Specific information on diseases and illnesses will be found in the "Disease Database."    For all other medical information, see the sections below

Diagram of veins in neck, with goat laying on it's back. 

To give an IV medication:

Normally you will not be giving IV medications, but in an extreme emergency, where you have no veterinary assistance at all, this is how you give a drug IV:

1. Draw up the drug into the syringe and put the needle cap back on when finished.  Have an alcohol swab ready.

2. Lay the goat on it's back or side.  Have one person hold the body and another hold the head up and away from the neck. 

3. If you have a clipper, shave the neck, so you can clearly see the deep grooves down each side of the windpipe.  (You often can see them without clipping, so clipping is optional.)

4. Just to the outside of those grooves (see diagram above) you will see a slightly puffy line, running right along the side of the groove.  This is the vein.  If you put your fingers on it, you will feel a beat.  Clean a small area with rubbing alcohol.

5.  Coming in from the side of the vein, not straight down from the top, puncture the vein with the needle in the cleaned area.

6.  Draw back on the plunger of the syringe a little bit to make sure that blood enters the syringe.  (This proves you are in the vein.)  If you see blood in the syringe, then push the plunger forward and inject the medicine.  If you don't see blood in the syringe, then start again and choose a different spot.  You must be sure you are in the vein before pushing in the drug.

(Dr. Emma Ewing, DVM, personal interview 2007.)   

Lice, fleas, ticks, mites and keds all affect the wellbeing of goats and affect milk production.  

Treatment is similar for all types. (Smith at 27.)  

The following chemicals may be used for control of external parasites of goats.  Consult with your veterinarian before using.

Smith and Sherman.  Goat Medicine. Page. 28

Lice: Eggs attach to hair and hatch in 5-18 days.  They mature in 14-21 days after hatching.  There are 2 types: biting and bloodsucking.  Treat and then repeat treatment every 10-14 days until they are gone.  (Smith at 27-28)

Fleas: Dog and cat fleas may be found on goats.  'Eggs are laid on the goat or on the ground.  Goats appear restless, rubbing, chewing, bare spots in the hair, papules and crusts.  Anemia and weight loss may occur in young stock, or in ill or weak 

animals.  Use same treatments as for lice, but you must treat the environment and all hosts as well. (Smith at 28)

Ticks: You may see papules, pustules initially, and crusts and/or ulcers later.  May cause other illnesses.  Pick off the ticks. May apply insecticide every 2-3 weeks to reduce numbers of ticks. (Smith at 28-30)

Keds:  Blood sucking fly.  Resembles a tick.  Entire life cycle is completed on the goat in 5 weeks or longer.  See skin irritation, blood loss, hide damage.  Use lice treatment. (Smith at 28)

Mites: see Mange in the Disease Database.

Links:

External parasites of Sheep and Goats  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IG129

 

Internal & External Parasites of Goats http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/parasites.html

 

Smith and Sherman, Goat Medicine P. 27-33 (table of chemicals used for external parasites of goats at p. 28)

 

Parasites: dewormer chart (by weight and brand of dewormer)  www.uky.edu/ag/animalsciences/goats/presentations/parasitedewormerchart0104.pdf

 

Parasites of small ruminants: Practical Considerations  (section from Small Ruminant Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy)   http://www.rmncsba.org/SMALLRUMINANT.pdf at screens 233-244 or document page 227-237.  Also see treatment table from same publication at document page 52.

Blood Pressure

122-124.9 (Systolic)

  85-97      (Diastolic)                  (Smith, 231)

Body Temperature  

101.5 -104 degrees Fahrenheit (Smith, 10)

To take the temperature, shake the thermometer down until the mercury is below 96 degrees.  Restrain the goat.  Put Vaseline on the thermometer and insert it into the rectum of the goat so that only 1” remains outside the rectum. Do not let go.  After 3 minutes, remove the thermometer.  Wipe it off with a dry cloth, read  and record the temperature.  Shake the thermometer down to below 96 degrees again.  Clean it with alcohol after use. (Batagglia)

Duration of Pregnancy 

150 days or about 5 months (145-156 range) (Smith, 431)

Duration of Standing Heat

24 hrs. for doelings, 2-3 days for mature does (Smith, 412)

Life span

Eight to twelve years (ADGA)

Manure

Amount: 6 tons excreted per year per 1,000 lbs. live weight of goats

Composition: 1.44 % nitrogen, 0.5 % phosphoric acid, 1.21 % potash

Ovulation                                 

24-48 hours after start of heat.  Therefore, best chance of conception is near end of the heat cycle  (Smith, 412)

Breed on day two of standing heat for best results. (Harris and Springer)

Pulse (Heart Rate)

70-90 beats per minute in a resting adult goat.

