and dry is key to prevention and treatment! Having a regular deworming schedule will help prevent an outbreak. I prefer using a liquid dewormer and drenching each goat by hand so I know they each received the proper amount. Up until our coccidia outbreak, we were using a pellet type that you mix in with feed. Some farmers swear by this form of dewormer, I don’t because you have no idea how much each goat is getting unless you separate them at feeding time.
Coccidia treatment is a bit more serious than just having a wormy goat and you must act fast! Cociddia parasites are constantly eating away at your goat’s intestines and stomach lining, the quicker you can stop them, the better. We made another trip to our local feed store (shout out to Tractor Supply!!) to pick up some syringes and a bottle of Corid, labeled for treating cows, but key in killing the parasites that cause coccidiosis. It is recommended to give thiamine (Vitamin B1) when using Corid because it depletes and prevents its production. Thiamine is a key factor in glucose metabolism, without it, goats will be more sluggish and likely won’t have an appetite. We did not use this when treating our goats, but they were still eating grain so we weren’t too concerned. We also picked up some Pepto Bismol in tablet and liquid form to help coat the goat’s stomach and ease diarrhea. The tablets are handy for those goats who love treats because they are fairly sweet and fragrant. Those who don’t like treats will benefit from the liquid form using a syringe.
Dosing was a bit confusing. You can contact your local veterinarian for proper dosing, but we went online and also consulted a few local farmers for their best opinion. I found several sites that were very helpful in dosing and medication recommendations, which I will list below. I also found the root cause and prevention of coccidiosis. Prevention is key, which starts at birth. My guess is the first three goats we purchased, who were all sick, weren’t given any prevention treatments or hadn’t had any dewormer other than what we gave them when we first got them. It’s all a learning process!!! Anyways, back to dosing. We gave the affected goats Corid drenches twice a day and pepto tablets/drenches three or four times a day depending on how bad the diarrhea was. We administered Corid (liquid form) at 1.25cc per 5 pounds and pepto at 3cc per 5 pounds or one tablet. FUN FACT- I couldn’t find a syringe that was labeled in CC’s, but each mL equals 1cc. (not so fun fact I guess)
For the goats that were apparently healthy, we added 3 tablespoons of Corid to an 8 quart pail of water for three days. They never showed any signs illness. We treated the sick goats for 5 days and kept them separated for 7 days just to monitor them. During the treatment phase, most forums and sites state to NOT feed grain, only fresh green leaves. We gave our goats a tad bit of normal goat pellets along with lots of fresh hay and water and they were just fine. The thought behind not feeding grain is due to grain being sugary and hard to digest. This can irritate the animal and worsen diarrhea.
Earlier I mentioned Nutri-Drench. It’s a concentrated liquid with lots of protein and sugar added to boost energy. Our goats were not fond of it at all. It has a very strong molasses smell and is pretty much the same texture. I gave it to our whether, Kronk, as a drench and he slung every bit of it out of his mouth and all over me. They also would not touch the water we mixed it in. In order to get additional nutrients to our animals, we gave them gatorade.
They LOVED it! We would fill a syringe full of gatorade and allow the goats to “suckle” on it until their hearts content. They also drank more once we added a bottle of it to an 8 quart bucket water. You can try powdered goat electrolytes however our goats wouldn’t touch it.
Tips on drenching: The most efficient way to administer medication, that we found, is to straddle the goat’s back and tip its head up to where its neck is straight. Be sure the animal’s mouth is free of any feed or hay. Insert the syringe into the side of the goat’s mouth and down the back of its cheek. Slowly depress the syringe and the goat will start swallowing on it’s own. If the goat is balking and not trying to swallow, gently rub it’s throat to push the medication down. Hold the goat’s head up for a few seconds after you have given them the medication to be sure they won’t try to spit it out. We always loved on them or gave them a treat after administering medication to keep them from getting shy.
With our first goat-health scare, we learned A LOT. We plan to start breeding our goats this fall, so this adventure is far from over! I’m sure once we start kidding I will be able to cover our experience with coccidia prevention, but for now you can check out the links below for more info on that. Stay tuned to see what we get into next!
-Kristen
“I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.” Psalms 34:4
[DISCLAIMER: we are not veterinarian professionals, we are only sharing our story and experiences. Seek professional advice prior to purchasing/treating animals]
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