Blog

CL Vaccine

Due to this, blood tests show incorrect results in goats under the age of 8 to 10 months. But Cl disease is easy to handle, and you also not required to lose your goat. By properly giving proper vaccine, CL disease can vanish quickly.

CDT Vaccine

CDT vaccines are to overcome clostridium perfringens type C+D and tetanus diseases. It is also known as ‘CD&T’ and ‘CDT’ vaccine. This vaccine should be in the account of every person who is raising goats. For this vaccine, the label directions should be followed very closely and carefully.

The time required for does within which it should be vaccinated of 30 days before giving birth so that the kids can be protected through first milk.  Whereas kids should get the vaccination at 5 to 6 weeks of age and after three to four weeks later booster will be given.  

Rabies Vaccine

Currently, no rabies vaccine labelled for goats is available, but some recommend to use the label vaccination for sheep in the goats to provide protection especially in the area where the disease is very much present. Therefore, the best prevention is to avoid the exposure of the goats to the predisposing factors of rabies.

Enterotoxeamia Vaccine

Enterotoxaemia vaccines are commonly available vaccine and play an essential role in controlling diseases.  So, to prevent this disease in lambs and nursing kids, it is required to vaccinate ewes and does, four weeks before giving the birth. This will result in such a way that kids will have a passive but temporary immune system which will protect them from overeating disease.

The time required for does within which it should be vaccinated of 30 days before giving birth so that the kids can be protected through first milk.  Whereas kids should be vaccinated at 5 to 6 weeks of age and after three to four weeks later booster will be given.   

Tetanus Vaccine for Goats

Tetanus vaccine usually comes in multivalent products, i.e. a product containing immunisation against different diseases. It should be given as injecting two shots with a gap of four weeks, and then a booster every year. If the kids get the colostrums from the vaccinated female goat, then give the booster to the kid at the age of six weeks to two months. Otherwise, inject the booster at the age of one month and give three shots at an interval of four weeks each.  

Pasteurella Vaccine

The dose of this vaccine is two cc under the skin at the age of three months and repeats the treatment after two to four weeks. However, if the goat gets the vaccine before three months of age, then the goat should have a repeated vaccination dose at the age of four to six months.

Leptospirosis Vaccine

It is essential to provide proper management to the animals, as vaccination is not the only source of prevention of disease within a herd.

Sore Mouth

The pregnant animals should be vaccinated well before the process of birthing and booster dose should repeat every year.

Foot Rot Vaccine

There should be regular foot bath for the animals, keeping the bedding clean, and keeping the hoof of the goat dry to prevent the disease. The vaccine time is every 3-6 months or before the time of the hoof problems occurrence, i.e. before the onset of rainy seasons.

Abortion Vaccine

Toxoplasmosis and Chlamydia are the organisms that cause abortion in goat regularly. Therefore, it is better to vaccinate the animals and inject the booster per annum before the breeding season. However, it is necessary to find the reason for abortion before injecting this vaccine. Some antibiotics, such as chlortetracycline, can help to prevent abortion when added to the feed for some weeks before the process of birthing.  

Pneumonia Vaccine

CAE Vaccine

CAE caused by lentivirus, which is accountable for many other immunity repression diseases in many species and most of the goat’s breeds is susceptible. 

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine available against this disease. It is challenging to develop an effective vaccine against this virus. Many vaccines tested against this disease, but none produced adequate results against the virus of CAE.

Why Is My Goat's Udder Swollen? Possible Causes

Maintaining the good health of the goat’s udder is the key to have more production and a healthy herd of goats. In order to have healthy goats with healthy udder, following are the list of disorders need to eradicate from the farm.

Congested/Hard Udder in Goats

The congested udder usually occurs when the udder of the goat filled quickly, or when the udder becomes over full leading to the congested udders. These congested udders are uncomfortable for the female goats.

Other causes of congested udder in goats include the occurrence of three or more fetus within the goats where the female goat tries to produce the milk sufficient for all the fetus, and consumption of grains in excessive quantity.

Development of congested udder can also occur in the female goat having only single kid. This occurs when the kid only suck the milk from one teat. It looks like mastitis but the udder will have normal temperature and no inflammation or hotness in the udder like mastitis.

To treat the congested udder, apply hot compresses on the udder, provide vitamin c, milk of magnesia and peppermint oil. It is challenging to milk the congested udder; however, the milk from the congested udder is good to consume.

Allow the kid to nurse from the congested side, as it may helps to lose the hardness or congestion of the udder. Make sure to keep the female goat hydrated as congestion of udder may cause the goat dehydrated. Treating the congested udder is time consuming but it is worth worthy.

