Let's talk Goat Poo

[Jaci Jahn]

Before I got these 2 baby goats I never expected to become so concerned about poo. LOL. But here I am everyday looking at the goat's poo, wondering what is ok.

So I know that little seperate berries is what you want. And log's are bad. But what about berries that are clumped together... is that considered a log poo as well? We've seen all 3 of those kinds around here since we brought them home a month ago, even some puddles too, which I do know are bad.

We used Molly's Herbals last week on our now 7 week and 5 week doelings. (They hate it by the way LOL) On the 2nd or 3rd day Lamb Chop had a definate log stool (looked like human stool...not good) so we thought she was passing worms? Anyone else have experience with the Herbal Wormer changing their goat's stool? Now they alternate with loose berries and then clumped berries. Are these clumps the logs that everyone talks about, or is a log stool like a human stool, no berries at all?

Oh all the confusion about poo.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

No. I know the vets say it is, but it isn't. They also say that if one goat has worms, deworm all of them. The current research says a very small percentage of your goats harbor the majority of the internal parasites on your farm. A couple years ago, I had a buck die with a very heavy load of parasites, and I did fecals on three of the other bucks in his pen, and none of them had anything even remotely worrisome. That's why I like FAMACHA, body condition scores, watching the poop, etc. I learned to do fecals, but I'm not going to do 30 a month. Last year, I did do fecals, body condition scores, FAMAHCA scores, and poop notes on several does, and they are correlated -- high fecal egg count, poor body condition, clumpy poop, and low FAMACHA score. The body condition is the least accurate -- sometimes their body condition can be fine, yet they've become anemic and have a high worm load -- so you can't count on it exclusively.

Kare at Chaverah Farm said:

I have one doe that was clumpy for a week or so, but I don't think she is any more.  I had one of her doelings fecal tested and it came back with no worms.  Is that a pretty good indication of all the does?

[Kare]

I have one doe that was clumpy for a week or so, but I don't think she is any more.  I had one of her doelings fecal tested and it came back with no worms.  Is that a pretty good indication of all the does?

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

There is no problem giving dewormers to a goat nursing kids.

[Julia Johnson]

I normally give herbal wormer but sounds like one of my does may need to be chemically wormed she has clumped berries but she is nursing two kids will it hurt the kids to give her ivermectin the kids are 6 weeks old?

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

You want separate berries, as you know. Clumped berries is usually heading towards logs, which is bad. You also see clumps when they're moving back to berries from logs. No, logs don't mean they're passing worms -- worm eggs, perhaps, but not that they're getting rid of worms. When my goats have passed logs, they do have a very high egg count in the poop generally, but it is not because they were given a dewormer, either chemical or herbal. It means they need to be treated for worms.

There are a number of discussions on here about Molly's, but the bottom line is that if your goats have a heavy worm load, it's not going to help. Even Molly says she uses Ivermectin. If you want confirmation, you can take a fecal to your vet.