# Goat Health 101 - For Meat Goats Producers Only



## Jed (Mar 16, 2011)

I'm hoping some of you producers who have been raising meat goats for a long time can help a rookie out with a few questions. I've posted this question here, because as with any forum there are differing opinions, and I want to get advice from those with the most similar operating situation.

(1) Is there a definitive book on Meat Goat Health/Nutrition that every rookie should have?

(2) Is there a definitive website you reference for Meat Goat Health/Nutrition issues? I have come across this one that seems pretty thorough http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/artic ... sMain.html (No disrespect to The Goat Spot, great forum, but some people have goats for pets, and I'm looking for information that is more specific and cost efficient for the producer)

(3) What health/nutrition products are a must that you keep on hand all the time?

(4) If you see a goat that seems a bit "off", how soon do you start medicating. Do you give it some time and observe it a few days, or throw something at it immediately?

(5) What is a rule of thumb stocking rate, how often do you rotate your pastures?

(6) If you are a commercial producer, what is an acceptable level of loss due to health issues. For example if you have 100 at any given time, and 5 are sick and die, are you a bad manager or are you just a typical operation and this is "survival of the fittest", "inherent risk". In other words at what point would you just give up and do something else with your time?

I've been around goats for the past few years, but this is the first year I'm actually trying to build my own herd. We started last fall with four does (3 had been bred), have had 5 kids this spring, and in the past month I've lost 1 doe and 1 kid. I've got 2 that I'm watching now and have started medicating, 1 of which was sick about a month ago. I enjoy messing with them and had hoped to at least reach the point where I could sell off kids to pay winter feed bills, fencing, etc. I need to decide whether this is worth my time or not. I don't like to fail at anything, but as Henry Ford said "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently", so if I'm going to keep doing this I need to learn from my mistakes. Thanks for your time!


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## Robynlynn (Jan 18, 2011)

I used to raise meat goats and I found Goat Rancher magazine to be a very helpful tool in raising them....they had nutritional advice from Fred Pinkerton and all of the latest info on meat goats specifically....the onion creek ranch health info is a valuable tool for ALL of us who raise the animal!

Good luck to you!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

(1) Is there a definitive book on Meat Goat Health/Nutrition that every rookie should have?I don't go by a book....we have learned by fellow breeder friends.. and trial and error...

(2) Is there a definitive website you reference for Meat Goat Health/Nutrition issues? I have come across this one that seems pretty thorough http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/artic ... sMain.html (No disrespect to The Goat Spot, great forum, but some people have goats for pets, and I'm looking for information that is more specific and cost efficient for the producer)that is a good site for some things.. TGS is a great place to start asking questions as they arise..to get answers you are seeking... 

(3) What health/nutrition products are a must that you keep on hand all the time?Ivomac Injectable, Valbezen, loose salt and minerals, baking soda, Amodium Cloride, Corid or something for Cocci, hoof trimmers,Good feed, Fresh water,Nuflor, Banimine, CD&T, mostly all for just in case and you have to watch withdrawal time before butchering a goat....

(4) If you see a goat that seems a bit "off", how soon do you start medicating. Do you give it some time and observe it a few days, or throw something at it immediately?First thing to do is ...take the temp...don't just start medicating...if a goat has a fever of over 103.5 then antibiotics should then be started... like Nuflor , PenG or LA200 for 5 days..

never allow few days to start any treatment... it may kill your goat.... If a goat doesn't have a fever or is sub temp... then... it may be that it's rumen is off ...so try Probiotic's and baking soda for 3 days or so... you should see improvement within a couple of days... 

(5) What is a rule of thumb stocking rate, how often do you rotate your pastures?I unfortunately don't rotate like I should...so I can't answer that one...  

(6) If you are a commercial producer, what is an acceptable level of loss due to health issues. For example if you have 100 at any given time, and 5 are sick and die, are you a bad manager or are you just a typical operation and this is "survival of the fittest", "inherent risk". In other words at what point would you just give up and do something else with your time?Any loss in my book is too many... I always watch my goats...the first indication is... if a goat is not eating ... picking at their food...or by themselves and not acting like themselves... I first run for the thermometer and get a temp... then start treatment if it is elevated or sub..with the proper treatment needed for that goat...you must not wait it out and do nothing for a few days... the goat may not live that long... but a few losses a year if you have a large amount of goats... it is expected.... if however ...you are loosing more than a 1/4 of your herd... start suspecting disease issues... or something more... Always put your sick goats in Quarantine ...away from the others in case it is contagious... 

