Chapter 11

"Health Problems"

from Natural Goat Care
by Pat Coleby

The first part of this chapter covers CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis). The complexity of the disease renders a section on its own necessary. It is only through understanding the implications and testing for this disease that it will be brought under control in our goat populations.

CAE — Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis

This is a disease which is immuno-suppressive and is caused by a retrovirus (sometimes called lentivirus) and, in this particular instance, affects goats. Initially the disease was known as "Big Knees" which was one of the obvious signs when arthritis was present — actually many other parts of the body are affected when the knees are swollen, but that was discovered later. However, we soon learned that arthritis was only one part of it; encephalitis, hard udder, irreparable lung damage (with persistent pneumonia), outbreaks of CLA (Caseus Lymphadenitis) that would not clear up, one-sided udders, brain lesions, spinal damage, chronic mastitis and a host of generally unexplainable wasting conditions were all due, directly or indirectly, to CAE. The goat is left without immune defenses against even the most ordinary ailments.

AIDS in humans, Maedi Visna in sheep, Bovine Visna in cattle, Equine Infectious Anemia in horses and so on, every species has its own variety of immune system disease. We can only speculate on the reasons for the sudden upsurge in immune system afflictions. Some schools of thought blame our over enthusiastic use of vaccines, drugs, sprays and artificial fertilizers — our general health has declined seriously and immune systems do not seem to be what they were. All the different autoimmune diseases are remarkably similar, all that differs is the mode of transmission — the net results seem to be the same — a slow, lingering death once the disease becomes active.

There are many different opinions about the frequency and mode of spread in goats (as in other species), lateral or vertical in other words. However, there is absolutely no doubt that the chief mode of infection in goats is via the milk and colostrum. Of course, the blood, as in all kinds of autoimmune diseases, is the greatest carrier; however in properly carried out animal husbandry, infection by blood (via injection needles or tattooing) should not occur.

CAE and Copper

There is a strong link between CAE and lack of copper in the diet. Before anyone knew what it was, the disease had been documented in the United States as a condition where the goat either had not received, or had been unable to assimilate, the correct amount of copper. It seems that a diet deficient in that mineral would predispose an animal to lateral infection.

My goats have always had supplementary copper since before the start of the CAE era (or what we considered to be the start). This was due to Dr. Alan Clark, B.V.Sc. who tested copper levels in my herd so we could establish the dietary amounts needed. Seeing the copper levels are correct would be a small price to pay in the control of this illness. In 1990, in the United States, St. Johnswort, a plant high in copper, was first used to help combat AIDS. Also in the United States, the very rapid spread of AIDS had been linked to inadequate copper in the food chain — perhaps due to the advent of plastic plumbing — caught the FDA on the hop. They had always assumed that most people got more than enough copper in their diets and found that when they tested AIDS sufferers in particular, they had only one twentieth of what they should have had (Acres U.S.A). Johnes disease, a simple bacterial condition also needs a copper-deficient host.

I realized that my management of CAE was working and about as bloodless as it could be, but still a nightmare. Others were not so lucky. A certain breeder who was obeying all the rules about separate herds, sheds, etc., rang me to say that yet again her goatlings had come up positive. I asked how much copper she was feeding: "None, everyone told me not to listen to you." I suggested that she take some copper and see if the goats were interested. She took out an enamel pudding dish full of it and 11 goats stood and ate the lot — after that she believed me.

When the copper level tests were done on my herd, I had about one third showing "big knees." Alan Clark and I confidently expected them to show low calcium/magnesium levels as it appeared to be an arthritic condition. To our surprise, they only showed low copper levels, even though I was supplementing with a small amount of the mineral. From these tests, we established the lower level of copper supplementation. I later raised the levels slightly in the diet after reading information from Japan that dark haired people needed six times more copper than those with fair hair (I ran predominantly black British Alpines). Over the ensuing ten years, while fighting to eradicate CAE from a fairly large herd of dairy goats, I had no lateral spread at all. The only transmission of the disease was by milk and/or colostrum. My goats have a minimum of one teaspoon of copper sulfate a head per week, this is run through the feed on a daily basis as suggested in this book.

Because of having to make my living from milking, I could not afford either to run a double farm (difficult if you are single handed) or wholesale slaughter. I had to do the best I could, which was to run a mixed herd. This I did for 10 years coming up to 1989 — and probably before that without knowing it. By the time I quit full-time milking in 1992, the herd had been CAE-free for two years.

I have used positive bucks over negative does and vice versa. I have, from the time that I was able to afford testing the whole herd, tried to feed positives together and negatives likewise. Even that came unstuck when someone gave me a negative which was not truly negative; she spent her youth and adolescence feeding with two negatives. In spite of that I have only had one case of a grown animal becoming infected and it was not from the supposedly negative animal. It was doe who managed to raid the bucket into which I put the first squirt of milk from each doe taken off before I start milking. I was called to the phone and, to my horror, when I returned I found she had slipped the chain and had milk all over her face. Two months later she tested positive having had, prior to that time, negative tests and two negative kids. She and another doe that was accidentally infected at birth were the last two before the herd was clear.

Probably the biggest cause of lateral infection is via milking machines. An article from La Chevre quoted in the British Goat Journal said that it had been discovered that for a few milliseconds, when the clusters are first put on, the pressure in the udder is lower than that in the clusters and the milk is sucked back into the udder. The newest cow clusters in Europe are now being fitted with anti suck-back shields to prevent the spread of disease. In this country Diversey now markets a small valve that does the same task.

So it is absolutely essential that commercial herds know the status of their goats. Negatives must be milked before positives. It is an ongoing program which must be kept up-to-date until the herd is totally free of the disease. Sadly, every country in the world, except apparently South Africa, has CAE. A run down but beautifully set-up commercial concern I saw in Sussex, England in 1988 had reached the stage where 50 percent of the milking herd showed clinical CAE (big knees). Status was totally unknown as was the fact that they had CAE at all. I had the unenviable task of telling them to get the vet in and start testing. The new managers (of two days) knew all was not well, but did not have the slightest idea of the cause. Once they institute a control program, a couple of years should see the situation well on the way to being clarified.

One excellent preparation called VAM (Vitamins, Amino Acids and Minerals), which is an injection available in Australia, enabled me to nurse my positives along so that they could bear their kids. It kept them going and feeling reasonable well when all else failed. In normal goats a two cc intramuscular injection lasts about two months. The CAE goats needed it weekly in some cases, but it was worth it to see them enjoying life.

Testing in the United Kingdom is easy compared with Australia because the test for Maedi Visna in sheep (a disease which is not in Australia yet, thank goodness) can also be used for CAE. The sometimes outrageous prices asked here for CAE testing have been a great setback in bringing the illness under control. Particularly in Victoria where there has been no Department of Agriculture sponsored scheme, as there is in other States.

Catching the kids may be time consuming but, in all cases of straightforward births, it seems to be successful. If the birth has complications and the placenta is broken inside the doe, there is a very real chance that CAE will have been passed to the kid before it is born. I know of two cases where the first one or two kids were "caught" quite successfully, but the last kid was born after much difficulty and it was infected — one was the doe referred to earlier in this section who was supposed to be clear. Kids from such births should be assumed to be positive until they are proven otherwise. Tests must not be done on kids under six months who are fed milk from negative does, and not before twelve months for kids fed sterilized infected milk. The latter must not be tested until at least four to five months after they have stopped having the sterilized milk. The dead virus will cause passive immunity which will show up as a positive in any test for CAE done before that time.

