# goats with cold weather colds



## 4-Hgoats (Feb 6, 2010)

I have a 8 month old pygmy goat and a 8 month old alpine goat. The weather is getting colder and both goats have runny noses and coughs, they have a mild cold. I was wondering if there's anything natural i can give them to boost their immune systems or help fight the cold. I don't want to have to buy anything special or administer medicine if possible. I was thinking more like giving them something in the water or giving extra food or something. They have access to a mineral block and i feed hay and a little meat goat grain in the mornings and nights.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

What do you have set up for shelter?

They need ventilation But also need not to have any 
breezes blowing right on them. 

I do not have an answer on the feed question you asked.
If they are wethers you have to be careful with grains
because of the potential urinary problems that can develop.


I just know that a snotty nose can turn quickly into
pnemonia.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

I also suggest you get a thermometer.
If you do not have one. They are pretty cheap


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Have you checked them for lungworms?

I'm also a little concerned about your saying, that you don't want to give them proper treatment - why?


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## 4-Hgoats (Feb 6, 2010)

Yes i have a thermometer- for shelter they are kept in a barn with the doors open during the day and closed at night. The barn is well ventilated. I don't think they have colds due to lungworms. They have gotten colds before and it was just a mild thing that away within a week or so. And that was when they came back from fair, so it might have lasted longer than this will. They are drinking and eating normally though. I meant to say I do not want to have to shove pills down their throats or give vaccines or something. I just wanted to see if there were any natural immune boosters. Like there are natural dewormers such as diatomaceous earth.


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

No ideas on miracle feeds or supplements. But I would suggest that you make sure they have a cozy place to sleep. Inside the barn sounds good, but if they also have a place where there is 6 - 12'' of dry wood chips or straw on the floor, they will do much better in cold weather. I used to live in a very cold place (7200 ft) and my goats really appreciated the wood chips, and some warm water in the morning.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

I took out warm water this morning for them.
They turned up their noses. 
So I dumped it on the frozen water.
Guess they were not thirsty. LOL

I live at 4100 feet.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello,

I'll still recommend checking for lung worms, just to be on the safe side.

As for natural remedies: I use herbal cough syrup which I either buy in a pharmacy or make myself or herbal mixtures for cold/cough used in teas together with propolis tincture, cats claw (goats often don't like it), pelargonium reniforme extract (check with a pharmacy)

cough syrups:

onion syrup - peel and slice 10-15 onions, put the onions in a jar (glass or ceramic, plastic doesn't work so well): one layer onions, put sugar over that layer, then next layer of onions, sugar, and so on. Let it sit for about a day - not longer - on a cool place. The sugar will pull out the fluid in the onions. Use this syrup to loosen up a dry cough. Make sure you use it up fast because it will get moldy soon.

Herbal tea syrup: find a herbal tea against colds and cough. Make a strong decoction and sweeten it (or not, many goats will drink it without). You can either give small quantities of the decoction or mix the decoction with the drinking water, diluting it down to a tea.

Herbal cough syrups: you can use syrups that use only one herb - thyme is very good against coughing or herbal mixtures (make sure there are no herbs that are poisonous to goats in it). Basic mixtures are f.e. thyme, fennel, sage, coltsfoot, anise, ribwort.

The other things I mentioned are for boosting the immune system with a "touch" towards the respiratory tract.

I also recommend that you try to get a hold of the book from Juliette de Baraicly-Levy "Herbal remedies for farm and stable"


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

One more thing to consider is to blanket your goats. Get blankets that repel water and are insulated or they could be worse than no blankets at all. If you see your goats shivering, they definitely need blankets. It wouldn't hurt to double-check your barn and make sure it's not drafty. A little caulk goes a long way, and it's very cheap. Also, as stated before, deep straw or shavings will help insulate them from the cold ground. Animals can't fight off sickness if they're having to fight just to keep their core temperature up. 

Finally, if their water is freezing, you may do well to use a heated bucket. It was only about $15, and I've found that Cuzco drinks a ton more water in the winter ever since I bought it. If you keep it in a warm corner of the barn and bank shavings around it, the heater will cost very little to run. Just make sure to run the power cord straight out behind a wall or fence so they can't chew it. These buckets have wire-wrapped cords, but you still don't want them tempted to mess with it (they may use it to tump the water over).


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## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

IME with my (human) kids, grandkids, horses, goats, dogs, etc. GSE (grapefruit seed extract) & Colloidal Silver are wonderful natural remedies to keep on hand and useful for treating so many things. Two things I don't leave home without.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

The heated bucket was about $36 dollars here.

I accually took one of my old winter coats and cut the sleeves out
of it and put it on Julio. It was a bite long in the ends. So I had
to tack it in places. It really helped him out.


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## 4-Hgoats (Feb 6, 2010)

Their colds actually seem to be getting better. Just a little eye goobers and stuffy noses, but not as much coughing. Someone suggested bedding them on straw or wood chips. Actually their pen is packed with straw and hay from the feeder so it's about an inch and half thick. So i think bedding is not the problem. I belive I have sensitive goats. LoL.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Young goats can have immune system issues that cause them to have chronic colds. THey usually grow out of it. You can help them along with a product called ID 1 , You will have to google it to find where to but it. It boosta the immune systes. ALso, the lungworms can cause chronic congestion so it would be a good idea to have a thorough fecal done. Even if they don't have lungworms, they could have a chronic wormload that is pulling down their immune system.
Give them lots of hay to eat as that helps them keep warm.


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