Author: Ann Evans
Date: 06-26-07 23:19
Dear Tim,
Welcome to the goat world. I am a long time alpaca breeder and in twelve years never had an animal ill from worm issues. I routinely wormed quarterly across the board (young,old, male, female) and all was well. A year ago after leaving alpacas I bought a small group of bred meat goat nannies. Goats had never lived on my property (I did some research on this) and so what later happened was a result of what these ladies had on board when they arrived.
Shortly after arriving here they gave birth to their kids. I had 17 nannies and 25 kids. I added a group of 18 doelings later that same summer. In September after our area experienced torrential rain for two months, my goats fell ill and began dying. Alpaca breeder that I am, I did everything in my power to save every single one. What I never suspected was worms. Yes some of them had bottle jaw, some of them had mild diarrhea, but most just faded away and died. I lost 23 head before finally figuring out it was worms. I have a small acreage property. Rotation was not really practiced. I have learned my lesson well. Rotation is the primary defense, then a diligent worming program that treats only those with issues. An excellent diagnostic tool for laymen is the fomacha(sp?) technique of looking at inner eyelid membrane for poor color. Classes are given routinely for this technique with color cards to help you know where your goats are in their personal worm load. I urge you to look into this. If your animals are ill enough to have bottle jaw then I would encourage you to take measures to enhance their ability to regenerate their own red blood cells before and after the worms are addressed. I used a miriad of supplements that I feel allowed me to save another 23 head that are still with me and doing well today. I used a daily regime of Red Cell blood builder, calf manna supplement melted in warm water and drenched. (they like it) and an injectable B-complex or B-twelve every week. I kept many a goat alive long enough to finally figure out what was really the cause, feeding these supplements. Once I did worm them properly they bounced back rather quickly, I feel due to the heavy nutrition they had been getting.
All the above is costly. Rotating is cheaper, especially if you use electric fencing from Premier1 like we have. Rotating stops the cycle of worms and therefore you can keep your goats healthier without spending a fortune on supplements, worm medication, and VET BILLS. Good luck.
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