Kids must be kept separate from positive adults or those of unknown status until they are four or five months at least. Kids that suckle their dams must never be run with positives or goats of unknown status — one cannot be quite sure that they may not suck from the wrong doe.

Care should be taken at shows to make sure the judge’s hands are washed between handling each goat’s udder. Leaders must open their goat’s mouths for the judge and, if you are leading up someone else’s goats, make sure you wash before and after doing so.

Tattoo letters and numbers must be disinfected between doing each animal, particularly if they are goats or kids from another farm. Make sure that injection needles are not used on more than one animal at a time — particularly when testing for CAE — regrettably, I once had to tell a vet to use a fresh needle each time when bleeding the goats. These are all possible methods of spread.

In 1991 a further and very disturbing factor emerged, the ELISA test commonly used in detecting CAE picks up a similar signal if the tested goats are sick (with something other than CAE). Only after careful and exhaustive re-running of tests was this fact verified and so saved some perfectly sound goats from death. At last tests on milk are being suggested, the virus was first detected in milk so it is feasible and would perhaps stop any anomalies arising from using the ELISA test.

Catching Kids

Make arrangements for a special kidding area into which all positive does or those of unknown status are removed the moment they show signs of kidding. Have chains with snap hooks at head height on the wall to which the doe can be attached so she cannot reach the kid to lick it. Occasionally kids arrive rather fast. Have clean newspaper ready, catch the kid in it as it is being born and remove it as far away as possible — preferably out of earshot of its mother. Dry and clean the kid with the newspaper, rubbing it quite hard as this helps the circulation, then put the kid away to await its first feed. Some people suggest bathing the kid, I have never done it and all my "snatched" births have been successful.

If the kids are taken away in this way, so that the doe cannot see or hear them, it helps stop her fretting. Some people leave unwanted buck kids on positives, but I think it is unwise to take the risk if they are running with negative does as they might suck the wrong doe. One of the sadder aspects of CAE is that the does cannot ever suckle their kids.

Feeding Caught Kids

I have tried feeding kids cow’s colostrum, but felt that it was really of doubtful value (and it too, can transmit disease) as immunity is not conferred by any animal save the mother of the kid concerned. Heat treating positive colostrum is a tricky business and it only needs one mistake for the infection to be spread all over again.

I learned to make the first drink from either unpasteurized milk from a clean negative (of at least two generations), or pasteurized milk from positive does, which we all had to do at first. To the warm milk I added one teaspoon of cod liver oil and half a teaspoon of liquid seaweed concentrate (I use Vitec Fish and Kelp Stock drench or the product that Maxicrop put up — these do not have any additives and are the safest). The kids passed their first manure very quickly and never looked back on this regimen and at least there was no chance of some odd disease being contracted from another animal’s colostrum.

Heat Treating Milk

This can be done fairly easily by raising the milk to 165 degrees fahrenheit and keeping it there for five seconds. Use a cooking thermometer and suspend it over the pasteurizing pan so it is in the middle. My first whole season of feeding kids from positive does by this method resulted in all negatives. As mentioned above, do not test until the kids are a year old since before that they could show "passive" positive even though they are not infected. Unfortunately, far too many kids were killed until this fact was pointed out by a vet.

Even when the herd has reached negative status, I think it would be very unwise to feed pooled milk to the kids. They should be fed from a select few tested does who are several generations clear. We did, after all, hasten the spread of CAE, which has quite definitely been in Australia for nearly 40 years at least (since 1960 if not before), by feeding pooled milk. In a situation where does always fed their own kids, it could not spread so far or fast.

I remember one quite beautiful black doe that I was given, an excellent milker who showed absolutely no signs of ill health at all, no "big knees" (I would not have known what it was anyway at that time). I always used her milk to feed the kids. When she was nine years old the goats came under great stress from nitrate poisoning and up her knees came. Too late. Most of the kids had been destroyed because we soon learned that any kid whose knees came up — usually at six months or so — became an unthrifty adult, so they were never allowed to live once it happened.

The above story bears out what one of the vets who researched CAE here said to me. He postulated that, in herds where the management was good and there was no stress, he felt that up to 90 percent of the goats could be positives and show no signs until they died and possibly not even then. Many people tell me that they have never seen any signs of the disease so they do not test. But, as soon as those goats are sold to another farm — no matter how good the management — the stress of moving (if they are positive) activates the virus and they start to show big knees, lung troubles, hard udder or whatever.

Never buy a doe unless she is negative, with a vets certificate, unless she comes from a tested herd. A test done while a doe is pregnant is likely to show negative regardless because being in kid often temporarily suppresses the virus in the blood. Does should not be tested until at least two months after they have kidded. When I needed to buy two goats here, as I had lost most of mine in the move, I did not heed the above information. The doe I purchased was from a reputable stud, all advertized as being CAE free. I had to kill her and her two kids and by that time her milk had infected two more.

I have not gone into details of the disease from the clinical point of view to avoid confusing goat keepers with too much information. Only one fact should be borne in mind; for humane reasons, any goat that shows big knees should immediately be shot or otherwise euthanized. The vet who destroyed six of my positives some years ago emphasized this fact, because the post-mortem examinations showed that the first place to be affected by the virus is the brain (neurotic goats nearly always turned out to be positives), the second sign was spinal lesions and the knees were the last to come up. So by the time the animal’s knees showed the effects of the disesase, the goat was already suffering quite badly.

Bucks and CAE

It is obviously important that bucks do not suffer from CAE, therefore they too should be "caught." However, the vets in Western Australia who first isolated the virus and found that it was transmitted in the milk now say that it is not passed on by bucks and positive bucks may be used over healthy negative does. This bears out what I have found, I had to use positives over negatives and vice versa because I could not afford to do anything else. There was never any transmission of CAE at the time of mating in either direction. This is a merciful dispensation of nature, otherwise we would have lost even more valuable genetic material than we have already. Obviously we want our bucks to last well into double figures, which is what used to happen before CAE, so they should be reared CAE free.

First Generation Negatives

In my mind there is no doubt that these animals are not quite as robust as the later generations, especially if both the parents were positives. They have to be looked after extra well, after all, it is a small price to pay to be free of what is financially, emotionally and physically a ghastly illness.

General Goat Health

Below is a check list of diseases and the deficiencies that bring them about; I find that they help stock-keepers to realize that diseases are not entirely caused by germs.

Goat Check List

Deficiency: Calcium and magnesium
Disease: Bone deformities, Bloat (with Potassium), Mastitis/high cell count, Nervous behavior, Respiratory ailments, Peeling horns

Deficiency: Calcium and Magnesium
Disease: Tetanies/milk fever, Warts, All fungal diseases (i.e., ringworm), All worms and fluke, Anaemia Auto-immune disease (spread in absence of copper), Cancer, Failing to cycle, Foot rot and foot scald, Copper Goat pox, Herpes infections, Johnes disease, Scabby mouth, orf (Herpes), Steely fleece ("dermo")

Deficiency: Vitamins A and D
Disease: Failing to hold to service, Pink eye (blight, conjunctivitis)

Deficiency: cod liver oil
Disease: Knuckle-over (contracted tendons), Metritis, Uterine infections

Deficiency: Sulfur
Disease: Lice, Poor digestion/selenium assimilation

Deficiency: Potassium
Disease: Dystokia

Deficiency: Cider vinegar
Disease: Urinary calculi (water belly)

Deficiency: Zinc
Disease: Eczema

Deficiency: Boron
Disease: Arthritis

Unfortunately we cannot be like David Mackenzie and say there should be no health problems since he had the ideal environment for his goats — three miles of coast line and plenty of room. In those circumstances and with the feeding he suggests, illnesses would be at a minimum — even in the United Kingdom few people can aspire to similar surroundings. In Australia we do not have a hope of emulating him. Here our goats have to face a series of soil deficiencies and imbalances and farmers — of milking goats particularly — have to be very good at their job to keep the goats healthy and productive.

