Content
- 1 Brucellosis in goats and sheep
- 2 Contagious ecthyma of sheep and goats (contagious pustular dermatitis and stomatitis)
- 3 Conditionally contagious diseases of goats and methods of their treatment
- 4 Tympany in goats and sheep
- 5 Mastitis
- 6 Vaginal prolapse
- 7 Milk goiter in kids
- 8 Conclusion
The goat, which received the nickname “the cow of the poor” for its unpretentiousness in maintenance and food, is also distinguished by another remarkable feature: the goat is susceptible to a relatively small number of infectious diseases, although it is not completely free from diseases.
Infectious diseases in goats are the same as in sheep, but sheep suffer from more infectious diseases than goats.
Goats are susceptible to infectious diseases common to all mammals.These same diseases are dangerous for humans, so veterinary services systematically check goats for diseases such as leptospirosis, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, and brucellosis.
Brucellosis in goats and sheep
Bacterial disease. Brucella bacteria are divided into six types, of which the causative agent of brucellosis in goats and sheep is especially dangerous for humans. Brucella is unstable in the external environment. In water, soil or manure they remain viable for 4 months. Direct sunlight kills the pathogen in 4 hours. Heating to a temperature of 90-100°C kills Brucella instantly.
Infection in goats and sheep most often occurs through the digestive tract, when eating feed contaminated with Brucella, as well as through “bloody” injuries (scratches, small wounds), which open a direct path for infection into the bloodstream. Humans usually become infected through milk or meat.
Symptoms of brucellosis disease
The main problem of brucellosis is that in goats and sheep, in most cases, the disease is asymptomatic, making itself known only during pregnancy by abortion at 4–5 months. Up to 70% of goats or sheep in a herd can abort. Less commonly, paresis of the hind legs may develop.
The diagnosis of the disease can only be made in the laboratory. Responsible goat owners periodically have milk from their goats tested, although if brucellosis is detected, they will lose all their goats, since treatment for the disease has not been developed.
Prevention of brucellosis in goats and sheep
Strict adherence to veterinary rules to prevent disease and control over the movement of goats and sheep.If a case of brucellosis is discovered in a previously safe area, all animals, without exception, are sent for slaughter. In disease-prone areas, young animals are raised in isolation, forming a dairy herd. Vaccination against brucellosis is carried out only in agreement with the veterinary service.
Goat diseases such as leptospirosis, foot-and-mouth disease, and tuberculosis, common to all productive animals, are usually strictly controlled by veterinary services and are relatively rare. Except for leptospirosis, which is spread by rodents. But the risk of leptospirosis can be reduced by storing food in containers that rats cannot reach. Leptospira are excreted in the urine of rats and persist for a long time in a humid environment: in water for up to 200 days. In a dry environment, leptospira die within a maximum of 2.5 hours.
In goats and sheep, leptospirosis is asymptomatic, so veterinary services monitor the presence of the disease through a blood test. There is no point in worrying about leptospirosis for private owners. In the absence of symptoms of leptospirosis, it is impossible to determine the presence of the disease in a goat or sheep “by eye”.
Contagious ecthyma of sheep and goats (contagious pustular dermatitis and stomatitis)
A viral disease of goats and sheep that affects the skin. When ecthyma occurs, nodules, pustules and crusts form on the mucous membrane of the mouth, lips, limbs, genitals, udder and other parts of the body.
The disease is caused by a DNA-containing smallpox-like virus, which is very resistant to wool when it dries. In a dry state, the virus can remain pathogenic for up to 15 years. In a humid environment, at high temperatures or in direct sunlight, it dies relatively quickly.Sensitive to chloroform, phenol, formaldehyde, alkalis and other disinfectants.
The disease is transmitted through contact with a sick animal.
Symptoms of the disease
The incubation period of the disease is 3 – 10 days. There are stomatitis, labial, genital and hoof forms of the disease. From the names it is clear where specific skin lesions occur in each form of the disease.
As the disease develops, redness and swelling of the skin at the affected area first appears, which is why vesicles, pustules and scabs appear, which disappear after 2 to 3 weeks. Hoof disease causes lameness. With ecthyma, the course of the disease is often complicated by a secondary infection of necrobacteriosis, which prolongs the course of the disease up to 40 days. In queens, inflammation of the skin of the udder and nipples is possible.
