new to goats - deworming

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Tue, 06/07/2016 - 16:43 #1

Member for

7 years 10 months
kouto
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/07/2016 - 16:16

new to goats - deworming

Hi  I am new to this site and new to goats. I have had chickens for years and thought I would give goats a try as pets. I have never had any livestock. I picked up two female 6 month old goats 5 days ago. They are Nubian x Saanen. I was told that one needed to be dewormed straight away, so I gave it a dose of Oralject. This hasn't seemed to work, as the poo has got sloppier each day since. How often can I give treatment? How long do I wait to try again or try another treatment? How long does it normally take to see improvement after treatment? 

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Wed, 06/08/2016 - 14:02 #2
Terry
Last seen: 02/29/2024 - 14:20
Joined: 09/13/2013 - 18:57

Hi, 

 

I don't know much about goats but do about sheep. I would think the scouring may be because of the new feed on your property and maybe even a bit of stress at this time. The wormers normally work if you have dosed them correctly. Always use a good one and change them at least every couple of times to avoid a resistence building to the one you have used.

 

I'm sure there is a probably a goat forum on Facebook and it would always be a great place to ask this question. Good luck with it all.

 

I doubt that it would hurt to give them another dose about a week apart. 

 

kind regards

 

 

Terry

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Wed, 06/08/2016 - 15:29 #3
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Kouto,

Goats are my field. If you have the contact number of the people you bought the goats off, you need to ask them what the history of the goats is. When were they last wormed, and have they been vaccinated against the various diseases goats and sheep are prone to? Have they had any die of unexplained causes? I have often been told that a goat has died of snake bite when upon examination, it was actually plant poisoning.

 

Were they scouring when you bought them or has this only happened when you bought them home? Buying livestock of any type,that are scouring is a no, no, because whatever the problem is will be spread onto your  the property from the droppings. Always have the vendor drench the animals before they leave the property., then keep them in a confined area for a few days before letting them onto the ground on your property.

 

The second thing is, how do you or the previous owners know it is worms? It may be other things, such as diet, entero toxaemia (causes scouring, loss of condition and if not treated, death).

 

If you have a vet nearby you need to collect some of the droppigs and take the sample in to the vet who will do a worm egg count for you. Put the container into a cooler or esky to take them in to the surgery, as if warm it can effect the count. I hope all goes well with your goats. They are one of my favourite animals.

 

If it isn't any trouble, can you please let us know what the outcome of this is. It's the way we all learn.  

 

Cheers,

Barb

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Fri, 06/10/2016 - 15:38 #4
kouto
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/07/2016 - 16:16

Hi Barb,

 

Thanks for your reply. The goat has picked up and the worming seems to be working. I am really enjoying my goats.  I think they were probably stressed as well coming to a new home.

 

To answer some of your questions. The previous owner had them as part of a big herd maybe 30 - 40 goats. They told me that I would need to worm the goat after looking at its eyelids and seeing that they were whiteish in color.

Being new I did not asked the questions about previous history that I should have.

 

What vacinations do you recommend that they should have? 

 

Next lesson is to find out how to move them from one spot to another. They don't go where I want them to go. I put a collar on them but they resist against that.

 

Haha, I am sure I will learn lots and love the goat journey. I really apprieciated your answer.

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Sat, 06/11/2016 - 21:26 #5
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi again,

Glad the goats are picking up. sounds to me as if they probably had Barbers Pole Worm as they had White gums and inside the lower eyelids. They would have had it for a while. Once again I will say again, make sure the goats you buy are drenched before they leave the previous owners property and then keep them confined in a small yard or area before you release them onto your property. The worm eggs that were in their droppings will now be wherever they went on your property for at least 10 days after they were drenched as it takes about this time to clear the eggs that were in the intestine out, after they were drenched. Some of those eggs would have still been viable. As suggested by another adviser on this site, drench them again now. Barbers pole worms are blood sucking parasites that live in the stomach and small intestine of goats. In their mouth they have a small lancet. They attach to wall of the stomach or small intestine with hooks around their oral orifice and with the lancet make a small cut. They then procede to ingest blood, leaving a small scar in the wall. Every scar is an area where food cannot be absorbed. Every mature BP worm produces up to 10,000 eggs per day, which then pass out into the pasture contimanating it. With this volume of eggs it is not long before your pastures are completely contaminated. The vendor who sold these goats to you, must have pastures that are completely infested with these parasites which are in the hook worm family. The Barbers Pole worm is the one which causes the highest stock loss of goats in Australia, apart from wild dogs and dingos. 

 

If goats have white conjunctiva (membranes), they are very anaemic and in poor condition. This shows very poor husbandry on the part of the previous owners and they should never have sold animals to you in that condition. As someone who loves goats, it is very upsetting to me to know that. Sorry about going on so much about the worms but I hate to see animals suffer. I am glad that you have bought them, as it sounds like you are very caring folk and they will now have a good home. 

 

Now, how to get goats to follow you. Fairly easy, like dogs and cats, they are ruled by their stomachs.  If you are not hand feeding them already, I suggest you get some goat feed rom your local rural supplier and put their feed in a bucket and when taking it to the feed trough, call them and tap on the bucket and then put it into the feed trough. After a few days of this, when they see you, they will follow you wherever you lead following the bucket in hopes of a feed. Train these ones like that and all they will need to do after a week or to, is see you with the bucket and  they will follow you anywhere. Always call them when you do it and after a while you won't even need the bucket. I used to have 700+ goats at one time and I could call them from anywhere on the property and they would come running. Any future goats you get, will follow these ones. It's just trianing the first lot that takes a little time. 

 

Best of luck with them and we would love to know how they get on a little further down the track. 

 

Cheers,

Barb 

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