Goats in the wild travel vast distances to find the feeds they want and only suckle their own kids, like their sisters of the meat and fiber sorority, for about three months or less. In these circumstances nutritional stresses should not occur. But those who have brought feral goats into farm situations will tell a very different story, with goats dying by the hundreds in some cases.

The more that we know about the effect of nutritional stress causing disease conditions, the more do I feel that hereditary conditions are not quite as frequent as we are led to believe. Several conditions hitherto considered hereditary are now found to be due to nutritional stress at one stage or another.

In some cases the stress is caused by overfeeding; this was much more common about thirty years ago — acetonemia was the most dreaded illness then, but it is hardly ever heard of now. Generally, a lack of the correct minerals in the right amounts is the culprit.

Sick land with calcium, magnesium and/or sulfur deficiencies coupled with a pH so low that the acidity of the soil inhibits the uptake of trace minerals, is also a medium where dung beetles cannot do their task of taking animal manures below the ground. So the result is a double-edged sword, increasing worm burdens suffered by goats who are not receiving the nutrients they need from their grazing. In other words — disaster. In my experience, it takes three years for people to realize the truth of this and then they have to take steps to improve their land.

Goats are by nature browsers, worm larvae and eggs are found in wet pasture not up trees, so goats in their natural state would not encounter many worm problems. The same happened in Africa when giraffes were first confined in game reserves and were expected to eat grass instead of the trees they preferred — I’d rather drench a goat than a giraffe.

Nursing

In any illness good nursing and confidence of the patient in the nurse are generally more than half the battle. This is the great argument in favor of well-handled goats. I have bought in poorly handled animals who still, several years later, shrink from human contact (except at milking time); to these animals, drenching or any treatment is an experience so traumatic that often it seems to do more harm than good.

Treatments

Most of the treatments I suggest have been discussed with or emanate from the veterinary profession in many countries. Papers given at various conferences world-wide have yielded much information. Some are learned from an older (and wiser) generation of farmers. For example, the late Mrs. Maura Mackay of Glenroy (Angora and Saanen) fame should have the thanks of countless dairy farmers (both goat and cattle) for teaching us how to use dolomite as a cure, control and preventative for mastitis.

Many people do not notice an animal that is off color until it is really ill — and quite frequently it is often too late by that stage. The goat that is lying down when all the others are standing eating, or is lying apart from the others — that is the animal that should be checked. My method of shedding ensures that I immediately see any goat that does not dive straight into her food night and morning, or any goat that has a dirty back end — both indicators that all is not well. Teeth grinding, yawning and repeated stretching tells the goat farmer that the animal has a pain somewhere and trouble will soon follow if steps are not taken to rectify matters. It is not fair to a vet to allow the goat to reach a semi-moribund state and then expect a cure. Goats often give up when they feel ill and then it will very likely be too late by the time the vet arrives unless some supportive measures like B12 and vitamin C injections have been used.

I use vitamin C instead of antibiotics for infections, whether bacterial or viral. If it is used in large enough quantities, it works for viruses, unlike antibiotics, and it has no side effects. Antibiotics are used to offset the secondary (generally bacterial) infections which usually occur after a viral infection. Much of the work with vitamin C has been done with friends who are vets and we have been amazed at some of the results when all else has failed.

I have had unfortunate experiences with some antibiotics, but in those early days no one, vets included, knew the right amounts for goats. They were assessed like sheep, as the weights were similar, until several very unlooked for results made us all realize that we had to have a totally different yardstick for goats. All antibiotics have their side effects and I prefer not to use them, although one vet I know of uses vitamins with them and gives good reports of the results. I do not use immunizations — and have found no need to do so — that is my choice. Like David Mackenzie, I see no use for them in properly looked after goats.

It is important to learn how to properly give an injection to a goat. The University of Melbourne taught me years ago never to give a goat an injection in the rump or rear of the back legs. This followed a post-mortem on a goat that died from an antibiotic which had been injected in her rear of the legs. I was told by a butcher that animals have a gland around there, and very few people even know of it. The needle had evidently hit it and the leg was already atrophying and the back leg would have eventually become useless. The vets told me that for intramuscular injections, the muscle in the side of the neck was always absolutely safe and never to give any injection without thoroughly cleaning the site first.

Intravenous injections are often very good if there are two people present, one to hold the animal still and one to inject. But if the goat is in a state of shock, or when the veins collapse, it is no use trying to find one. This frequently happens in the case of snake bite.

The bottom line in any sickness is good nursing, keeping a goat warm and as happy as possible under the circumstances. This can pose problems because sometimes a goat will fret if removed from its companions. A sick bay within sight and sound of the other goats is sometimes a good idea — other times they are better totally segregated — one has to play it by ear. It is no good just giving the animal the appropriate treatment and leaving it to sort itself out, they need care and reassurance.

Abscess

An abscess can be caused by grass seed working out from the back of the mouth or an organism entering a break in the skin. The body tries to expel the foreign matter and an abscess forms in the process. It can be hurried up by hot fomentations, or occasionally extra vitamin C, but it is really best to leave it to come to a head naturally. The vitamin C can be given as an injection of three grams for two days running which speeds up the process by detoxifying the poison.

When the abscess comes to a head and breaks, clean the pus away — burning all material used in the process. Wear rubber gloves if you have broken skin on your hands. Then syringe out the site with a mixture of 10 percent copper sulfate and water, trying to remove the core of the abscess. Allow it to drain and close up of its own accord and be careful it does not become fly blown, Flints oils or septicide ointment are both good preventatives against fly strike and the wound can be filled with either.

If an abscess is allowed to come to a head naturally and cleaned out as described, the healing will be very fast indeed. If however, the abscess is lanced before it is ready, a very nasty mess ensues which often takes several weeks to clear up.

Acetonemia

This used to be the goat disease when I started goat keeping at the beginning of the 1960s. It was almost endemic in studs where goats were fed a great deal of high protein feed without the balancing carbohydrates and dolomite. This was done to encourage high production and many of the goats were over fat and under exercised.

Signs are misery, irregular cudding, lack of appetite, dark, sticky looking droppings and breath smelling of pear drops. Remove the cause and treat first as a cobalt deficiency, giving two cc of B12 by injection three days running and a dessertspoon of dolomite daily for three days. Rethink the feed program and see that the goats are exercised.

Goats that are heavily hand fed become lazy about going out to look for grazing, a bit of mild starvation will usually give them the idea. Goats that regularly receive the correct minerals and whose food does not exceed 14 percent protein should not succumb to acetonemia.

Anemia

This is due to a shortage of hemoglobin, or red blood cells. In any country except Australia this could mean a lack of iron in the fodder. In Australia most soils have adequate to too much iron so it will mean that the anemia will be due to a lack of copper. Without copper, iron cannot be utilized (see section on copper). The other causes could be liver fluke, blood-sucking worms like barbers pole (haemonchus contortus) brown stomach worms (ostertagia) or bleeding from an internal injury.