Treatment of the disease
For this disease, only symptomatic treatment is possible. The mucous membrane is treated daily with glycerin or 5 percent iodine. The skin is lubricated with septomycin emulsion.
Instead of iodine, experienced goat and sheep owners recommend using a solution of potassium permanganate.
In case of complications of necrobacteriosis, antibiotics of the tetracycline group are indicated.
There are, so to speak, conditionally infectious diseases of goats. That is, diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms, but you cannot become infected with this disease through direct contact with a sick animal.We need either a carrier of the disease in the form of ticks or fleas, or a direct channel into the blood in the form of damage to the skin, or a weakened immune system in a particular animal.
Conditionally contagious diseases of goats and methods of their treatment
Of the infectious diseases of goats and sheep, these are practically the only diseases to which goats living on private farms are susceptible.
Necrobacteriosis in goats
The second name for the disease is fusobacteriosis. The disease is caused by an anaerobic microbe that is widespread in the environment and lives permanently in the gastrointestinal tract of goats, sheep and other animals. For the disease to develop, a deep wound channel or weakened immunity in a sheep or goat is necessary.
As the disease develops in goats and sheep, purulent-necrotic areas appear mainly on the lower parts of the limbs. Sometimes there may be lesions in the mouth, udder, and genitals. It is also possible to develop necrobacteriosis in internal organs and muscles.
Symptoms of the disease
The incubation period of the disease is 1 – 3 days. Clinical signs and course of the disease depend on the degree of pathogenicity of the microorganism, the level of immunity of the goat and its age, and the localization of the disease process.
Symptoms of the disease depend on the location of the initial infection and the type of animal. In goats and sheep, the disease most often begins with lameness. When the pathogen penetrates the skin of the extremities, redness and swelling first form, which often go unnoticed by the owner. Next, at the site of infection by the causative agent, serous discharge appears and an ulcer forms. The animal is depressed, body temperature is increased to 40°C. The affected limb is painful and hot.
Treatment and prevention of the disease
Treatment of the disease is complex. Along with antibiotics and sulfonamides prescribed by a veterinarian, local treatment of the diseased areas is used. Necrotic areas are treated with disinfectant solutions: potassium permanganate, chlorhexidine, iodine glycerin, copper sulfate. After washing the affected area, antimicrobial drugs or ointments with antibiotics of the tetracycline group are applied to it.
Hydrogen peroxide provokes the growth of “wild meat” on open ulcers. Although it is also recommended for use to disinfect necrosis in illness, it is best to use it carefully.
To prevent the disease, sanitary standards are observed, systematically cleaning sheep and goat paddocks from dirty bedding, and do not allow animals to graze in wetlands. Carry out injury prevention.
The hooves of sheep and goats are inspected and trimmed at least once every 2 months. The hooves are treated with formaldehyde 2 times a year.
How to trim a goat's hooves
When a goat gets necrobacteriosis, its milk is destroyed.
Pseudotuberculosis
The causative agent of the disease has been little studied. It is known that the bacterium is sensitive to drying, but remains for a long time in a humid environment at a temperature of +18 - 20 ° C and is even able to reproduce under such conditions. The causative agent of the disease also remains viable in food products stored in the cold. Sensitive to antibiotics of the penicillin and tetracycline groups, as well as sulfonamides. It dies quickly when treated with carbolic acid or formaldehyde.
Symptoms of the disease
Virus incubation lasts from 9 days to 2 weeks.In goats, the main signs of the disease are pneumonia, abortion and mastitis. Often occurs chronically without symptoms.
Treatment of the disease
To begin with, pseudotuberculosis is differentiated in laboratory conditions from real tuberculosis and other similar diseases.
Treatment of the disease is effective only for inflammation of the superficial lymph nodes. Maturing abscesses are smeared with ichthyol ointment and, after maturation, they are opened, washed with antiseptic solutions. Antibiotics of the penicillin group are administered intramuscularly. Orally – sulfonamides.
