I am by no means complaining about this year's kidding. So far, so good! The first one that kidded, she had triplets first time kidding and no problems. Yay! The second one had just twins which I'm happy about since she usually has three or four and she had no problems. What a change from the past years. I don't know if it's the vitamins, less grain during pregnancy or the Birth Ease herbal supplement I found or all three but something worked. Thank you for starting this group. What a big help its been for me!
My question is, how does selenium deficiency affect a kids immune system? One of the kids and I think it was the last one born of the triplets came down with the start of pneumonia. We started out with heat lamps and I had a box with blankets for them to get in and they wore sweaters. I noticed raspy breathing and he had a fever. He went to the vets and he is starting to do better. This week, the smaller of the twins did the same thing. She is doing pretty good now but we were on the look out for it and we caught it early. She was the smaller of the two but she is quickly catching up. Could this have something to do with being the last one born?
I read that selenium helps with keeping your immune system up. Should I do the selenium shots?
Replies
Thanks for your help Margaret.
I still think they need the ventilation, even with the mucking. Rather people or animals, tight enclosers and/or heat cause illness. Human babies who are kept wrapped in the winter and indoors get sick more than those who are cool and around drafts. FACT! Because they stay indoors were germs are rampant.
Sorry about the problems and really hope everything goes well. Can you not bottle them and let them stay with her in hopes that she will grow to accept them? You know they frequently will after a while, if they are with them. It really is not so uncommon to go out and find them nursing or curled up with mom after she is feeling better. And did you try holding her by a collar while they nursed or putting her on the milk stand to eat while they nurse?
We muck out the barn at least once a week and then after the kids being born, every other day unless something comes up and I can't do it in the evenings.
I guess I spoke too soon. Our last doe went into labor yesterday and things just did not go well. I ended up at the vets with her and they could not get the kid out. She was twisted in the birth canal. They gave me a couple choices of what to do and I opted for the c-section. Pretty down about losing the kid but I was really worried about losing the doe. The technician took the doeling and laid her down on the floor and started rubbing her down. She was alive and then they pulled the second one and the vet said it would be a miracle if this one survived. Needless to say, they are our house guest and enjoying their bottles. Clare is up and moving a little but she will not allow the kids to nurse. I can milk her and we feed every few hours. We named them Miracle and Grace.
You don't need to keep the barn closed. The goats will be fine with the door open. They need ventilation but not a draft. Having the door open without roof vents will actually work fine. Shavings do not get rid of ammonia. It will still be there in your barn; doesn't matter whether it's sitting in open puddles or in the shavings or straw. Lots of people use deep bedding through the winter because the decomposing poop produces heat -- BUT you have to keep the door open so that the ammonia can escape.
Thanks for replying. The way the weather has been lately, I have been keeping the barn closed up. One day its 60 degrees and the next is 20. I did check the floors and I don't smell the ammonia. I try to keep the stalls cleaned out and I just got some shavings to help keep the floor dry. I'll use that as a base and straw on top. I would like to add roof vents this year to circulate the air. Each year, we seem to be making progress, baby steps but still some progress.
Glad to hear kidding is going well for you this year!
Pneumonia typically is caused by poor air quality. Sounds like you're trying really hard to keep them warm, so I'm wondering if you're also keeping them in a barn that is closed up so that the ammonia is building up and damaging their lungs. Put your nose down at about goat-nose height and see how it smells.
A goat that is deficient in anything will have an immune system that is not functioning at top level, but a BoSe shot isn't going to stop your goats from getting pneumonia if there is a problem with air quality.