The most obvious sign of anemia is goats that are lethargic and off their feed. Examine the membranes of the eyes, they should be a good deep pink to red but will possibly be a rather pale pink to white. Checking the membranes of the eye should be a weekly, if not daily, part of good husbandry.

If lack of copper is the cause of the anemia, this can be fairly easily adjusted if the animals are fed copper through their ration as suggested in Chapter 6. But a worm count should also be taken because blood-sucking worms kill goats, especially kids, very quickly indeed. Kids with barber’s pole infestation will be found to have chalk white eye membranes. Act very fast; administer B12 injections (one cc) every four hours, the mildest possible worm drench as a very strong drug could kill at this stage, and for the next three days provide an iron tonic (ironcyclene or similar). Give them seaweed meal ad lib which will go some way to building up the copper, which should be in the feed as already described. Worms and fluke are not interested in hosts whose copper requirements are being met.

Uncharacteristically low butterfats are often due to anemia, they are not always hereditary. A failed milk test is quite often a goat owner’s first clue that something is wrong. I was told years ago always to give the goats a course of vitamin B12 injections coming up to a milk test (where butter fats are recorded). Sometimes I did it, not knowing why and wondered if it made any difference, but obviously the person who had told me found that it did.

Arthritis

Beginning from the late 1970s until now, we have come to equate this condition with CAE. However, goats can and do get arthritis that does not owe its origin to that virus.

Signs are creaking joints (audible a few feet away) in mild cases, heat, stiffness and sometimes swelling in the joints — knee and stifle in particular. Arthritis is caused by nutritional stress due to an imbalance of the minerals in the feed. When it occurs in animals that are already receiving the correct amount of dolomite, it will be due to insufficient vitamins A and D and/or copper and/or boron — all are needed to assimilate calcium and magnesium.

One of the papers presented at the Tours International Conference of Goats also implicated a lack of copper as a predisposing factor (copper bracelets on horses have had good press). The lack of A and D can be due to reasons suggested in the section on those two vitamins (see Chapter 10). Lack of boron necessary for vitamin A and D absorption will be due to a shortfall in the soil. One teaspoon of borax between twenty goats once a week supplies enough boron.

Treat arthritis by removing the grains from the ration initially — give plenty of good quality grass hay, green feed and a little chaff and bran. Give vitamin A and D in some form regularly and include seaweed meal ad lib for the boron and copper. Cider vinegar is also a great help and should be added to the feed, or let the patient help itself. As much borax as will adhere to the tip of a finger can be fed daily. These days, in any case of arthritis, the goat must be tested for CAE and if it is positive no treatment will work.

Arthritis — Infective/Septic

This is caused by an organism that has gained entry through a wound, or possibly the navel cord (which may not have been properly disinfected at birth), or, more rarely, following mating to an infected animal — this can work either way. It usually takes about six weeks for the organism — generally corynebacteria — to show up. It happens very suddenly, with arthritic symptoms and a high temperature. Very occasionally high doses of antibiotics work, but this bacteria is notoriously difficult to treat, especially when it is in a joint where it can cause irremediable damage. Vitamin C therapy started immediately when signs are observed could possibly be successful — give a kid five grams (10 cc) intravenously if possible, if not, inject in the muscle and repeat every 12 hours. Give half a teaspoon of cod liver oil every two days, preferably by mouth. Good nursing procedures and giving afflicted adults twice the above dosage may work. Make sure the patients have unlimited access to seaweed meal.

Infective arthritis, whether from the navel or otherwise, is an unfortunate condition because it lies dormant for quite a long period while the causative organism is already doing damage. I bought a kid from interstate which was seven weeks old before a navel abscess showed up closely followed by infectious arthritis. We did not know about vitamin C in those days and the available drugs had little if any effect. It is also probable that it would have been too late for vitamin C to work. Its navel cord had not been disinfected and it was born in an old sheep yard, a frequent source of infection.

I learned about the venereal variety when a doe, who I afterwards learned had aborted previously and was in poor health, was brought to a good young buck for service. The first I knew was several weeks later when the buck suddenly became crippled with arthritis in all four legs. Everything was tried, and eventually he was put down and a post-mortem was performed. The cause was then discovered, corynebacteria and a swab of the last four does he had covered revealed the culprit, who appeared perfectly well. She did not hold to the service and was probably incapable of conceiving.

Do not let a doe come to your buck if there is any history of abortion or similar trouble. Insist on a clean swab (a swab can only be done when she is in season) before she comes back.

Avitaminosis

This condition literally means that the goat has run out of essential minerals and therefore vitamins rather suddenly. Unusual lethargy, unwillingness to move, eat or drink are the first signs of this ailment. Examine the membranes of the mouth, according to the severity of the condition they will either be streaked with scarlet lines or be a bright pillarbox red all over. Give the affected goat a dessertspoon of dolomite, the same of vitamin C, and two ml of VAM in the muscle — also give seaweed meal straight into the mouth and leave it for the animal to take as much as it wants. Usually this is enough, but in a severe case the treatment may be repeated eight hours later. I first met this affliction in a doe belonging to a friend who had bought the minerals for it but had not fed them. I suggested that she weigh the minerals, put them out for the goat and see what happened — the goat in question ate a pound without stopping and recovered almost instantaneously.

Bent Leg (Kids)

This is caused by a bad calcium/magnesium to phosphate imbalance which is almost invariably produced by overfeeding with milk. In one case where I was consulted a kid was being given 12 pints of milk a day — far too much. The bones (and the kid) grow very fast when this happens, too fast for the bone to form as it should — hard and flinty. The imbalance makes bones soft and porous, so the weight of the body causes the legs, usually front, to bend.

To treat it reduce, preferably stop, the milk intake, (see Chapter 8 on the reasons against overfeeding kids with milk) to about a pint a day at most. Give a teaspoon of cider vinegar daily and some form of cod liver oil, (A and D injection or by mouth). Grain must not be fed, only a little oaten chaff, bran and good grass hay. Dolomite must be mixed in the feed, a teaspoon a day, and the same for yellow sulfur — no more. Seaweed meal should be obtainable ad lib, and a gram of copper a day in the feed (dissolved in the cider vinegar). If caught in time, the legs usually straighten by the time the kid is full grown.

Bent Leg in the Newborn (Contracted Tendons)

The kids are born with their front legs bent under them so they stand on their toes — this can affect either one leg or both legs. The impression is that the flexor tendons are pulled up too tight, which is exactly what has happened. In extreme cases the leg or legs assume an "S" bend. I used to think this was just one of those things that would right itself — it usually did — eventually. Some authorities list it as being hereditary, but it is not. Drought or overhead main grid power lines can both interfere with the correct synthesis of vitamins A and D.

My last untested (for CAE) doe to kid produced two does with badly contracted tendons. I gave them the homemade colostrum mentioned in the section on CAE. Within a few hours, the kid’s legs had straightened completely instead of taking the usual week. The next doe to kid was from the same place as the first one; both had ongoing vitamin A deficiencies, possibly due to the fact they were reared under power lines. Again the kid’s front legs were deformed and the A and D worked just as fast. In this case the mother was able to feed her own kids, so I gave each one half a teaspoon of cod liver oil straight in the mouth.

Recently a friend called me with a six-week-old kid that had a contracted tendon in one leg only. It was so bad that the leg was twisted right around. I felt that in one leg there could be a deformity, but suggested that she try the A and D. To her amazement (and mine) the kid came good in a few hours.