Swollen Udder in Non Pregnant Goat

Swollen udder can develop in the goats that are from milking line. The udder of these goats will start filling with milk, even without breeding.  This filling of udder without breeding or in non-pregnant goats is known as precocious udder. The udder should have a proper evaluation for heat, texture, pain, etc. These things will help to identify the presence of mastitis.

The precocious udder doesn’t have a proper shape and are soft on palpation. A systemic therapy of antibiotics is handy to have effective results. However, the withdrawal period of the drugs should be considered before making the milk acceptable for drinking.

Goat Udder Swollen On One Side

One side swelling of the goat’s udder occurred when one kid only nurse from one side. The kids will pick one side as their favorite and will ignore the other side of the udder. This one side nursing starts a vicious circle and the other side will remain filled with the milk.

If the goat is not milked out from the other side, it will increase the chances of infection in the udder or drying of the udder and leads to the mastitis.

Goat Udder Edema

Udder edema occurs in all lactating animals including goats. This occurs due to imbalance of the fluid’s force within the body of the goats. The force on the fluid will be greater to exit the fluid from the circulatory system as compared to the force that will try to keep the fluid within the system.

The udder of the goats will grow at the time of kidding or at parturition along with the growth of blood supply. This growth of the blood supply and the udder will lead to the collapse of weak veins and the ducts of lymph that cause the fluid out of the udder and back in the circulation.

Udder edema is a painful condition and leads to the discomfort for the doe. It will also cause difficulty in milking, lead to udder sores, and breakage of the ligaments present in udder along with the system that support udder. Udder edema mostly occurs in high producing goats.

No exercise is one of the most predisposing factor is the development of udder edema. The pregnant goats will find it difficult to walk during the last trimester and there will be less exercise for the pregnant goats leading to the udder edema. The best way is to separate the feeding and eating equipment of the pregnant goats from the rest of the herd so that they can have some exercise and the chances of edema reduces.

Goat Udder Sores

Sore udders also known as “Necrotic Dermatitis” are foul-smelling and moist lesions around the udders of the goats. All ruminants including goats have a ligament in the udder that divide it into right and left halves. When the udder filled with milk, the space between the two halves gets moisture and bacteria. The moisture and bacteria will develop infection in the udder lead to sores. These sores are common during the initial three months of kidding.

This sore udder happens due to the tight compression of the udders in legs that leads to the dermatitis, and necrosis of the udder. One of the main causes of udder sores is the development of udder edema in goats. The lesions on the udder are painful and the mother goat will not permit the kids to nurse them.

The necrotic or dead skin should be disinfected daily and must be dried every day. Application of astringents (drugs that used to contract the body tissue of skin cells) will help to dry the lesions. If remained untreated then these sores lead to mastitis in the goats.

CL in Goats Udder

Caseous Lymphadenitis is a bacterial disease that is an infectious and zoonotic (transfer from animals to humans) of goats and sheep. This bacterium leads to the growth of abscesses both in goats and sheep. These abscesses are very hard to treat and result in the reduction of the production and may cause death too.

This bacterium is present all over the world and it causes economic losses. This bacterium along with other signs and symptoms produce abscesses both internally and externally. Externally the occurrence of the abscesses occurs in the neck, shoulder, rear portion of the goats, and on udder and scrotum.

These abscesses are parallel to the lymph nodes. These are soft to firm when palpated and are round in shape containing thick white or yellow pus in them. Internally the formation of abscess takes place on liver, kidney, and lungs.

Udder Development in Goats

The development of the udder in goats is divided in two five phases. These development stages include the fetal phase, pre-pubertal phase, post-pubertal phase, pregnancy, and lactation phase. The development of the udder starts when the fetus is in early stages of life and proceeds in the lactation. The mammary glands will not function properly until the goat become pregnant.

The development of udder continues throughout the pregnancy with rapid increase in the growth during the last stages of pregnancy. The udder become capable of producing milk when the goat reaches near to the end of the pregnancy,

The goat gets pregnant for the first time will initiate developing the udder approximately one month before the parturition or delivery. This development of udder may vary in different breeds of goat; however, the teats and udders of the goat having first pregnancy are usually smaller as compared to the goats that have a couple of kids before.

The goat that has a couple of kids before may start filling of udder from one month to just few days before the parturition. The goat may start filling the udder a few hours before the kidding; however, this filling also varying according to the breeds of the goats.

What is Goat Hoof Rot?

Hoof rot, infectious pododermatitis, or foot rot is the disease of the hoof in goats and other ruminants. As the name is indicating, this disease rots away the hoof of the goat, especially the region between the toes of the goats that get affected by this disease. This disease is very painful, and it is an ailment that spread from one goat to the others.  

