I just brought home 9 new goats. There are a couple of them that are coughing, should I be concerned. They were not coughing when I went to get them. Also I have Great Pyrneese as my guardians and one of them is barking at them incessantly how do you introduce new goats to them? They are very young dogs.
You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!
Replies
Maybe bringing up her cud? Some don't make any sound at all, while others squeak when they do it or sound sort of like burping. If they make a funny sound, and then you see them chewing, the noise was just the sound they make bringing up their cud, and it can vary in a single goat from day to day.
Angie Purvis said:
They seem to be doing much better today. One of the new goats is making a noise that I haven't heard before but not coughing. It is almost like clearing of throat noise.
The way that LGD psychology works is that they know what belongs in their space, and some LGDs will attack anything new. I know someone who brought home a very expensive show lamb and took her LGDs out of the pasture because she had to leave. While she was gone her children saw the dogs were out and put them back in there, and they promptly killed the new lamb. I also had a LGD go after a new goat once, but luckily I was right there and corrected him.
Thank you for the reply. They don't seem to be cughing today. My GP were fine with the two goats that I already here, they just are very protective to them and are acting like the new goats are a threat to them.
Wow, you started with a lot of goats at once!
About coughs -- it's hard to say without seeing and hearing them because goats can cough for a lot of reasons. Sometimes something can go down the wrong way, especially when they're eating in a group and some get greedy. So, a cough every now and then isn't something to worry about. If it's chronic, and it goes on for a few days, or if they have a fever, it could be something that needs attention. Kids may cough if they have pneumonia but adults don't always. Pneumonia is usually caused by lack of fresh air, which is why you do NOT want an insulated barn. Lung worm can cause a cough, but they probably would have been coughing from the time you brought them home. If you're putting goats on clean pasture, they should only have the parasites that they brought with them.
As for the dogs, I would not allow them to be together unsupervised. Not every LGD breed dog is a good guardian. We wound up selling our first two great pyrs to pet homes because they kept killing chickens and guineas. Introduce the dogs to the goats when there are two people to supervise, one to keep the dog on lead and one to praise him when he responds appropriately to the goat and to make sure that the goats don't butt him, which happens, especially with the more dominant goats. An otherwise mellow dog can turn nasty if a goat butts him.