It is important to keep your animals healthy and eat a healthy diet to prevent common goat diseases. Whenever you buy an animal, pay special attention to whether the animal has been vaccinated in the past.
If you buy an animal that has not been vaccinated in the past, keep it away from the rest of your animals and constantly check to see if it is in good health. Do not include it in your animal until you are fully convinced that it is present without any disease.
If you want to start your own farm or you are a small farmer, take special care that you need a veterinarian who will provide you services from time to time. Because you can’t diagnose or treat a common goat disease yourself, keep in touch with a veterinarian. If any of your animals have signs of an infectious disease, separate them from all your animals immediately.
Some Common Goat Diseases
- (CAE) Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis
- (CL) Caseous Lymphadenitis
- Urinary calculi
- Enterotoxemia
- G-6-S
- Sore mouth
- Pink eye
- Coccidiosis
(CAE) Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis
This disease is incurable, contagious and destructive to your animals. The disease is similar to AIDS in humans, which lowers the immune system of animals. In common parlance, it is also called arthritis because it causes inflammation in the joints. The disease is transmitted from mother to baby and is the first source of milk.
If any of your goats have the disease and are pregnant, try to warm the baby and not give it direct access to the mother’s teats. Heat the milk to a minimum (165F or 74C) for 15 seconds. So that the bacteria in the milk can be eliminated and the disease cannot be passed on to the baby. The best way to treat this is to breastfeed your kid.
And remember to test each of your animals (CAE). Only buy an animal if the test is negative. So whenever you buy an animal, take the veterinarian with you so that he can diagnose the animal in time and tell you which animal is healthier and better for you.
Urinary calculi
The disease is found in humans as well as in goats, which we know as kidney stones. The disease is mostly found in animals due to grain feeding. So if you put any kind of grain or grain on your animal, try to clean it. If you don’t clean your grains, remember that grains contain very small amounts of dust particles that slowly enter the kidneys and cause stones.
Due to this, the urine of animals is excreted in small quantities and the urine remains inside the body. It has been observed that if you castrate your animals at an early age, it will cause stones in them. Do not castrate your animal until it is eight months old. Animals that are castrated at an early age are more likely to die.
These diseases are also caused by drinking dirty water, so always give your animals clean and fresh water. If you notice that your animal’s penis is swollen or there is a sudden decrease in urine, be sure to have kidney stones as much as possible.
Some signs of this disease
- Decreased urination
- Swelling of the penis
- Making strange noises while urinating
- Grinding teeth constantly
Enterotoxemia
Enterotoxemia is a very dangerous and one of the common goat diseases. In many cases, it is impossible to cure. This disease can be prevented if care is taken. It is caused by two types of bacteria, commonly called C & D Clostridium perfringens.
You can find this bacterium in the ground or in the stomachs of healthy animals. In animals, the disease progresses rapidly and causes pressure in the intestines, which causes inflammation in the stomach and intestines. Toxic gases and toxic substances remain in the intestines due to pressure filling. Which causes inflammation of the liver, stomach and intestines.
The main cause of this disease
- Too much grain in the fodder and too much milk
- The animal is recovering from the disease or the animal is under pressure
- When insects are in the digestive tract of animals
- When grass or greenery is fed to animals in small amounts and high amounts of fibre feed
- When the digestive system is impaired or it is weakened due to heavy feed
(CL) Caseous Lymphadenitis
It is a contagious disease. Which is transmitted from one animal to another. The disease is commonly found in animals between the ages of three and twenty weeks. It appears in the form of internal or external abscesses in different parts of the animal’s body. It is also called “abscess” which is a material filled infection.
When abscesses break out, pus can infect other goats as well. You should always buy CL free animals. This disease causes rapid weight loss in animals. And often animal deaths occur.
Treatment of this disease
- Antiseptics
- Supportive care
Prevention of this disease
- Strict biosafety measures
- Elimination of sick animals from the herd
- Vaccination
- Disinfection of machinery and other equipment used for animal production methods (castration, ear tagging, etc.)
- Eliminate hazards in the environment that could potentially damage the skin
- Examination for lesions, serological screening and quarantine before introduction of new animals
G-6-S: This is a genetic disorder that affects Nubian goats and crosses into Nubian. Children with a defect won’t survive and die young. Only a few breeders will test for that and sell their goats as G-6-S Normal.
Sore mouth: This is mouth disease or infectious viral infection in which blisters (bubbles that pop up usually filled with pus and blood) are developed in the mouth and nose of goats. This can be passed on to humans, so use cleanliness and care when handling! The sore mouth heals in a couple of weeks, but the blister scabs can be infectious for years.
Pink eye: Goats can get pink eyes too, precisely as it sounds. The same rules apply to humans: separate the sick goat from the rest of the herd, wash your hands thoroughly after handling a pink-eyed goat, and treat it.
Coccidiosis: A parasite of the majority of goats, young children are vulnerable to diarrhea (sometimes bloody) from it easily, as well as rough coats and general ill-health. Albion is often used as a preventive treatment, and some farmers feed a coccidiostat.