This disease causes economic losses to the farmers as if the goat become unable to stand or walk, and it doesn’t remain productive to the farmers. The goats become unable to stand and thus making the condition worse for the goats and the farmers. The goat will start losing the weight and the result is the loss of money.

What Causes Goat Hoof Rot?

Hoof rot is a common disease that occurs in goats. This disease is caused by the combination of two bacteria, i.e. Dichelobacter nodosus (also known as Bacteroides nodosus) and Fusobacterium necrophorum. The bacteria F. necrophorum is the naturally resident in the large intestine of small ruminants including goats, and also present in the faeces and soil.

The wet and cold weather condition will cause the accumulation of mud and the manure these resulting from the irritation of the foot of the goats. F. necrophorum alone cannot create the hoof rot disease in goats, and it only irritates the hoof. The other bacterium D. nodosus survive for fourteen days in the soil and will aid F. necrophorum bacterium to cause this disease.

The irritation from the hard surface starts between the toes of the hoof. With consistent access to moisture and dirt, the chances increase for bacteria to enter into the cracks created due to the hard surface. Initially, there will be the development hoof scald that is the formation of sores in between the hoof.

This condition is very painful similarly to the hoof rot and there will be the development of bad smell from the hooves. If kept untreated, the bacteria will enter the inner tissues of the foot that leads to rot.

The wet ground will keep the hood moist, thus increasing the chances for the bacteria to develop the disease within the hoof of the goats. The hard ground will support the bacteria and aids in causing hoof rot in goats by irritating the soft tissues of the foot.

What Are the Syptoms of Goat Hoof Rot?

The most common signs are the development of lesions within the toes. These lesions can be on one or both hooves lead to difficulty walking or lameness. The goats will start grazing on the knees.

The foot of the goats will become pinkish to red. There will be slimy and foul smell. The bacteria will break the soft tissues of the hoof between the outer wall and the sole. The goat will limp and avoid moving or walking. There will be a decrease in weight and decrease in production.

How to Treat Hof Rot in Goats?

The initial treatment of hoof rot is trimming of the hoof. Elimination of all the dead tissues from the foot, exposing the live tissue will aid in recovery. A solution containing zinc sulfate or iodine solutions is the most effective treatment against the hoof rot.

Administration of antibiotics like penicillin or other broad-spectrum antibiotics to avoid secondary infection is useful to treat the hoof rot. Apart from medicines, inject tetanus booster to eradicate the chances of tetanus disease to occur. Try to keep the hooves dry and clean to reduce the infection from the feet.

A foot bath in the copper sulfate is another effective treatment for hoof rot. Pour the maximum solution in the shallow enclosure for the goats to dip the affect hooves. Footrot remedy includes copper sulfate in a spray bottle will squirt the solution directly on the affected areas.

Use of lavender essential oil and garlic oil in a blend will help to treat the hoof rot. Other combinations from clove oil, tea tree oil, sage oil, or cinnamon oil are also useful in treating the foot rot.  

Preventing Goat Hof Rot

It is challenging to prevent hoof rot to a certain extent as it is caused by the bacteria that survive within the soil. However, it is possible to minimise the chances of its occurrence. The reduction of disease chances is possible to limit the access of the goat to wet, moist pasture.

By providing a dry grassland to the goats, mainly during the seasons of rains will reduce the disease outbreak. The muddy bran or field will provide an environment to the bacteria to develop hoof rot.

It is one of the most common spreading diseases by introducing newly infected goats to the flock. To stop the illness from entering into the flock, quarantine the new goat to an isolated area for at least one month.

Trimming of the feet is necessary before the new goat introduces to the herd. There should be proper sanitary conditions especially during the wet season to minimise the chances of footrot development within the goats.

Avoid purchasing the goat having the issue of hoof rot. It is a contagious disease so a little effect of hoof rot in any goat will make it the illness of the flock.  Trimming of the hoof is necessary to allow air to reach the foot so the air can blow the bacteria out of the hoof.  

The regular trimming of the hoof should be 1-2 times per year. Trimming makes the sole flat by removing all the mud and the faeces trapped in it and decreasing the possibility of the hoof rot and hoof scald.

A bath of copper sulfate can help to prevent the occurrence of this disease. Keep the bedding clean, especially for the goats that get infected with this disease. The bedding should remain fresh at least till the foot of goat heal completely before reintroducing the affected goat to the herd.

Thus it is essential to keep the bedding, and the hooves of the goat clean and well maintained so that the disease outbreak doesn’t enter into herd and goats remain safe. With proper care, the hoof rot infection will stay out of the pack and goats can enjoy health and a comfortable life.

What Is Pregnancy Toxemia in Goats?