(May be double that rate in active, young kids)

Fetal heart rates may be up to 180 beats per minute  (Smith, 10)

To take the pulse, make sure goat is resting quietly.  Put your index and middle fingers on the artery just below and slightly to the inside of the edge of the jaw, 2/3 of the way back from the muzzle. Count the number of beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get the rate. (Battaglia)

Respiration Rate

10-30 breaths per minute (adults)

20-40 breaths per minute (kids) (Smith, 248)

To count respirations, watch the side of the goat go up and down.  One rise and fall is one respiration. Count it when the goat is resting quietly. Count the number of respirations for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get the rate per minute. (Batagglia).

Rumenal Movements

1-1.5/minute (Yoder) (Smith)

In confinement, goats actively ruminate 7.75 hours a day, with 75% of cud chewing taking place at night. (Smith, 278)

Scrotal circumference of buck

Scrotum should be at least 25-28 cm. (almost 10 inches) at 100 lb. weight (Coffey, G, 9)

Semen

Normal Concentration: 2.5-3 billion sperm per cubic centimeter of semen. (Smith, 442)

Services per season per buck

Mature buck: 100 does/ yr. A first year buck limit to 10-12. (Belanger, 152)

Teeth

Goats have three groups of teeth: four pairs of incisors on the lower jaw only, which bite on a dental pad on the upper jaw; three premolars on each side of the upper and lower jaws; three molars on each side of upper and lower jaws.  (Smith) (See also “Age” section in this document.)

Temperature of environment

The comfort zone for dairy goats is 55-70 degrees F.  Temperatures over 80 degrees F. seriously reduce feed consumption and milk output. (Steevens)

Time Between Heat Periods     

21 days .(Smith)

Weight

An average adult dairy goat doe weighs between 125 and 200 lbs. 

An average adult dairy goat buck weighs between 200 and 300 lbs. 

At birth, kids weigh approximately 7-9 lbs.

Heart girth is 14-15 inches, and height at the withers is 14-15 inches. (Countryside)

Herd Health Program www.adga.org/kidding.pdf

Herd health Program http://www2.luresext.edu/goats/library/field/herd_health99.htm

Keeping your Herd Healthy

http://www.animalethics.org.au/reader/flock-health/goat-disease-free.pdf?MIvalObj=21875&doctype=document&MItypeObj=application/

pdf&name=/goat-disease-free.pdf

   

Overgrown hooves 

Penn State Disease Image Gallery

http://www.das.psu.edu/goats/health/gallery/

The easiest way to trim hooves is to run the goats up on the milking stand so they are at a convenient height.  Put their head in the stanchion and lock it.  Then trim the hooves

Links:

Hoof trimming tutorial (with photographs) http://www.meatgoats.com/rotator.php?art=26

(Please note that this link may not go directly to the article, as the Boer Goat site is set up so that if it changes anything in it's articles list above the item you are looking for, the article # then changes, making any link you have outdated every time the article list changes.  Just look at their article list for "Hoop Trimming 101.".

Hoof Trimming (step by step with diagrams)  http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/info/hoof.shtml

Hoof Trimming Photos: Smith, Mary and David Sherman. Goat Medicine (book, not on-line)  p. 70.

1) Horn tips can injure other goats, and they can injure you..  This danger is amplified when there are a lot of goats in one area, where they are overcrowded, when they are fighting to establish pecking order in the herd, or when the does are in heat, and the buck is in or near the doe pen, 

2) Goats with horns may get their head caught in fences, exhaust themselves trying to get out of the fence, then collapse and hang.  

3) Horns can prevent the goat from entering a stanchion to be milked, or from getting feed from a 

     feed bunk.

Reasons for keeping horns on the goats:

1.) Horns act as ventilators for the goat.  They release heat from the goat's body, and this may be important in very hot climates.

2) Horns may enable goats to fight off predators.  If you dehorn, and you have predators in the area, you may need to get a herding dog to protect them.

Disbudding (removing horn buds from newborns)

Disbud when you feel horn buds, usually 3-7 days after birth.  (Coffey, G, 10) 

The horn buds are little bumps that are fixed to the skull. If you can move the skin over the skull freely in the horn area, then the horn bud is not there yet, and you should wait to dehorn. 

Buck kids horns grow faster than doe kid horns. (Dawson)                                               

Buy or build a small sized kid box for goats under a month old. (See Kid box plan.) 

Use a Rhinehart x 50 or Rhinehart x 40 dehorning iron or the equivalent, with a goat tip if you are disbudding does, and a buck tip if you are disbudding bucks.  The X50 iron will burn faster than the X40.

