FAMACHA chart ? anyone have one ?

Lisa Martin October 21, 2010 at 1:33pm

She (and the other 2 doelings) were dewormed on 10/11, so 10 days ago. She does look much better. Her fur is now laying flat and looks soft and full like the others' coat. Maybe giving them the "right" amount of feed has helped. They do seem to be eating a lot of hay lately during the day. I wonder if they have grazed down their pasture area already. Maybe we need to walk them more to eat all the other stuff around the yard.

I do have a microscope, slides and coverslips. Can we look at a sample of their "berries" and tell if there are eggs ? I know I can see microalgae and they are about 1 micron in size.

Thanks,
Lisa

Deborah Niemann-Boehle October 20, 2010 at 8:01pm

I don't think you ever said when she was dewormed. If it's been at least a week, you can take a fecal to the vet and have it checked. They should not see many eggs if the dewormer worked.

Lisa Martin said:

Today I waited and checked Tootsie to see her poop. Her poop was normal - little berries. Now looking at her today, her belly is as big as the rest. She's just shorter then the other 2 and skinnier in the legs I guess. I felt this little lump under her throat, between under her chin and the top of her neck. It felt like a large lump on her. I checked the other and they have a bony lumpy thing there too.

Her eyelid does look pinkish today. I wouldn't call it as reddish pink as the others.

Last night I was researching "how much feed to feed them" and one breeder said 1 cup a day per goat, so 1/2 cup a day in the morning, 1/2 cup a day in the evening. Today I found my measuring cups (for dry ingredients) and feed each one accordingly (3 scoops of a 1/2 cup serving for all my doelings) and one 1/2 cup serving for my buckling. They didn't finish it all, which left some leftovers out for my new buckling baby. He finally ate some feed today. I let him eat out of the storage bin while they were eating and he ate some ! Then after they were done, they let him eat out of their feed bucket.

Do you think I need to medicate now or just wait for "worse" signs of a worm problem. Her fur does look better today, a little smoother and flat laying. Maybe she just has less fur. Her fur is soft, but not as fluffy and full as the others. They seem to have more hair or something or different hair.

I'm going to try and walk them more. The doelings seem to eat a lot in their pasture. Probably feeding them more feed will hopefully make them eat less pasture. There are plenty of the "weeds" they like all around the yard.

I think we'll try and walk the 2 bucklings together today so they get used to each other and then walk the 3 doelings together, so no one gets left behind to be mated with by the baby buckling. He tries !

Thanks,
Lisa
p.s. I was thinking of trying Fias Co. farms herbal wormer first on her to try and get the "worms" out of her, think it will help ?

Lisa Martin October 20, 2010 at 9:10am

Today I waited and checked Tootsie to see her poop. Her poop was normal - little berries. Now looking at her today, her belly is as big as the rest. She's just shorter then the other 2 and skinnier in the legs I guess. I felt this little lump under her throat, between under her chin and the top of her neck. It felt like a large lump on her. I checked the other and they have a bony lumpy thing there too.

Her eyelid does look pinkish today. I wouldn't call it as reddish pink as the others.

Last night I was researching "how much feed to feed them" and one breeder said 1 cup a day per goat, so 1/2 cup a day in the morning, 1/2 cup a day in the evening. Today I found my measuring cups (for dry ingredients) and feed each one accordingly (3 scoops of a 1/2 cup serving for all my doelings) and one 1/2 cup serving for my buckling. They didn't finish it all, which left some leftovers out for my new buckling baby. He finally ate some feed today. I let him eat out of the storage bin while they were eating and he ate some ! Then after they were done, they let him eat out of their feed bucket.

Do you think I need to medicate now or just wait for "worse" signs of a worm problem. Her fur does look better today, a little smoother and flat laying. Maybe she just has less fur. Her fur is soft, but not as fluffy and full as the others. They seem to have more hair or something or different hair.

I'm going to try and walk them more. The doelings seem to eat a lot in their pasture. Probably feeding them more feed will hopefully make them eat less pasture. There are plenty of the "weeds" they like all around the yard.

I think we'll try and walk the 2 bucklings together today so they get used to each other and then walk the 3 doelings together, so no one gets left behind to be mated with by the baby buckling. He tries !

Thanks,
Lisa
p.s. I was thinking of trying Fias Co. farms herbal wormer first on her to try and get the "worms" out of her, think it will help ?

Deborah Niemann-Boehle October 19, 2010 at 7:47pm

Big belly, pooping logs, rough coat, pale eyelids are all classic signs of parasite infestation. If that breeder is using Cydectin every six weeks, there is probably a resistance problem. Within a week of deworming, you should see improvement in the pale eyelids. Within a couple days, you should see poop berries instead of logs. Since she came from the same herd as the others, and they're in better condition, it just means that they have better natural resistance to parasites. Do you know what dosage of Cydectin the other breeder used? Cydectin is not labeled for goats, and if she was using the sheep dosage, then she is really wasting her money, because goats need double the sheep dosage. Once you get to the point that Cydectin doesn't work, you have to use three dewormers at once -- one from each class of dewormer. You would use Cydectin or Ivermectin as one, Safeguard or Valbazen as one, and morantel tartrate or levamisol as the third one, and you'd give them all at the same time. I read recently that some people have used levamisol when parasites were resistance to Cydectin, but the only form I could find was a bolus, and it's huge and nearly impossible to get down an adult goat, so I've never even tried to get it down a kid.

Lisa Martin said:

She is 1 of 4 from the first breeder I bought from who uses Cydectin, every 6 weeks. I haven't actually seen her poop. I did see something in the pasture area that looked log-ish but made of berries. I'll have to hang out and observe her tomorrow until I see what they look like. I assume they all look like berries. I'll check the barn too.

I know my little buckling has little berries. I saw him today. I know my buckling had berries, because I see him make some on our walks.

I'll have to let you know tomorrow.

Thanks,
Lisa

p.s. should I be concerned that she looks so much "fatter" than the other 2 doelings, when she is the littlest ? They seemed kind of fat when I first got them.
p.p.s. I did notice her fur is not as "smooth" as the rest of the doelings

Lisa Martin October 19, 2010 at 6:41pm

She is 1 of 4 from the first breeder I bought from who uses Cydectin, every 6 weeks. I haven't actually seen her poop. I did see something in the pasture area that looked log-ish but made of berries. I'll have to hang out and observe her tomorrow until I see what they look like. I assume they all look like berries. I'll check the barn too.

I know my little buckling has little berries. I saw him today. I know my buckling had berries, because I see him make some on our walks.

I'll have to let you know tomorrow.

Thanks,
Lisa

p.s. should I be concerned that she looks so much "fatter" than the other 2 doelings, when she is the littlest ? They seemed kind of fat when I first got them.
p.p.s. I did notice her fur is not as "smooth" as the rest of the doelings

Deborah Niemann-Boehle October 19, 2010 at 5:55pm

What's the little doe's history? Did she come from the same farm as the others? Was she dewormed with Cydectin or something else? When? What does her poop look like? Berries, logs, or loose?

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FAMACHA chart ? anyone have one ?

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