It is a metabolic ailment of pregnant goats, and other ruminants occur due to abnormal metabolism of fats and carbohydrates that happens in the last stage of the pregnancy. This disorder occurs all over the world and is a fatal disorder if it happened during that last stage of the pregnancy. This disorder is featured by the development of a low level of sugar within the blood.

Before delivering the kids, the fetus will make the goat intake high calorie that supports the female goats and the fetus inside the goat. The goat will break the body fat to fulfil the body requirements, thus resulting in the production of the ketones.

After kidding, there are some chances of development of ketosis, especially for the dairy goats. The ketosis and pregnancy toxemia are closely related to each other and special care is required during the pregnancy.  

What Causes Pregnancy Toxemia in Goats?

The primary cause of pregnancy toxemia is the disturbance in the level of sugar or carbohydrates metabolism. Glucose is also essential for the muscles while exercise, but the main advantage of glucose is during pregnancy. The fetus will remove a larger quantity of amino acids and glucose to fulfil their energy requirements as well as for their own growth.

 Initially, the glucose level concentration in the blood becomes 30mg/100ml and then later on it becomes 10mg/100 ml. Since sugar or glucose is a vital thing for the brain to function correctly. The deficiency or lack of glucose will lead to the dysfunction of the nerves and result in coma and then the death of the animals.

The requirements of energy by the pregnant female goats are compounded, especially for the female goats that are carrying multiple fetuses. The fetuses compress the rumen of the female goat, and the female goat cannot eat properly to fulfil all the energy requirements she needs during the last month of the pregnancy.

As a result of this improper feeding, the female goat will rely on the body reserves of the fat to fulfil the energy requirements. The goat will metabolize a large quantity of the body fat that results in the production of ketones within the blood. These ketones have toxic effects on the body of goats if it remained in a more significant amount. Thus the goat will start to exhibit the signs of pregnancy toxemia.

Symptoms of Pregnancy Toxemia in Goats

A keen farmer can observe the early signs and symptoms of pregnancy toxemia. Most of the pregnancy toxemia cases occur one to three weeks before parturition. If the pregnancy toxemia occurs earlier than 140 days of the gestation period, then the severity of pregnancy toxemia is more intense, and there will be more chances of death. Decreased feeding especially the consumption of grains, is the initial indication of pregnancy toxemia.

The goats having pregnancy toxemia will lay down for more time as compared to the herd-mates. The female goats will start showing the signs like aimless walking, listlessness, twitching of the muscles, tremors of the muscles, teeth grinding, star grazing and spam of muscles that may cause the backward stretching of the head.   

As the disease advances, the goat will further show the signs like uncontrolled walking, blindness, laying on ribs, coma and eventually death. The glucose level in the blood of the female goat may become normal or even goes higher than normal. This higher glucose level will lead to the death of the fetus and cause infection in the blood of the female goat. The contamination leads to the death of the female goat.

How Do You Treat Toxemia in Goats

As during the early stage of pregnancy toxemia the goats become off feed or show less interest in the pasture, then it is better to drench them orally with propylene glycol at the dose rate of 60ml twice a day for three consecutive days.

Addition of calcium, potassium, insulin will increase the chances of survival of the goats. Some oral electrolytes products are available in the market than can be given through the stomach tube. This solution of electrolytes may cause abortion however, it is better to safe the female goat. Administration of steroids will also induce parturition.

The prognosis or the chances of survival of the female goats having advance cases of pregnancy toxemia is very poor. Therefore, it is better to euthanatize the goat and focus on the rest of the goat. Nevertheless, aggressive treatment is required to safe the goats with advance pregnancy toxemia.

Before initiating any aggressive treatment, make sure that the fetus is alive through ultrasound. If the fetus is alive, then the best option is to perform the C-section as soon as possible keeping in mind the gestation period of 147 days. If the fetus is no more or premature, then inject dexamethasone to remove the fetus. Make sure to use antibiotics like penicillin to avoid secondary infection within the goats.   

Preventing Pregnancy Toxemia in Goats

One of the significant factors of pregnancy toxemia to occur is the nutrition of pregnant goats. The gestation period is shorter in goats as compared to the other ruminants; therefore, the fetus of the goats requires more glucose and nutrients, especially during the last two months of the pregnancy. According to studies, almost eighty percent of the fetus growth takes places in the last six weeks of the gestation period.

The prevention of pregnancy toxemia is thus possible by providing better management and nutrition to the goats. The goats in the last stages of pregnancy require almost fifty percent more feed as compared to the other goats. If twins are present, then the goat requires around 75% of the feed. However, twins may compress the rumen; therefore, concentrates may help the goats to fulfil the requirement.

Ionophores (chemicals that bind ions) increase the feed efficiency by altering the population of microflora in the rumen, thus increasing the effectiveness of the feed and fulfilling the requirement of the goats.