Disease prevention
For pseudotuberculosis, treatment and vaccinations are ineffective, so the focus is on preventing the disease. The set of measures to prevent the disease includes regular deratization and disinfection of places where goats and sheep are kept. Sick animals are isolated and either treated or immediately slaughtered. When cases of pseudotuberculosis appear, the herd is examined 2 times a month by palpating the lymph nodes.
Tetanus
The causative agent is an anaerobic microorganism. Stability in the external environment is extremely high. Without direct sunlight on contaminated surfaces, the pathogen can remain viable for up to 10 years. Very resistant to disinfectants. In addition to bleach, which kills the tetanus pathogen in 10 minutes, other disinfectant solutions require from 8 to 24 hours to act on the microorganism.
Symptoms of the disease in sheep and goats
Symptoms of tetanus appear 3 to 21 days after infection. In fact, infection occurs when a deep, narrow wound is received, where oxygen does not penetrate well. Most often this is a puncture with a nail.
The course of the disease is acute.The first signs of the disease appear in difficulty eating due to tense chewing muscles. With further development of the disease in sheep and goats, opisthotonus is observed - arching of the back with throwing the head back. The photo above shows the classic goat pose for tetanus. In the absence of complications, body temperature is normal almost until death. Shortly before death, the temperature rises to 42°C. Death occurs 3 to 10 days from the moment signs of the disease appear.
Treatment of the disease
Tetanus goats are carefully examined and any wounds treated. Abscesses are opened, cleaned, dead tissue removed and disinfected. Animals are placed in a dark, preferably soundproof room.
To ease convulsions during the disease, sedatives and narcotics are administered, and anti-tetanus serum is injected. Massage the rectum and bladder. Dietary feeding.
Disease prevention
The best way to prevent the disease is a tetanus vaccination. It also doesn't hurt to keep the area clean and to keep dirty boards with rusty nails out of reach of sheep and goats.
Botulism
In fact, this is not a disease, but poisoning by toxins of an anaerobic microbe. A goat can become poisoned by eating low-quality silage. The development of a microorganism in a silo is possible when soil, corpses of small animals or bird droppings fall into the pit. High-quality silage should smell like sauerkraut. It is better not to feed silage with a strong unpleasant odor to animals.
In goats, when poisoned with a toxin, incoordination of movements predominates; sometimes paralysis of the chewing and swallowing muscles occurs, but the latter does not always occur.
Treatment of the disease
The same as for any other poisoning: lavage the stomach with a solution of baking soda; the use of laxatives and warm enemas. In severe cases of the disease, a drip with saline solution is given. Tetanus antitoxic serum is administered intravenously.
Sheep and goat breeding
An acute bacterial disease caused by an anaerobic microorganism. Bacterial spores can remain viable for a long time in the external environment.
When ingested by a sheep or goat, the anaerobe causes hemorrhagic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the abomasum and duodenum, as well as degeneration of internal organs.
Symptoms of the disease
Bradzot proceeds with lightning speed and sharpness. When the disease progresses at lightning speed, sheep and goats often die at night or when being driven out to pasture. In this case, convulsions, tympany, foam at the mouth, and hyperemia of the mucous membranes are noted. Death occurs within 30 minutes.
In the acute course of the disease, severe shortness of breath and weakness are observed. Death within 8 – 14 hours. In the acute course of the disease, you can see:
- excitement followed by depression;
- elevated body temperature - 41°C;
- unsteady gait;
- grinding of teeth;
- involuntary movements;
- rapid breathing;
- bloody fluid from the mouth and nose;
- swelling in the submandibular space, neck and dewlap;
- tympany;
- sometimes bloody diarrhea.
Ultimately, the goat or sheep dies with its head thrown back and legs extended.
Treatment of the disease
When the disease progresses at lightning speed, treatment is delayed. In acute cases of the disease, you can urgently use antibiotics: biomycin, terramycin, syntomycin. In the acute course of the disease, antitoxic, cardiac and sedative drugs are also needed.
Goat breeder's first aid kit
Although infectious diseases in sheep and goats can be quite scary, the main scourge of both goats and goat farmers are non-infectious diseases.
Often it is non-contagious diseases of goats and sheep that greatly complicate the life of goat breeders.
One of the most common non-infectious diseases is rumen tympany.
Tympany in goats and sheep
Tympany is swelling of the rumen as a result of fermentation of food masses accumulated in the rumen.
