Selenium deficiency – has seen 2 goats go down with White Muscle disease and it ends up stopping the heart.  She gives 1/2cc BoSe to each newborn and has never had issues with toxicity.  Do not use MuSe as it is toxic.

Kidding

·        Labor

o       1^st stage – doe is restless, talkative, paws at the ground, and sometimes goes off by herself.  This can last from 4 – 5 hours or a ½ a day.

o       2^nd stage – the water bag presents.  Once you see it, give her 30 minutes to push the kid out before pulling the kid.  Sometimes you only see tissue, only give her 10 minutes as the water bag has broke.

§         If the feet present upside down, usually the kid is backwards.  A small percentage of the time, the kid will be upside down.  Get the kid out asap.  They will drowned if they are backwards.  If 2 front legs present and no head, it isn’t coming out until you reposition it.  If the head is big, pull the head and one leg.  You don’t need the second leg as they are so limber.  If you go in and only feel tissue, it is a true breech.  If 2 hind legs present, you have to pull both to get it out.

o       3^rd stage – passing the placenta – can take up to 3 days.  If the doe doesn’t pass it right away, can give 2cc oxytocin every 6 hours IM.  Give LA200 SQ (so it doesn’t sting). 

§         She gives IM injections in the neck since that is a smaller cut of meat that can’t be used if the goat goes to market.  She also gives them in the chest under the front leg so you can’t see any knots that may develop.

·        Dip the kid’s navel in iodine, weigh it, give the BoSe. 

·        They need colostrum in the first 4 hours, definitely in the first 18 hours.  If the doe can’t provide the colostrum, do not use a colostrum supplement.  Use an actual colostrum product or some from another doe.  If your doe doesn’t come into milk, can give 2cc oxytocin to bring it in.

·        Milk out does after kids get the initial colostrum and put it in ice trays.  After it freezes, put it in baggies and give 2 cubes to any kid that needs it.

·        In cold weather, can use goat coats for 1^st 24 hours while they can’t regulate their temperature.

·        Deworm the does then make sure they can milk.  Then put the kids on mom and make sure they nurse.  She puts them in a stall with mom for 24 – 48 hours.

·        Provide an area where little kids can get away from the big does.  She turns a gate upside down and the does can’t get through the bottom but the kids can.

·        She uses 16% pelleted feed with Rumensin for kids.

·        Sometimes run into issues at 2 months old.  Kids have been doing great, then they get a hacky cough, hair is dull and they are getting ‘ribby’.  This is usually Cocci.  You may not see scours.  Will probably see black, hard feces.  This affects the small intestine, so there is decreased digestion.  Treatment is 5 days of Albon or it’s generic.  The first day, dose at 1.5 cc per 10 lbs. of body weight.  Days 2 – 5 are half that dose.  If you treat several kids in the water, change the water out once a day.

·        If you have to go inside a doe, go in as sterile as possible.  Clean her, then use gloves.  Use lube, like J lube (a powder you add water to).  If you have to really work in there, mix up an iodine wash with 1% iodine and warm water.  Mix it to the color of tea, then put it in an enema or douche bag.  Use about 2 quarts.  Then give LA200 (5cc per 100 lb. SQ once) and 2cc Oxytocin.

·        Advance Goat Milk Replacer is good for bottle babies.  Burkman in Danville carries it and TriCounty may have it.  Cow milk replacer has a lot of fat in it and can cause bloat.  Buttermilk has helped scours.

·        She weans at 4 months.

·        Kids born in the summer don’t do that great.

Vaccinations
CDT – gives 30 days prior to kidding so the kids get protection from it.  At birth, she gives the kids 5cc of C&D antitoxin.  At 4 weeks, 1^st toxoid booster (she uses 5cc of Covexin 8, she didn’t like Bar Vac).  At 8 weeks, a booster.  At 4 months, wethers get another booster.

Deworming

• She saw a lot of lice this fall.  It’s easy to treat with Cylence.  She worms when it gets cold, right when the doe kids and late April or mid May based on fecal and eyelid color (FAMACHA).  Only worm the ones that need it.  Larva start shooting up in April.

• If your animals go for meat, be careful of withdrawal times of the wormers.  Ivermectin is 45 days.
• If you are getting resistance to Cydectin, or Ivermectin, use Levamisol.  It’s not being produced right now though.
• If you have a goat that’s resistant, get them healthy and then to market.  They will just breed the resistance.

Bucks
They need ammonium chloride to prevent Urinary Calculi, which is a real problem in the summer when they can get dehydrated.  Alfalfa is too high in calcium and phosphorus, so she never feeds it to bucks.  For treatment - you can get powdered ammonium cholride, mix it with water to get it down, and give a teaspoon full a day.  You can also add 1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar to 5 gallons of water.  Sometimes, cutting the end of the appendage off will release the stone.

Nutrition
Goats don’t need to be roly poly fat, especially during late gestation.  They won’t be able to eat with the kids and fat taking up all the room.  Their stomachs end up shrinking.  Does should be a 3 on the body scale, with muscle in the backbone.  They should be fleshy right behind their elbows over the ribs, but not fat.
The ideal situation would be to separate your does based on the number of kids they appear to be carrying and feed them accordingly.  Make sure that the big ones come to eat every day.  Make them get up and come eat if they won’t.

Q Fever
We can get goat diseases.  This one is rare, but it can happen.  The bacteria causes flu-like symptoms in people.  In does, it causes abortions.  Goats came in from South Texas several years back.  The animal and you if you get it, have to go on antibiotics.

* if you work with a lot of animals and you get sick, tell your doctor as he might bring in a disease specialist.