I've been around goats for the past few years, but this is the first year I'm actually trying to build my own herd. We started last fall with four does (3 had been bred), have had 5 kids this spring, and in the past month I've lost 1 doe and 1 kid. I've got 2 that I'm watching now and have started medicating, 1 of which was sick about a month ago. I enjoy messing with them and had hoped to at least reach the point where I could sell off kids to pay winter feed bills, fencing, etc. I need to decide whether this is worth my time or not. I don't like to fail at anything, but as Henry Ford said "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently", so if I'm going to keep doing this I need to learn from my mistakes. Thanks for your time! It will pay for itself ...they will help out in their own feed and meds ect....if you get up to a good number that you need to do it.... we have all learn by mistakes ..."trial and error to be exact"  and thank God for TGS.. :grouphug: I have learned so much from this site and still learning.... I have alot of faith from being here :wink:


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

JackMaudlin is a source of excellent info!

Pam pretty much answered your questions. She's so right about when you see someone off get that temp & go from there. When they do go down it's fast & hard and many times too late.

Im always learning & stay on top of normal management. Some rotate pasture like clockwork. Our place isnt large so we dry lot & keep hay up off the ground. Water tubs sanitized once a week, scrubbed out in between if necessary.
We do CDT & BoSe twice a year on breeding stock. Does always get wormed the day of kidding then 10 days later. 
Learn what the parasites are in your area.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

I will add Bo-Se, Penn G and Oxy-tetracyclene to the needed supply list. 

A tagging system for tracking who is who. We use a letter for each blood-line and then numbers to identify individuals with in that blood-line. We track how much money each doe made for the year. Culling animals that consistantly earn less, due to low birth numbers, lower weaning weights of theie kids, or does that consistantly need more attention. 

Personally I think learning to do your own fecals would be very helpful. We are in the process of doing this. 

We don't rotate pasture we don't have enough room, we have 22 adults give or take a couple, plus 40 kids for about 4 months on 5 acres of pasture, divided up into 5 spaces. Having enough divided fields seems to be really helpful for producton. a sick animal must be pulled out and put in a pen, younger goats need to be seperated from older,ect..... We have spaces for our does over 2 years , does under 2, doelings we have decided to keep from this years kiddings, adult bucks, young growing bucks, Just weaned kids, ect.... Isolation pens for newly arrived animals. All our animals are isolated for 60 days. 

I look at each goat each day, I give them one day to have loose poop, but if they are off feed I immediatly treat based on the symptoms. 

As far as acceptable loss, I am not sure, I understand what you mean, we raised pig on a very large commercial scale and their was an acceptable loose for that, I beleive it was 2 or 3% of the newborn population. But personally, I would not expect to loose 2% of my kids. Although this year I did loose one out of the 39 kids we had born at around 10 weeks of age. 

As far as learning from your mistakes, we certainly have. Our goats normally cover their feed and medication costs, then we use the farm improvements costs, building a barn, ect... as a tax write off. With the rising cost of feed it has been a little more difficult. You have to know what is worth your time and money and what isn't. 
We run our farm off the basis of putting the feed costs into the kids and not the brood does, so we pasture and hay all our brood does and only feed grain when the does are nursing their kids, we wean early, at 8 weeks of age, to get the mom's back out in the fields and off grain and put the grain into the growing kids and get them to market as soon as possible. We diversified a little by, offering our higher-end as show whethers and breeding stock and what ever is left goes for meat. 

Advertisement is important, craigslist, a web-site to sell your higher-end for breeding stock, ect.....


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## parkinsonfarms (May 11, 2011)

JackMaudlin is a source of excellent info!

I agree with Nancy d on this. and Pam answered your questions.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:thumbup: why thank you.... :wink:


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