Usually the swelling is uneven. On the left, the scar sticks out more.
Causes of the disease
The causes of the disease may be eating feed that is prone to fermentation, blockage of the gastrointestinal tract, or dysbiosis due to a recent course of antibiotics.
Treatment of the disease
To treat a disease, sometimes it is enough to simply chase the goat or pour cold water on it. The essence of the procedure is to force the abdominal muscles to sharply contract and compress the scar, as a result of which gases are usually released through belching. They also massage the rumen, positioning the goat so that the front legs are higher than the hind legs. And some owners “dance” with the goat, holding it by the front legs.
In especially severe cases of the disease, the drug “Timpanol” is injected, which should be in the goat breeder’s first aid kit.
If nothing helps at all, but the veterinarian managed to get to the still living goat, they puncture the rumen.
It is unknown how much this procedure can really help cope with the disease against the background of the Tympanol injection, but it will not make it worse.
Mastitis
The disease is caused by inflammation of the udder due to milk accumulated in it. The udder swells, becomes hard and hurts.
First-time females especially often suffer from mastitis, because after lambing they are frightened and do not allow the kid to come near them. The goat tries to avoid pain. If mastitis is not infectious, udder massage and milk milking help. After the goat can be caught and securely secured. Sometimes it is enough to force the goat to feed the kid several times so that the pain begins to subside and the goat begins to calmly feed the kid.
To avoid disease, regardless of whether the kid is left under the goat or immediately removed, it is necessary to milk the colostrum within the first hour after lambing or allow the kid to suck it out. To prevent recurrence of the disease, the goat must be milked regularly.
Infectious mastitis occurs as a result of damage to the nipples, on which cracks form. An infection enters the udder through cracks, causing inflammation. Infectious mastitis is treated with antibiotics, placing ointment through a special tube inside the nipple. In severe cases of the disease, antibiotic injections are given.
Cracks often occur due to rough handling of the goat's teats during milking. A baby goat can also damage its nipples, since it has had teeth since birth. White flakes often float in milk given for infectious mastitis. Neither kids nor people should drink this kind of milk.
Vaginal prolapse
Not as rare a disease in goats as it might seem. During illness, the upper vaginal vault protrudes beyond the vulva.Most often, the disease occurs in connection with pregnancy and lambing. Predisposing factors for the development of the disease may be a lack of vitamins or microelements, essential amino acids, a high slope of the floor in the stalls, and lack of exercise. Experienced goat breeders name another cause of the disease: early mating.
Immediate causes of the disease: increased internal pressure, injury or dryness of the birth canal, strong efforts during lambing.
When vaginal prolapse occurs, the mucous membrane dries out and becomes injured, which leads to sepsis and vaginitis.
Treatment of the disease
The pressure is removed, the mucous membrane is treated and disinfected. The prolapsed part is set back and the vulva is sutured. After a week and a half, the fixation is removed. Vaginitis is treated.
In case of frequent relapses of the disease, if the goat is especially valuable and you don’t want to lose it, it is recommended to sew up the vulva immediately after mating and remove the fixation literally a couple of hours before the goat decides to lamb. But it is better to get rid of such goats, and as a measure to prevent the disease, breed goats no earlier than 1.5 years.
Milk goiter in kids
Sometimes kids are born with tumor-like formations under the ganache, as in the photo. Previously, kid goiter was considered a disease of the thymus gland in a kid requiring treatment.
Today, Americans believe that such a goiter in a kid is normal and contributes to the formation of strong immunity. Goiter in kids does not require treatment; after 7 months it will go away on its own.
Veterinarians from the CIS who practice treating goiter in goats with iodine preparations still disagree with them.Goiter in kids actually decreases, since the kid’s gland is sensitive to iodine-containing drugs. But there is an opinion that the immunity of treated kids is lower than that of kids that got rid of goiter naturally.
How to give a goat an injection
Conclusion
Goats are even less demanding animals in keeping and feeding than sheep, which, moreover, are rarely milked anywhere in Russia. The taste and smell of goat's milk depends on the feed that the goat consumes, therefore, with a high-quality and well-formulated goat's diet, goat's milk will have an excellent taste and a completely absent unpleasant odor.
