MASTER MEAT GOAT PRODUCERS

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MASTER MEAT GOAT PRODUCERS

• HEALTH CHAPTER

Presented By Dr. Amy Bell Shirley Complements
of Dr. Janet Bailey Dr. Fred Hopkins
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Common goat diseases seen in TN
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Disease

• Clinical vs. Subclinical
• Some signs of disease or illness
• Coughing, sneezing, limping
• Not eating, breathing hard, etc.
• No appetite, may separate themselves from the
  herd
• Normal parameters

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Normal physical parameters of adult goats
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Remember

• The normal values tend to be higher in kids
• Temperature can increase due to stress or
  environmental conditions
• Assess goats behavior when evaluating normals.
  For example, if he/she is breathing hard,
  coughing, and has a runny nose, and a temperature
  of 104 F on a cool day and other goats temps.
  are running around 102 F youve got a problem.

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Common diseases

• Before discussing common diseases, some points to
  remember
• Some diseases look very similar in their clinical
  presentation
• Some diseases are zoonotic a.k.a we can get them
• Some diseases may require off-label or
  extra-label drug use to treat effectively
• Work with your veterinarian in prevention,
  diagnosis, and treatment of disease

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Health Products

• Watch extra-label use
• Watch expiration date
• Store vaccines correctly (36 to 42 F)
• Do you know the
  temperature of your
  refrigerator?

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Newly purchased animals should be

• From a disease free herd with a good health
  program and records
• Isolated from the rest of the herd for 30 days
• Vaccinated so that they will have some immunity
  before entering the herd
• Tested for intestinal parasites through
  FEC/FAMACHA which we
  will talk about later
• Tested for other diseases by blood sampling

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Common diseases

• Bloat
• Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis
• Contagious Ecthyma
• Footrot, Foot scald
• Listeriosis

• Overeating Disease
• Pneumonia
• Polioenceph.
• Founder and Scrapie included in chapter, but not
  in lecture
• Parasites

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Bloat symptoms

• Abdominal distension, usu. on left side, but
  depending on severity, can be on both sides
• Colic signs
• Anxiety
• Stomping their feet
• Urinating frequently
• Respiratory distress
• Recumbency
• Death

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Bloat treatments

• Gas bloat passage of a stomach tube USING SOME
  TYPE OF GUARD OR SPECULUM into the rumen and
  relieving the gas
• Frothy bloat cooking oil or mineral oil at a
  dose of 100cc to 200cc OR one ounce of dioctyl
  sodium sulfosucinnate
• Problems that may occur if treatment is initiated
  by an inexperienced individual
• Prevention

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Urolithiasis

• Narrow urethra of male goat
• Especially at sigmoid flexure and urethral
  process predisposes to urinary obstruction

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Urolithiasis

• Most common in pet goats and meat goats (grain
  diet)
• Signs of straining to urinate or may be vague as
  off feed and not acting right

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Urolithiasis

• Treatment
• Amputation of urethral process
• Catheterization and flushing
• Surgery

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Urolithiasis

• Prevention
• Access to clean fresh water (and salt)
• CalciumPhosphorus ratio of 21
• Magnesium 0.2 of less
• Avoid excessive protein
• Urinary acidifier? (ammonium chloride) or
  Bio-clor (commercial product for feedlot diets)

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Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis general
information

• Viral infection
• May affect joints, lungs, brain, and mammary
  glands
• Most efficient way of transmission is through kid
  ingesting dams colostrum
• Once a goat has CAE, it always has CAE
• Signs of infection may not be visible for months
  to years
• Arthritic/Neurological/Other Forms (chapter goes
  in detail about each form)

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CAE treatment

• No specific treatment
• For arthritic form, the treatment goal is to
  lesson the animals discomfort
• Regular/proper foot trimming
• Pain relievers
• Good bedding and pasture management
• REMEMBER, the goat you are treating is a source
  of infection to all other goats in your herd

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Prevention/Eradication

• Prevention is complicated
• Eradication is labor intensive
• Prevention
• Try to purchase goats from known CAE-negative
  herds
• Isolate new animals
• Testing and culling of all positive animals
  should eradicate the virus from the herd