Goat farmers should make a note of does who produce kids with this complaint and give them a cod liver oil booster about three weeks before kidding. This should prevent contracted tendons from occurring. The does could be given either A, D and E injections, or oral cod liver oil.

Bent Leg in Adults

This is usually caused by a sudden increase in phosphate-rich feed resulting in a possible withdrawal of calcium and magnesium from the bones. The goat pictured here was given extra alfalfa hay coming up to kidding because it was a particularly hard winter. The diet should have been altered by giving extra oaten chaff, bran and little barley with as much good quality grass hay as desired. I also recommend the following additions to routine supplements:

• Give 1 tablespoon of dolomite with each feed for a week, then cut it back to the regular dessertspoon
• 1 tablespoon of cod liver oil 1 pinch of borax in the feed twice a week
• 1 cup of cider vinegar with each feed
• Seaweed meal ad lib

Once the leg starts to harden up, go back to the regular ration but avoid sudden increases in rich feed.

Beta Mannisidosis

This is an hereditary cell storage disease, similar to Alpha Mannisidosis in Angus cattle. The cells cease to function properly and store material that should be expelled until finally the system, loaded with toxins, breaks down. The brain cells appear to be the worst affected. Up until the present time in Australia this problem has mainly been found in Nubians and a few Saanens. The signs are usually fairly conclusive and it shows up in kids as spasticity. There appears to be no known cure and affected animals usually live no more than a few weeks.

Owen Dawson visited one property where Nubian bucks had been used over ferals for meat production and there was a very high proportion of spastic kids. Thus it would seem that it possibly is not necessary for both individuals to carry the disease — perhaps it can be transmitted by one animal. Certainly in one Nubian stud that I knew well — from a herd where the status of all the animals was known — the transmission was very uneven, often two positives did not produce a spastic kid, then, or in later generations.

Beta Mannisidosis appears to be another of those inconclusive conditions. It is thought to be hereditary and to need two carriers. But considered opinion in many cases links this condition to management. In studs where goats are well looked after it has rarely been a problem; lack of viability due to inbreeding may have triggered it off originally.

Blackleg — Clostridium Feseri (Chauvoei, Bacillus Chauvoei and B. Anthracis Symptomatis)

This clostridial disease is caused by a scratch or surface wound, often on old sheep country, that has not been disinfected properly — again because it may have been too small to see. The first lesson the vets I worked with in the United Kingdom hammered home was that a wound must be properly disinfected at once. The vets used peroxide, iodine, disinfectant (Lysol in those days) and said that if all else fails alcohol — gin, whisky or whatever (a 10 percent copper sulfate solution is also very effective). This disinfectant must be syringed into the wound if necessary, and all dirt removed if possible.

Blackleg is rare in goats in Australia and is reported in Hungerford’s Diseases of Livestock to be incurable. As of 1990 only three cases had been reported here, two indirectly due to five-in-one vaccinations. In the first case, a dirty needle was used, and the other followed two days after a routine five-in-one vaccination where every care had been taken. The vet concerned in the latter case said that in the future he would not recommend this type of vaccination for goats, but rather would use only the two-in-one (tetanus and enterotoxemia).

The third case followed a goatling being cut along the side by barbed wire on an old sheep farm. The wound was not cleaned and three days later the first signs of blackleg appeared. The goatling was saved, but it took three weeks because, when the owner first rang, I did not realize there had been a wound. So I imagined it to be a bite and not Blackleg. I advised a small injection of vitamin C, five grams, which kept it alive but meant the cure took two weeks. I now know that the treatment was inadequate and the suggestions below work in hours not days. This goat was the fourth case I knew of and happened on my own farm. I felt the goatling had pierced her leg just above the stifle joint, but there was nothing visible.

In Blackleg the limb, generally a rear one, swells to grotesque proportions and the goat is in great pain, usually lying with the leg sticking straight up in the air due to the swelling. If no action is taken, shortly afterwards the head starts to swell and the goat will die very soon from the enormous pressure of the swollen parts, which rupture and turn black, giving the disease its name.

Do not try injecting into the neck as usual, because Blackleg makes the whole body super sensitive. Inject straight into the affected limb repeatedly (every few hours) with 25 grams of vitamin C, give good supportive nursing and an injection of VAM and B12 in the neck. As soon as the goat is eating again provide ascorbic acid powder in the feed. Continue to inject the affected limb with vitamin C until it goes down (about 24 hours). Find and disinfect the cause if possible.

Bloat

This condition is caused by potassium and magnesium being unavailable — generally in an overly rich pasture where clover is dominant. On a minerally balanced farm, the clover and grass are equal and bloat does not arise, however good the year. Tallow is another cause of bloat in kids which have been fed a milk replacer that contains processed or just plain tallow. Both stop the kids from obtaining the necessary nutrients from the milk and they die of bloat (and starvation). No therapeutic measures work when bloat is caused this way. This is because the tallow coats the inside of the alimentary canal and no nutrients can be absorbed.

In bloat the goat’s abdomen will be much distended, especially on the left side. If the goat is still able to walk, drench a quarter of a pint of cooking oil down the throat, then exercise while massaging the sides. This usually persuades the wind to be passed from one end or the other. As soon as the goat is relieved, give a dessertspoon of dolomite mixed in half a pint of cider vinegar which will help replace the missing magnesium and potassium.

If the animal is down and in distress, call a vet immediately because the pressure in the abdomen will quite soon stop the lungs and heart from working. The vet will release the gas with a trochar (a sharp hollow surgical instrument with a retractable center) allowing the gas to escape. The incision is made four fingers width behind the bottom of the ribs on the left side of the goat as it lies.

If the vet is unobtainable, a sharp, pointed knife will work in an emergency. Disinfect first, insert the knife point until the gas starts to escape, twist it slightly, remove the knife, and close the wound once the distension is relieved.

Again, a drench of seaweed meal with dolomite and cider vinegar (about 10 fluid ounces altogether) should be given as soon as possible to build up the magnesium and potassium in the system.

With bloat, prevention is easier than the cure — or death. Have the paddocks analyzed as soon as possible and top dress with the necessary lime minerals. Do not use chemical fertilizers under any circumstances. If the bloated goats are still feeding on the paddock that caused the trouble, make sure that all the necessary minerals are in the ration. Seaweed meal should be ad lib as usual.

Blood in the Milk

Unless caused by a blow from another (usually horned) goat or animal, this usually occurs in first lactation milkers when the udder is expanding rather fast. It is the result of ruptured blood vessels in the udder. If accompanied by viscous or offensive smelling milk, treat as for mastitis (see mastitis below). Treatment is to give at least a teaspoon (five grams) of vitamin C powder orally and six cc by injection. Repeat the oral dose daily until the milk is clear. Milk with blood in it must, of course, not be included in a contract. To check that the milk is clear, leave it in a glass container for a 24 hours — the blood will be seen as a dark line through the bottom of the glass.

Boils

See Abscess.

Bottle Jaw

This is a hardened swelling under the jaw and is almost invariably caused by worms or liver fluke — occasionally it will also arise in cases of extreme debility. Dealing with the worm problem usually clears it up, consult the section on worms. If this is not the cause, attend to the goats general health. If the goat’s CAE status is unknown, have a blood test taken. If the goat is positive it can only become worse.

Broken Bones

An ordinary bone break where the skin is unbroken is fairly easy to heal in a light animal like a goat. If the fracture is compound (where the bone protrudes), call the vet quickly.