         Doe tip               Buck tip            Dehorning Iron

Pictures from Caprine Supply

See photographs and directions for disbudding at Goat Dairy Library's PDF Disbudding.  This is full of photographs.  Be patient.  It will take a long time to load.

Procedure        

1. Put the iron around the horn bud and hold it to the count of ten. (It will seem way too long.)  

2. Press and twist iron around the area.  

3. Pull off the horn bud cap, and cut off the excess horn bud material with a scalpel..  

4. Cauterize the top of the bud with the disbudding iron so it doesn't bleed.  

5. You will see skull.  Spray with blue cote.  

It may exude pus afterward.  Wipe that off and put on a salve to keep it moist.  (Remo)

If you do not have a buck tip for your iron, use the doe tip twice.  Do the first burn the same as you would do on a doe.  Then move it forward a little and burn again.  The buck horn shape is oval, not round as it is in a doe.

Under-burning will result in scurs:

-If you dehorn a buck kid whose horn base is wider than a dehorning iron, you will see re-growth on the outside of the burned area.  

-If you use a wide calf-dehorner, you will get re-growth from the center of the burned area.  Avoid scurs by using a goat tip and burning thoroughly the first time.  (Dawson)

Over-burning can result in brain damage or death.  Do not burn through the skull.  Remember that the infant skull is thinner than an adult's skull.  (Dawson)

Administering 150 I.U. of tetanus antigen after disbudding will prevent tetanus. (Dawson)

Links:

Anesthesia for in-clinic disbudding of goats-vet only.  Very specific instructions for administration of nerve block or anesthetic. 

http://luresext.edu/goats/library/field/dawsono3.pdf at page 24.

 

An In-depth Look at the How's and Why's of Dehorning Goats.  

Dairy Goat Journal, Vol. 84 No. 5.   September/October 2007.

 

Building a kid disbudding box http://kinne.net/disbbox.htm

 

De-scenting a buck kid http://luresext.edu/goats/library/field/dawsono3.pdf at page 24.

 

Disbudding http://www.greatgoats.com/articles/disbudding.html  (has pictures and directions)

 

Disbudding a kid goat (photos) http://www.blackmesaranchonline.com/animals/goats_disbudding.htm

 

Disbudding Kid Goats (step by step directions and photos.)  http://animalscience.tamu.edu/ansc/publications/sheeppubs/Disbudding_goats.pdf

 

Disbudding your kid goat http://www.greatgoats.com/articles/disbudding.html 

 

Kid box plan http://luresext.edu/goats/library/field/dawsono3.pdf  at page 23.

Dehorning (removing horns from adult goats)

Surgical Dehorning

Dehorning an adult goat is dangerous to the goat as well as to you.  There is a blood supply in the horn.  When this is cut there is excessive pain and bleeding.  Infection in the site after dehorning can travel into the brain, causing the goat’s death.   This is a procedure best done by a veterinarian.  

Elastrator band dehorning

The key to success with this method, is to cut a groove in the horn at it's base that is wide enough to totally accept the band.  If the groove is too narrow, the band will slip up and come off.  See directions in "links" below.

 

 

Elastrator equipment

 

Producer tip:  When you put the rings on the elastrator pliers, don't "roll" them on.  Instead,  "screw" the o-rings onto the elastrator, around and around like you'd put on a jar lid, turning them until they are no more than half way down.  This makes it a lot easier to release them from the elastrator when you get them in place.  

Cutting off tips of full grown horns with a wire saw.

For complete directions with photographs see the Goat Dairy Library PDF Dehorning With a Wire Saw.

Links:

Elastrator Dehorning of Goats (taking off full grown horns) (Text and photos) www.greatgoats.com/articles/dehorning.html

 

Elastrator Dehorning and Castrating (text only, no photos) http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/info/elastrator.shtml 

 

Horns, horn information and how to disbud kids (text only, no photos)  http://fiascofarm.com/goats/disbudding.htm

Scur removal (removing thin horns that have grown back in spite of previous disbudding)

 

Scur removal is done with a wire saw. Cut above the level of the blood vessel in the horn to avoid bleeding and pain for the goat.  If left to grow, scur horns often curl around and embed in the goat’s head, causing great pain, so keep an eye on them and remove them at the first sign they are growing..  

Trimming Scur Horns With a Wire Saw  http://fiascofarm.com/galleries/Goat_Care_and_Information/Scur_Trimming/index.html   

See photos at (photos):  http://fiascofarm.com/galleries/Goat_Care_and_Information/Scur_Trimming/index.html