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Caseous Lymphadenitis

• Swelling and abscessation of the superficial
  lymph nodes
• Cheesy, pasty substance in abscess which may have
  draining tracts
• Most animals will act completely
  normal in every other way
• If abscessation occurs in internal
  lymph nodes, one may see
  pneumonia
  and/or chronic
  weight loss

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CL treatment

• Drain or surgically remove abscess nodes
• Three important points to remember
• The material from the abscess can survive in the
  environment for a long time and is infective to
  other goats so make sure pus is disposed of
  correctly
• This disease is zoonotic meaning
  the material contains bacteria
  which may
  also infect people so make sure you wear
  gloves
• Culling the animal may be the
  easiest/smartest way to go.

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Contagious Ecthyma

• Sore, scabby mouth,Orf
• Small papules that progress to crusty scabs
• Scabs may be seen on lips (most common), face,
  coronary band, teats, scrotum, vulva, and ears
• Lesions usually go away on their own in two to
  four weeks
• Young goats may acquire a secondary bacterial
  infection which may cause sufficient pain to
  cease nursing.
• Also watch adult females nursing young. If
  lesions are located on teats and sore, she may
  not let the young nurse

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Treatment

• Depends on severity of the lesions, degree of
  secondary bacterial infection and location of the
  lesions
• This is a ZOONOTIC disease WEAR GLOVES
• Antibiotic treatment for secondary bacterial
  treatment, if needed
• Udder salves
• Watch for mastitis (rare)
• Not routinely treated because lesions
  regress, zoonotic potential, most
  
  animals recover quickly
• Prevention

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Foot rot and foot scald general information

• Contagious, bacterial infection of the soft
  tissue between the toes of the hoof
• Foot scald is a milder form of the disease that
  often precedes foot rot
• Common in Tennessee because of climate and
  weather
• Usually more common in
  the spring and early
  summer, but may
  occur
  any time of the year

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Symptoms

• Depending on severity of infection, a goat my
  have a slight limp to a pronounced lameness to
  refusing to walk at all
• Swelling, redness and pus are seen in the
  interdigital space
• It is not uncommon
  for more than one
  foot to be
  infected

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Treatment

• Antibiotics systemic, topical applications,
  footbaths (goats dont appreciate footbaths)
• Proper care and trimming of the hoof 1)removes
  dead tissue allowing penetration of antibiotic
  preparation 2)correct any overgrowth or
  abnormalities causing
  extra pressure
  on the interdigital
  space or
  predisposing
  to injury

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Treatment (cont.)

• Environmental control Once treated, animals
  should not be kept in a wet or muddy environment
• Re-check animals and re-treat, if necessary
• Prevention buy disease free animals, regular
  foot care, vaccination

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Listeriosis/ general information

• Bacterial disease that my infect several species,
  including humans
• Organism can survive for years in the environment
• May be shed from apparently healthy goats
• Most commonly seen when feeding silage and/or
  round bales, but can occur in goats on pasture

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Listeriosis symptoms

• Most common in animals 6 months of age or older
• Variety of signs
• Simple depression and a failure to eat
• Progresses to dropped jaw, inability to retract
  tongue and eat
• Move in one direction
  continuously (circling)
• Recumbency
• /- Fever
• Discoloration and
  problems with eyes
  (nystagmus)
• Treatment/Prevention Its zoonotic

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Overeating disease/general information

• Caused by bacterium Clostridium perfringes
• Bacteria live in soil and intestinal tract
• These bacteria can cause disease when 1)
  conditions are right for their multiplication and
  2) the normal movement of the intestines slow
  down, allowing foodstuff to pass through slowly

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Conditions that favor disease

• Goats that have not been acclimated to green
  pastures are allowed in lush, fast-growing
  pastures or cereal crops
• Heavy grain feeding or heavy milk access
• Any illness that actually
  slows down the
  intestinal tract