When splinting, pull the limb out carefully so that the ends of the bones meet and try to set it in that position. Plaster of Paris is not really a success on small animals, as it is difficult to keep dry and tends to be too heavy. A leg can easily be splinted — first apply a soft bandage the full length of the affected limb. It is usually better to bandage the whole leg, especially if the injury is above the knee or hock. Then put on the splint, the side cut out of a plastic bottle, a metal "ladder" (obtainable from a vet), split bamboo or other light wood, all work equally well. Then bandage the splint in place and sew the end of the bandage. Do not use safety pins, clips or knots, they can end up inside the goat or be undone (or both). Bandaging is an art, too loose and it comes off, too tight and the limb drops off. Experience teaches you, so check an hour later to see that pressure has not built up because the bandage is too tight.

Years ago I treated a two-month-old kid who was staying on my farm as described above and she was returned, unblemished, to her owner. Standing beside the animal at a show years later, I told the owner to feel carefully down the lower part of the leg; she could just feel a very faint ridge where healing had taken place and asked me what it was.

Goats are excellent patients; they never attempt to put weight on an injured limb until the fracture is healed. It is best to keep them away from long undergrowth while the splint is on, otherwise the leg may become caught up and twisted. Do not keep the patient indoors, it is better off leading a normal life. A healthy goat will be fully healed in ten days or less. At that time remove the splint, but leave the leg strapped up for another week as a support.

In both cases, compound and ordinary fractures, add one 500 iu capsule of vitamin E and three to five grams of oral vitamin C to the diet, plus one teaspoon of cod liver oil a week. An extra teaspoon of dolomite daily should also be given. Those who have comfrey growing should feed three to four leaves a day to a kid and double or more to an adult goat. If you can find comfrey tablets, give two a day for a kid, and four for an adult until healing is complete — goats will often chew the comfrey tabs up — otherwise crush them in the feed.

Brown Stomach Worms

See worms.

Cancer

This illness seems to be on the increase in all animals, probably for many of the same reasons that it is increasing in humans. Goats, like most animals, have a head start over us because they manufacture their own vitamin C and are therefore never without it in the system (see section on vitamin C in Chapter 10). Fluoridated drinking water can be a contributory factor in cancer (see section on magnesium in Chapter 10).

The following treatment has been used successfully on a number of different animals and would be worth trying. For an adult, give five grams of vitamin C, with one cc of vitamin B12 (in the same syringe) daily for two days. Then five grams of vitamin C alone by injection for the next week. Add a dessertspoon of vitamin C daily in the feed as well and continue the oral dose for another month if the cancer has gone down.

In addition, 50,000 units of vitamin A and 1,000 units of vitamin E must be given daily for two or three weeks, then bring the dose down to 10,000 units of vitamin A and the same vitamin E as before for another two weeks (dissolving the capsules is the easiest).

Feed the normal minerals as usual, including the copper (which helps the immune system) and make sure seaweed meal is available on demand. Andre voisin links cancer with lack of copper.

If no improvement at all is noted in ten days, it is probably kinder to put the goat out of its misery. Actual tumors should regress totally in six weeks or less, but a large improvement in general well being, lessening of pain and decrease in the size of the tumor should be seen in about ten days or less. If so, continue with the vitamin A, E and oral C daily until healing is complete.

Tumors rarely disappear altogether and most often a small node is left — keep an eye on it, if it starts to enlarge institute treatment once more. Occasionally if the tumor is on the surface, it will discharge like an abscess after a few weeks. This should be cleaned up as suggested in the section on abscesses. This is preferable to the tumor dissolving inside where it inevitably sets up toxicity — hence the elevated doses of vitamin C to prevent any reaction.

During treatment the goat should be on a grain-free diet with really good plain grass hay and grazing. If the goat contracted the cancer on your farm, analyze and top dress the paddocks with the lime minerals as fast as possible.

Cane Toad Poisoning

Give vitamin C by injection and orally as for snake bite.

Car Sickness

See travel tetany.

Casein in the Milk

This is a fairly unusual complaint. I have only met one case, but I understand some does are prone to it. Obviously something is wrong with the metabolism, but the cause is unknown. I never had another case once I started to feed dolomite and cider vinegar regularly, so it is possibly dietary.

A hard lump forms in the teat, which is almost crystalline in appearance when extracted. Massage it very gently down the teat and try to persuade it through the orifice, causing as little pain and damage as possible. Make sure the teat and hands are spotless, and give a teaspoon of dolomite with the same of vitamin C powder each time to counter the risk of mastitis.

Caseus Lymphadenitis (CLA), Cheesy Gland

This is quite different from a grass seed abscess, although it may take a vet to tell the difference. The latter has been covered at the beginning of this section. CLA is due to an organism — corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis — which gains entry through a wound, often invisible, or even from a grass seed. The abscesses are located on the lymph system and usually start at the back of the jaw. They then follow the lymph system down via the shoulder and underarm to the stifle from whence they will form inside the animal, usually resulting in debility and death. If the goat’s immune system is in good order, one abscess is usually the only result, but should the goat be CAE positive, with no natural immunity, the abscesses will, in my experience, become endemic.

The abscess starts as a flat hardening at the back of the jaw, developing into a boil varying from the size of a dime to that of a tennis ball, depending on the goat’s natural immunity. The treatment is the same as described earlier in the section on abscesses, but extra care must be taken in the handling of the pus from the abscess. Rubber gloves must be worn if there is any likelihood of a skin break in the hands and all material from the cleaning must be burnt. A British Veterinary Society meeting in April 1990 classifies CLA as a zoonoses, in other words, an animal disease that can be contracted by man, often in a form more unpleasant than the original.

I had an experience with an outbreak of this disease many years before CAE became a problem. Every goat in the herd, about 15, produced an abscess of some kind (often very small). From then on, even if a new goat came with an abscess, my herd appeared to have built up a natural immunity that lasted for years. The organism re-sponds to no known antibiotic; exhaustive tests were done at the time of that outbreak by veterinary researchers. They established that it could sometimes be halted if measures were taken before the swelling started — an obvious impossibility.

The only measures I have taken have involved using megadoses of vitamin C when the abscesses are internal. This does not stop them, but it detoxifies the material from the abscess so it does not affect the system — this, of course, only applies to CAE-free animals.

Many years ago a woman rang me about a goat in the last stages of debility. About three boils had burst on the exterior of her doe and then started through the interior lymph system. The vet had diagnosed them as being in the lungs and liver and advised putting her down and I felt the same. The owner believed that while there was life there was hope, so we decided to try vitamin C. The doe was given 10 grams intramuscularly daily for 10 days, with several injections of two cc of B12 and good supportive nursing. I did not hear any more and assumed the doe had succumbed until several months later when I opened a letter and a picture of an absolutely blooming Saanen doe fell out — she had made a full recovery.

In some countries, the United Kingdom included, CLA is a notifiable disease. It most often emanates from sheep, among which it causes havoc because the abscesses cannot be dealt with or seen in the wool. Exporters of goats may have to produce certificates of freedom from the disease.

Several attempts, mostly in South Africa where it has been a scourge to fleece goat breeders, have been made to produce a vaccine. These apparently have not been very successful. It was found that good husbandry, such as avoiding deep litter situations and making sure that the kidding yards were never on the same ground two years running, were found to be far more effective.

