This morning was sucky. I found our 4.5 month old buckling dead in the barn. He was intended to be one of our herd sires. When we did chores last night he seemed totally fine. He had free access to hay and water. He was in with 8 adult goats who all seem fine. It is cold here (-3F, feels like -24 with windchill). All goats are in a barn. The barn is large so it doesn't contain their body heat well. It's not generally drafty, but the wind did shift to a different direction and may have blown in one particular ventilation hole. However, the little guy, who usually cuddles up with the other goats, was in the middle of the floor where he couldn't have been trying to keep warm.
So my question is - Can pneumonia have no symptoms or come on really quickly? Or did I just make a horrible mistake by keeping the goats in that barn causing him to die of hypothermia?
I think I'll move the 8 left in there to another barn with my 6 other goats. It would be crowded, but warmer.
I'm feeling like a terrible goat owner today.
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I do give my adult does a 16% Dairy Goat ration (it does contain copper, although I'm not certain how much), but the breeder recommended that I use the medicated calf starter for the kids. The vet told me that the decocc in the calf starter can kill heart muscle in goats, causing an infarction.
I've only had 5 kiddings here in the 1.5 years that I've had the goats and I haven't lost any to diarrhea so far. I don't know if it's due to low numbers of goats, or the use of the calf starter, or just plain luck. Our farm used to be a cow/calf ranch before we bought it so I'm sure that Cocci is around. Maybe I'll look at the Dimethox and try that, rather than having them get the decocc every day in their food.
And, unfortunately, TSC doesn't seem to exist in Canada. I see the ads for it in my American magazines and I'm jealous of all it seems to have! For one thing I can't find loose goat minerals at all here. It seems to be an issue for all goat owners in Saskatchewan.
Yes, medicated calf starter is a bad idea. I don't think I've heard of anyone using that before, so I wonder why that other person was feeding it. Some people use medicated sheep starter if they don't have goat feed in their area, but then there is the copper issue, since sheep feed has no copper in it. Goat feed is definitely the best option. Hope you can find it in your area. If you have a feed store that carries Purina, they should be able to order it for you if they don't have it. I feed Purina Goat Chow to my milkers, but Purina also makes Noble Goat, which is medicated. Dumor also makes goat feed. Both are available at Tractor Supply, if you have one of those in your area.
I think the hardest thing for most goat people is making sure the bucks stay in condition over the winter, because you absolutely MUST put your hands on them to make sure they're not skinny. They have so much hair that they can look perfectly fine and be skin and bones underneath all that hair. And bucks tend to lose condition during breeding season anyway. I know your little guy was too young for that to be an issue, but it's something to keep in mind as your goats get older.
Marin Waddell said:
Thank-you so much for the info. I feel better knowing that he didn't die of hypothermia. I talked to a vet this morning about dewormer. He was up front about the fact that he doesn't know much about goats and was very surprised to find out they were dairy goats and not meat goats, but he did say that he has a goat vet contact that he's going to talk to for more information. I'll compare it to what I've read and then decide what to do from there. I do think they probably need to be dewormed. I've mostly been basing their health on body condition so far, but I suspect I haven't been spending enough time with them now that it's gotten cold out.
I also found out from the vet that the calf starter with medication for coccidia that the breeder I got the goats from had recommended is, in fact, bad. Bad Bad Bad. So much to learn, and so much conflicting information! I really, really appreciate this site.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Don't beat yourself up. It happens to everyone. Healthy goats do not die of hypothermia unless they get wet. Since you didn't mention him being wet, I think we can rule out hypothermia. And your temps are not anything that we don't see here every winter in Illinois. In fact, it was 2 when we woke up this morning.
The #1 cause of goat death is internal parasites; #2 is pneumonia. A lot of animals can appear perfectly fine only hours before you find them dead, while others will go down and hang on for days, although that is pretty rare. Your scenario is probably the most common. A necropsy is the only way you will know for sure why he died. If he was with adults, it could be that one of them smacked the crap out of him and hurt something internally, although that is unusual. I know someone who lost an adult Nubian like that -- the vet said her insides looked as if she had been hit by a car. I'm just saying that it was probably not anything you did or failed to do. Feel the base of his tail. If there is little to no fat on it, it was probably anemia from internal parasites that killed him. If he feels meaty, it could have been pneumonia, but that's unlikely if the goats are in a big, open barn. A smaller, crowded barn is where pneumonia can really get your herd.
Hope this helps! And I'm sorry for your loss. It's always sad when you lose a goat.
Really sorry to hear this. Winter is sure hard on the animals.