Hey guys, a few of my goats woke up coughing this am. One has goopy eyes and is just feeling yucky. I gave them a vitamin b shot and have been feeding them rose hips. Is there anything else you guys do to help boost your goats immune system during this time of year?
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Janel, I can so relate to what you're going through with the weather right now. I don't think we have quite the swing in temps that you do (we're probably swinging between 35 and 70, but freezing at night often), but I also think it's a hard time of year on animals and people. I've used an immune support tincture from Molly's Herbals (Fiasco Farm). I think it's really helpful. The other thing I do sometimes is use teas from Traditional Medicinals or Yogi and just break it open and feed it to them, especially the immune support ones. My girls will eat it right up with a tiny bit of grain. Best wishes to you this fall! :)
I live in Colorado and the weather, I feel, can be so hard on our animals. One day it can be sunny and 80 and the next day 50's and snow or rain. This time of the year is worst. I've been feeding my goats rose hips to boost their immune systems, but was curious as to what others did to boost their goats systems?
What about snotty noses? I have noticed that once in a while one or two of mine will have a snotty nose, but not seem to really have anything wrong with them.
Usually in the mornings and then it just goes away later. Sometimes it seems like it will happen and then the next day it will happen to different ones. It doesn't last long and never seems like it is really a big deal. I wonder if the same types of things can cause this, because I sort of think it could.Maybe it happens in the morning because they lay near the ground so many hours and closer to the ground they would inhale more dust for a longer period of time.
I would not immediately assume that the goats are sick if you saw them cough a few times. There is nothing particularly bad about this time of year that causes that for goats. They don't get colds like humans do. Coughing is not always a sign of illness. It is really just a sign that the body is trying to get rid of something that should not be in the wind pipe -- dust or mold from hay or the road? Goopy eyes are usually caused by dust. Too much dust day after day could eventually cause pink eye, which oddly enough makes the eyeball turn bluish white. But again, the eye waters to expel something that is not supposed to be in there.