Coccidiosis

This is caused by an order of parasitic protozoa. There are several varieties and each is species specific. In other words, each animal has its own particular strain. Goats cannot catch it off birds or cats, but birds can carry it from another of the same species. I personally have doubts on that one since cases of this illness have arisen — a specific instance was in a horse (which is rather rare) in the United Kingdom and no other horses were known in the county with the disease.

Apparently many older goats can carry, and shed, the disease all their lives, showing no signs of actually having it although a worm count might reveal it. For this reason, especially in small goat operations, kids are better segregated from the older goats for grazing. All animals develop an immunity with age.

Signs are ill thrift that does not respond to the usual measures and, in severe cases of coccidiosis, blood will be seen in the droppings. A test of the manure would confirm its presence. The drugs used to treat the condition are severe and prevention is best. Rudducks used to make an oral or injectable mixture of sulfadimidine for treatment that was the least traumatic of those on offer.

I prefer to make sure that all goats, especially kids, have access to mallow (Malva) plants. This herb has the reputation of preventing coccidiosis. Lately I have seen it listed as poisonous — it is no more so than any other herb when eaten in excess. Certainly I never had any more problems once I made sure it was growing round the kid yards.

Also it seems that properly supplemented stock of all kinds that are receiving the right amount of copper do not contract coccidiosis. This has been especially noticeable in the dairy cattle industry where it was a scourge in calves. Owners report that since proper feeding of minerals was started they have had no more cases.

Congenital Defects

See hereditary defects.

Contracted Tendons

See bent leg.

Coughing

A vet friend of mine used to be able to make a goat cough by exerting slight pressure under the neck. It will be noticed that goats often cough while being led if they have not been properly trained and are pulling.

Persistent coughing with no sign of fever can mean lungworm (see worms) and any goat that has had lungworms is often left with scarred lungs and will cough intermittently for the rest of its life. A course of 500 units of vitamin E daily for one or two weeks could help clear it up as this vitamin minimizes scarring.

If the coughing is accompanied by distress and a high temperature, treat as pneumonia — start treatment as quickly as possible. See section on pneumonia.

Respiratory problems traditionally affect goats or any other stock whose calcium/magnesium levels are not correct. Have the paddock analyzed and do the necessary remedial work.

Chilled Animals

Adults

These should be brought into a sheltered area and friction applied. Tie a jute sack around them if possible. Hay must be offered ad lib, food in the rumen is the goats natural way of keeping warm. If the animal is hungry, cold stress can occur. Give a heaped teaspoon of vitamin C orally and repeat two hours later, 10 cc injections can be given if preferred. See pneumonia section for further treatments if necessary.

In spite of warnings to the contrary, a big teaspoon of brandy in some milk — an old fashioned remedy — is still highly effective on occasion. To heat up a chilled large goat, pour methylated spirit along the spine and immediately rug it up and keep the goat warm. This remedy has been used effectively to warm up animals — it depends on the latent heat of evaporation.

Kids

These can become chilled right through and will require a lot of attention if they are to live. Put a finger in its mouth and if it feels cold all way down, bring it inside by a fire (the bottom oven of a slow combustion stove, with the door open, is good). Otherwise keep it wrapped up. Give it a little warm milk with half a teaspoon of brandy in it. I know this method is frowned on these days, but I have saved countless lambs and several kids using it.

I had a kid which fell into the irrigation channel in the winter. I did not find out until feeding time that she was missing. She had possibly been in the water for four hours and she was cold right through. I gave her a teaspoon of brandy in milk, six cc of vitamin C by injection and wrapped her up and placed her by the bottom oven. She was still terribly cold when I went to bed, so I repeated the treatment and took her, well wrapped up, along to bed. I wanted to know how long it would be before she warmed up. It was two a.m. when it happened and she finally relaxed and slept. She suffered no ill effects.

Circling Disease

This can be a result of listeriosis, occasionally corynebacteria or a nasal bot that has got into the wrong place, affecting the brain. All these can make the goat one-sided and the animal then circles incessantly. The gait is stiff and the animal walks with its head stuck forward; post-mortem will confirm which was the cause. If it was a bot, the meat will be quite safe to eat, not otherwise. In any case, the ailment is incurable.

Cow Hocks

These cannot be classed as an ailment. Though for many years they were considered hereditary — and probably were in the United Kingdom originally where deficiencies were not so frequent as here. In Australia all too often goats with perfectly straight back legs produce offspring that become cow hocked with age. I have judged young kids with really good back legs, only to meet them again a year later with their hocks almost touching. A course of cod liver oil, (orally, as the straight liquid, an emulsion, or as an intramuscular A, D and E injection) should be given. Assuming, of course, that the goat is receiving the correct minerals in its feed and has seaweed ad lib available (see Chapter 6). Very young kids whose back legs suddenly go weak can be given two or three cod liver oil capsules (as for humans), which will effectively reverse the condition.

Cow Pox (Goat Pox)

This is a herpes linked illness. Small pustules appear on the udder and sometimes around the tail and mouth. If unchecked it can spread into large sore scabby areas. I have seen a buck who was literally covered with pox and had to be treated with large doses of vitamin C to arrest secondary infections. Like many herpes diseases, goat pox is supposed to run a three weeks course. In my experience, if goats are copper deficient it can become almost endemic.

To treat the exterior, make up a wash of a tablespoon of copper sulfate and the same of vinegar in about a pint of water. This can either be administered from a garden spray bottle or rubbed on with a sponge, the scabs will dry up and start to drop off. However, the disease is more prevalent in colored and black goats whose copper requirements are not being met. A British Alpine goat that I saw at a show, which was slightly afflicted, was given half a teaspoon of copper sulfate in her feed for two nights in a row and the condition cleared up without any exterior treatment. First lactation does who, because they had not been receiving the same amount of copper as the adults due to lighter feeding when goatlings, always seem to be prone to pox. Goat pox is occasionally infectious to humans. Most people who milk by hand will have built up an immunity, especially if they have had chicken pox.

Cystic Ovaries

See hereditary defects.

Dandruff, Scurf

This is caused by a deficiency — or excess — of iodine. In goats that have been on the farm and have either been on the stock lick (if fleece or meat) or ad lib seaweed meal (if milkers) this should not arise. However, should goats arrive from another farm with bad dandruff, check that the previous owner has not been using too much iodine in some form. If seaweed is fed ad lib, goats with an excess would not touch it, and if caused by a deficiency, they will make it up from the ad lib meal.

Dandruff can be a problem in fleece goats as it can affect the quality of the clip, but more seriously, it means any goat that has it is below par — read the section on iodine. In dairy animals dandruff should be taken seriously as a sign of an iodine deficiency, as well as being a nuisance if the goats are shown. Make sure that the stock lick is out for the meat and fiber goats and ad lib seaweed meal for the milk goats.

Deformities

Some of these are hereditary and are listed in that section. If a kid is born with a deformity (not contracted tendons, see that section), it is probably hereditary; but if the condition develops later it is more likely environmental (nutritional). Lack of magnesium can and does lead to postnatal bone abnormalities, but this can occasionally be caused by overfeeding of protein.

One of the more usual and apparently hereditary deformities are twisted and either under or overshot jaws and, of course, abnormal teats.

Some years ago I sold a perfectly normal kid which, as usual with stud animals, I had photographed first. A few years later I heard that it had a developed a parrot mouth by the time it was two-years old. I could not understand what had happened until later on when another goat was brought back at two years of age for mating; so bad was the deformity of the mouth that, until I checked the tattoo, I doubted if it was the same goat. The doe duly kidded and came back to be mated; this time I really thought I was seeing things because the mouth was 100 percent normal. I asked the owner what she had done to accomplish the miracle.

