Thatdaywewokeupasfarmers
Overrun with beasties
The only thing I asked for this Christmas was a goat.
I already had two Alpines does that I loved, but I've always been fond of those big floppy ears on a Nubian. After months of researching, I finally found what seemed like the perfect girl. She was gorgeous, the right price, registered, and best of all-- pregnant! We brought her home two days before Christmas. Sissy was happy, and for the most part, settling in fairly well. Because she had a very different diet than I fed my girls (a different grain and a more alfalfa-based hay than I feed) I was slowly weaning her off what she was used to and introducing mine. Thursday evening, she was acting like her usual affectionate self. Friday before noon, she was dead.
When we came outside to do our morning chores, she was on the barn floor. She didn't rise to greet me, which was odd-- she always ran up to the gate to say good morning. Then I noticed that she was drooling/foaming uncontrollably around her mouth. There was evidence of scours around the barn, but I couldn't really tell which goat it was coming from. I am fairly inexperienced and so my immediate reaction was to bring her some water (which she wanted nothing to do with) to keep her hydrated while I attempted to contact a veterinarian. Being the day before New Year's Eve, no one was in office, and those who were refused to come out to see her. It took about two hours before I finally was able to schedule and appointment. By the time we were ready to load her in the back of my car, she had devolved so far that she could not roll over from her side and was nearly screaming in pain as we attempted to carry her on a makeshift stretcher to the car. She lasted about five minutes down the road. She was at our house exactly one week between the day we brought her home and the day she died.
No one was able to give me any real answers as to what could have gone wrong with Sissy. After losing her, I became pretty paranoid that whatever took her was contagious. I watched my two Alpines, Rosie and Harper, extremely closely for a couple weeks. I also was scared that something could have been wrong with the grain I had been feeding, so I immediately took them off it. Things seemed to be going okay. They were both acting normally.
However, I started noticing after a little while that Harper (who was incredibly tiny for her breed, I'd guess only around 45 lbs to start with) seemed to be losing some weight. She normally had a healthy bulge to her belly, so I grew a little concerned. The only thing I could think that I was doing differently than before was the cold-turkey way I took them off the grain. So, I made the decision to s l o w l y reintroduce the grain. (And I mean slowly, like three handfuls of grain in a bucket that I made them share, every other day.) The next day, scours appeared in the barn again, and it was pretty clear that it was coming from Harper. I gave her electrolytes, chalked it up to her having a sensitive tummy, gave her a day off the grain and tried again the next day. I believe I only gave it to them twice before I noticed a pretty significant change in Harper's demeanor. She spent the whole day under the milking stand we have in the barn and didn't really respond when I tried to pet her or tempt her out. When I returned later that evening, she acted even more lethargic, to the point where she hardly wanted to lift her head. I decided that if she was still not acting right in the morning, that I would see if any vets had weekend hours. I never got the chance. In the morning, she showed very similar symptoms that Sissy did, and was gone within 45 minutes after she was discovered. And it was only a little over a month after I lost Sissy.
I called a veterinarian to come out and give my remaining goat a thorough examination as soon as possible. He was positive that he would find her overrun with parasites, but couldn't find any evidence of them whatsoever. Her eyelids are the right color. Her stool is solid and pelleted as it should be. Her temperature is right on point. He gave her a clean bill of health, and couldn't understand what could have happened to Sissy and Harper.
The loss of my two girls is so painful. My goats are more than livestock to me, and I can't imagine going through all this again with Rosie. Does anyone have any ideas what could have possibly gone wrong and how to prevent it in the future?
I already had two Alpines does that I loved, but I've always been fond of those big floppy ears on a Nubian. After months of researching, I finally found what seemed like the perfect girl. She was gorgeous, the right price, registered, and best of all-- pregnant! We brought her home two days before Christmas. Sissy was happy, and for the most part, settling in fairly well. Because she had a very different diet than I fed my girls (a different grain and a more alfalfa-based hay than I feed) I was slowly weaning her off what she was used to and introducing mine. Thursday evening, she was acting like her usual affectionate self. Friday before noon, she was dead.
When we came outside to do our morning chores, she was on the barn floor. She didn't rise to greet me, which was odd-- she always ran up to the gate to say good morning. Then I noticed that she was drooling/foaming uncontrollably around her mouth. There was evidence of scours around the barn, but I couldn't really tell which goat it was coming from. I am fairly inexperienced and so my immediate reaction was to bring her some water (which she wanted nothing to do with) to keep her hydrated while I attempted to contact a veterinarian. Being the day before New Year's Eve, no one was in office, and those who were refused to come out to see her. It took about two hours before I finally was able to schedule and appointment. By the time we were ready to load her in the back of my car, she had devolved so far that she could not roll over from her side and was nearly screaming in pain as we attempted to carry her on a makeshift stretcher to the car. She lasted about five minutes down the road. She was at our house exactly one week between the day we brought her home and the day she died.
No one was able to give me any real answers as to what could have gone wrong with Sissy. After losing her, I became pretty paranoid that whatever took her was contagious. I watched my two Alpines, Rosie and Harper, extremely closely for a couple weeks. I also was scared that something could have been wrong with the grain I had been feeding, so I immediately took them off it. Things seemed to be going okay. They were both acting normally.
However, I started noticing after a little while that Harper (who was incredibly tiny for her breed, I'd guess only around 45 lbs to start with) seemed to be losing some weight. She normally had a healthy bulge to her belly, so I grew a little concerned. The only thing I could think that I was doing differently than before was the cold-turkey way I took them off the grain. So, I made the decision to s l o w l y reintroduce the grain. (And I mean slowly, like three handfuls of grain in a bucket that I made them share, every other day.) The next day, scours appeared in the barn again, and it was pretty clear that it was coming from Harper. I gave her electrolytes, chalked it up to her having a sensitive tummy, gave her a day off the grain and tried again the next day. I believe I only gave it to them twice before I noticed a pretty significant change in Harper's demeanor. She spent the whole day under the milking stand we have in the barn and didn't really respond when I tried to pet her or tempt her out. When I returned later that evening, she acted even more lethargic, to the point where she hardly wanted to lift her head. I decided that if she was still not acting right in the morning, that I would see if any vets had weekend hours. I never got the chance. In the morning, she showed very similar symptoms that Sissy did, and was gone within 45 minutes after she was discovered. And it was only a little over a month after I lost Sissy.
I called a veterinarian to come out and give my remaining goat a thorough examination as soon as possible. He was positive that he would find her overrun with parasites, but couldn't find any evidence of them whatsoever. Her eyelids are the right color. Her stool is solid and pelleted as it should be. Her temperature is right on point. He gave her a clean bill of health, and couldn't understand what could have happened to Sissy and Harper.
The loss of my two girls is so painful. My goats are more than livestock to me, and I can't imagine going through all this again with Rosie. Does anyone have any ideas what could have possibly gone wrong and how to prevent it in the future?