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Symptoms

• In kids, one may see death with no signs of
  sickness before hand
• One may also see
• High temperatures, signs of colic, watery
  diarrhea
• Ataxia (wobbly, acting
  drunk)
• Recumbancy
• Convulsions/comas

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Symptoms

• As animals become older, signs are not as severe.
• Animals may be sick for several days to several
  weeks. These animals are often off feed with
  severe diarrhea that comes and goes

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Treatment

• Antibiotics
• Antitoxin
• Supportive care

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Prevention

• VACCINATE
• Good feeding practices. Always change diet slowly

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Vaccination

• Depending on the herds history and management
  practices, this can vary greatly.
• Example for Clostridial diseases
• Vaccinate pregnant does in last month of
  pregnancy. Bucks and yearlings may be vaccinated
  at this time, too.
• Kids (from vaccinated does) need to be vaccinated
  at 4-6 wks of age and boostered in 3-4 weeks
• Kids (from unvaccinated does) need to be
  vaccinated between 1-3 wks of age and then
  boostered every 2-3 wks for two boosters

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Pneumonia/general information

• Caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi,
  etc.
• Management practices that predispose goats to
  pneumonia
• Clinical signs
• Treatment
• Prevention

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Polioencephalomalacia

• Result of low thiamine levels in the body
• Rumen bacteria usually produce enough thiamine
  for the body, but under certain conditions, the
  environment of the rumen is altered and the
  production of thiamine decreases, as does uptake
  of thiamine by the body.

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Certain conditions that cause decrease thiamine
production/uptake

• Sudden changes in the feed
• Moldy feeds and use of feeds high in molasses
• Excessive concentrate feeding
• Stress of weaning
• High dietary sulfur
  content
• Overdosing of
  certain drugs

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PE symptoms

• Weanlings and young adults appear more
  susceptible
• Elevation of the head while standing
• Staring off into space or blindness, circling
• Excitability and wandering aimlessly
• If not treated, goats
  usually die in 24-72
  hours

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PE treatment

• Thiamine
• If treatment is not initiate in time, goats may
  have residual blindness, decreased mental
  capacity, and residual neurological signs
• Supportive care

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PE Prevention

• Avoid factors that cause PE
• Avoid sudden dietary changes and moldy feeds
• Do not use feeds high in molasses
• Increased roughage and decreased concentrate
  feeding
• Good quality, free-choice mineral
• Free access to good quality forage
• Supplementation of the grain ration with thiamine
  or brewers yeast

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Prevention (cont)

• If weanlings are involved, make sure they are
  consuming sufficient roughage before weaning so
  that normal rumen flora development occurs.

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Meningeal worm

• Commonly found in whitetail deer
• Deer passes immature form of parasite in their
  manure ? manure eaten by snails and slugs ? goats
  accidentally eat snail or slug ? larvae migrates
  through body of the goat and arrives at spinal
  cord ? presence of parasite irritates the
  covering of the spinal cord ? clinical signs of
  disease

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Clinical signs

• Early stages goat is bright, alert, and eating
  well
• Signs include itching, weakness, staggering,
  paralysis, blindness, and death

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Treatment

• Subcutaneous injection of ivermectin given at the
  rate of 2.5cc per 100lbs of body weight once,
  followed by 1cc once a day for five days
• Fenbendazole given orally at the rate of 7cc per
  100 lbs of body weight

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Lice and Mites

• External parasite that live on the goat
• Both can cause itchy goats
• Can be treated with insecticides or miticides
• Refer to health
  chapter for
  specifics on
  treatment and
  prevention

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Ringworm

• Fungal infection
• Usually seen on the face, ears, neck or legs, but
  may be present anywhere on the body
• Crusty scabs with hair loss and redness of skin
• Will heal without treatment in about two months,
  but because of the unsightly appearance and
  contamination to both the environment and other
  herd mates, we treat.
• It is contagious to humans
• Fungicide (betadiene, chlorahexidene, etc.) for
  relatively long periods of time.

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Principles of prevention

• Isolation principles covered in biosecurity and
  internal parasites
• Sanitation
• Nutrition
• Selective breeding
• Vaccination