Have the vet coming...

[Alexz7272]

So I just put a call out to a local livestock vet to come check on my herd. I am scared half my goats have pneumonia. A local friend thought her goats had barn cough and suddenly lost a few not that long ago. A neighbor had told me they thought it was barn cough & I stupidly listened but its been over a month now of them coughing. They are acting relatively fine, have not noticed much change, except for their mutual hatred of the snow .
So this is my first vet visit to the farm & for illness. What should I be asking or anything I should know so I dont look too stupid? I am so clueless & nervous.
Thank you!

 

[Bruce]

I have no idea but

 

[NH homesteader]

Don't be nervous! Are you looking to establish a relationship with the vet or just have them check out this issue? When are they coming?

Are they checking everyone out? That'll be quite the visit!

They'll probably ask about vaccinations, their diet, and if they have been tested. I've never had a vet come here, I've brought animals to the vet (the people in the waiting room were like "whoa! It's a goat!") but it was basically birthdate, what vaccinations we give, what we feed, and primary concern was testing for CAE (the rest too but that was the biggest).

As far as their actual symptoms and what the procedure is for that, I have NO idea. Babsbag knows a lot about pneumonia but my fancy new cell phone won't let me tag people haha

 

[CntryBoy777]

Got it NH @babsbag need some help.

 

[NH homesteader]

Hey thanks! I'll figure this thing out eventually.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Just payin ya back for your help the other day with th Link.

 

[babsbag]

Don't let someone tell you that goats just cough...they don't. Granted they are sensitive to respiratory issues and they do often cough but it is not the norm and I won't accept it as an answer. Even my vet, a goat owner herself, says "goats cough", but after I insisted that I treat my buck the cough went away. They don't always run a fever so that is not an indicator and if all of goats are coughing I would be suspicious.

If the vet doesn't hear any pneumonia try and convince him that you want to treat them anyways. I see many people start with what I consider 'the big guns'...Naxcel or Excenel. I have never needed to do that, my goats have always responded to Oxcytetracycline and I would always start with that, but that is just my preference. Usually a 3-4 day treatment will clear it up. If it doesn't you can either switch drugs or get a nasal swab and have it cultured. There is antibiotic resistant pneumonia, usually a mycoplasma, and not something you want in your herd. But don't let that freak you out until you have tried an antibiotic. However, if you do a nasal culture ask for a mycoplasma culture to be run.

After you get them cleared up I would vaccinate. I literally have not had a vaccinated goat cough in the last 3 years. I vaccinate my entire herd when I do CDT a month or so before freshening. I also don't hear coughing in my kids whose dams have been vaccinated.

Hope that helps.

 

[Alexz7272]

@babsbag Thank you!
Call me stupid, but what brand for the vaccine do you use for it when you do the CDT?
I'm hoping to start a relationship with this vet as he is the only one in my area & does farm visits. IHe's coming out at 11, so I am leaving work early to meet him, hope its not too bad!

 

[NH homesteader]

I would never call you stupid! I use this one

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...ose-50-ml-boehringer-ingelheim-cattle-vaccine

 

[babsbag]

I use what ever brand they have at wherever I am. I have also used Covexin 8

http://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/products/130_163293/productdetails_130_163529.aspx

The pneumonia vaccine.
https://www.jefferspet.com/products/pasteurella-vaccine

I don't want it to sound like I had an entire herd of goats coughing and dying from pneumonia as I didn't. It would be one or two every year and always different ones. Sometimes I would have kids coughing too and that really bothered me. I have never lost one to pneumonia. But I decided that having 20 goats (now 40) was a big investment in time and money and fretting over who was coughing and are they better or not and catching them for injections was just getting old and I needed to fix it. So very glad that I did.