I Just Fed My Goats Mouldy Grain

[Marin Waddell]

Yeah. We opened a new bag of food this morning and there were some large clumps in it, which isn't unusual as sometimes the molasses binder (or whatever binder it is) clumps up. I didn't think anything of it and fed the non-clumped parts to 6 of my does on the milk stand. Only one wasn't interested in eating it. When I started picking the clumps out to crush them up I realized that it was green mould holding them together. 

What should I be watching out for? Anything I should have on hand in case they do get sick?

[Adrienne]

I thought I had this happen once. That night I mixed a new batch of food and fed them, but as I was doing that I thought it smelled different. so I decided to get another bag of food. I was a bit worried about them, but luckily nothing bad happened. Hope everyone stays healthy!

[Marin Waddell]

So far everyone seems fine. There was a bit of runny poo on the ground but no one had a messy butt so it's not too bad. 

I looked at the grain again and at first glance it doesn't look too bad, but when you look close you can see that it's discoloured. And then I took a big whiff and almost choked on the mould dust. Poor girls. The one who wouldn't eat it this morning didn't even want to go into the room to be milked this evening so she must have been really turned off.

I'll just continue watching them and hope that nothing shows up over the next couple of days. 

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

At this point, I think all you can do is watch carefully and call the vet at the first sign of illness. It's possible that only one of the goats actually had mold in her grain -- the one that refused it. At least, I hope that's the case. Like Kimberly, my eyesight is also not what it used to be, so I'm just lucky this hasn't happened to me yet. Keep us updated.

[Kimberly Martin]

Marin:

I'm sorry to hear that. I can't help, but I did this with the horses last year. My eyesight is getting rather poor, and I learned to have good lighting for the "new" bags from then on. I hope no one gets even "dire rears", and that someone with more experience can comment.

[Marin Waddell]

I'm doing some reading and, other than general digestive upset, it looks like if any unusual symptoms show up I should call the vet to discuss the possibility of goat polio or listeriosis. Lets just hope for nothing worse than diarrhea.