"Oh, I knew you were always rattling on about dolomite, so I started feeding it and the mouth gradually became normal in couple of months."

If the damage is allowed to persist into old age, it may be incurable. The cases I have seen in goats had been cured before the animals reached full maturity — four years for a goat — but I know of a 14-year-old horse whose bones normalized after being fed correctly for a year, so perhaps there is no time limit.

Dermatitis

This is rather like goat pox in appearance. Symptoms are pustules on the udder, which can also spread to other parts of the body as the goat rubs the udder with her mouth, then scratches her face with a foot, etc. Unlike goat pox, dermatitis seems to be fairly contagious. Contaminat- ed teat dip cups, udder cloths and dirty hands can all spread it. A copper wash made up of a tablespoon of copper sulfate, the same of cider vinegar in about a pint of water and used as a spray will help clear it up. An A, D and E supplement should also be given along with half a teaspoon of copper sulfate with a teaspoon of ascorbic acid in the mouth for two consecutive days. The normal dose of copper in the ration should be given along with the above as well. After two days the vitamin C alone may be given to help recovery and avert secondary infections from the lesions.

The condition is staph related and likes a copper deficient host, but is not serious enough to warrant using a vaccine as is often suggested. Goats appear to develop a natural immunity after a while. It is noticeable that in herds with a high incidence of the complaint the dietary copper is nearly always non-existent.

Diarrhea (Scouring)

Intestinal worms and infections, cobalt, copper deficiencies and enterotoxemia are the most usual causes of this complaint. Other reasons can be imbalance in the feed, paddocks too high in nitrate-rich feed such as capeweed (already mentioned), and feed that produces acidity. In small kids overfeeding of milk often causes mild scouring.

For an adult a dessertspoon of dolomite, a quarter of a teaspoon of copper sulfate and the dessertspoon of vitamin C down the throat is always worth trying first, especially if there are no other signs of illness. If the goat is listless, lacking in appetite or has cold ears, suspect a cobalt shortfall and give two ml of VAM and two ml of vitamin B12 intramuscularly. Quite often both or either will clear the scouring up. Scouring is not (as is generally supposed) always caused by worms. Hungerford’s Diseases of Livestock states that unexplained scouring is often due to a copper deficiency and sheep farmers have found that weaner lambs have responded to half a teaspoon of copper and the same of dolomite quite remarkably when all else failed. The same could be tried with young goats, the dolomite should always be given at the same time (a teaspoon of dolomite and a quarter teaspoon of copper sulfate).

If intestinal infection is suspected, treat as for enterotoxemia (see section on that ailment).

Scouring, especially in kids, often kills by dehydration. Make sure they receive enough liquids, two ml of Vitec Stock drench in 100 ml of water would be safe, but no extra milk. In cases of adults with heavy scouring, minerals are lost from the system and need to be replaced. Drenching with 10 ml of the Vitec liquid, a teaspoon of dolomite and cider vinegar made up to one pint with water, will help replace them. This condition should not arise in animals properly supplemented with ad lib seaweed, and/or the stock lick. In very severe cases an electrolyte replacer may also be used.

In any obstinate case of scouring, presuming it is not due to worms, an injection of vitamin C should be given daily until it stops — four grams for an adult, half the dose for a kid. All this is assuming that the goats are on a tested and remineralized paddock.

Edema

This is caused by the body tissues holding excess fluid and generally occurs in the legs and along the sides of the abdomen. It is generally found in grossly overfed animals, especially if the diet is too high in protein and possibly salt. Years ago goat keepers tended to feed far too much salt to their charges. If they are getting seaweed meal ad lib, salt is quite unnecessary. More exercise, less feed and a balanced ration with all the minerals in it should correct the situation quite quickly.

Edema of the Udder

This is rare and has been mentioned in the section on parsley — usually only elderly does are affected. The udder feels full but cannot be milked. It is engorged with fluid and does not necessarily follow just after kidding. It is very uncomfortable. One of the reasons for this happening and it was a contributory factor in this case, was the old practice of not milking a goat before she kidded. This is very cruel and I never could understand why it was promulgated. Does should never be forcibly dried up and, if the milk does come down, milk them as usual. The colostrum does not come down until the kids are born. Some vitamin C orally will do no harm, but the sovereign remedy if obtainable, is parsley — give the doe all she will eat. I found this remedy in Juliette de Bairacli-Levy’s Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable and luckily I had parsley growing in the garden (see section on parsley, Chapter 10).

Encephalitis

This is (I hope) very rare in goats. I have only had one case in 35 years and she was not CAE positive. No one had any suggestions as to how she could have contracted it and none of the other goats were affected.

When all the goats came in for their tea she was missing; I could see her about half a mile up the farm standing quite rigid. Luckily my son was home, so I got him to drive the Kombi, while I armed myself with a bottle of injectable vitamin C and a syringe. We found her with her legs stiff together under her, her back arched and tail and head up rigid. We got her into the van, and I had given her about 50 cc (in the muscle) of vitamin C by the time we got her back to the shed. She soon collapsed and could neither move, bleat, eat nor drink and I suspected meningitis.

As it was rather late, we bedded her down on her side and made her as comfortable and warm as possible. The vet came out first thing next morning. The doe was still the same so we gave her 15 grams of vitamin C in the vein of each front leg. Carol, the vet, told her partner that I really had gone mad expecting to save the animal as she had diagnosed encephalitis.

Within two hours of the 30 gram injection of vitamin C the doe gave a bleat — rather a pained one — and managed to drink a little fluid. I offered her hot and cold water, molasses, and then in desperation straight cider vinegar which she drank avidly. The next morning Carol came out and repeated the first day’s dose of vitamin C and was very much surprised to find her alive at all. By the evening she was picking at green feed and hay, drinking as she wanted and could now lie happily in the normal position instead of spread out flat on her side.

The last thing that night, when I went out to her, she staggered to her feet and on the next day, although a little groggy, she seemed fine. I continued the vitamin C orally, a tablespoon night and morning, with dolomite and seaweed meal all in one dose for two or three mornings. By the fourth day she was objecting strongly to being away from the other animals so I let her resume her place in the herd. There were no recurrences. She was quite a highly bred British Alpine and lived on as though nothing had happened.

Enterotoxemia (Pulpy Kidney)

This is caused by the organism Clostridium Welchii and/or occasionally Clostridium Perfringens D. Both are normal inhabitants of the gut and only when the goat is under nutritional or other stress — usually worms — do these organisms start to proliferate and in so doing give off a deadly toxin.

David Mackenzie in the first (not updated) edition of Goat Husbandry claimed that immunization against entero was not necessary in properly looked after goats. He knew nothing of the often terrible environmental conditions in which goats farmed in Australia are expected to live. But, even so, in goats whose mineral requirements are fully met, changes in habitat or feed — often the cause of an entero attack — make no difference to their health. In fact, many vets have told me in recent years they consider entero to be a much over-rated disease in goats because, on the average, goat farmers see to the mineral requirements of their stock. Unfortunately vaccination, two-in-one for entero and tetanus, often only confers a false sense of security to the goat owner. A vaccinated goat can develop entero (or tetanus) just as easily as an unvaccinated one if the conditions are right for either disease. A goat that is dying from some other