greetings from arkansas. we've had over 5 inches of rain this week and warm tempertures. if it weren't for built up bedding my goats would be flooded. We've got 11 new kids and i'm very concerned about cocciciosis. the kids are all on thier mothers, should i start the kids on a prevention program? what should i use? i had used corid in the past when i had bottle raised kids, and gave it to them in thier bottle. the kids are all under two weeks of age. thanks in advance, sherry

-- sherry mullins (chickadee259@yahoo.com), February 16, 2001

Answers

I would use Corid but I have not seen it in the feed stores for near a year. I bought the last available in our area last spring, it is my understanding that MERK is no longer producing it. If you can find some you better buy it all. I hope I am wrong.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), February 17, 2001.

I guess that i should have added that i couldn't find Corid. Thanks so much for your response. Is there some kind of pill since i can't add it to their milk.

-- sherry mullins (chickadee259@yahoo.com), February 17, 2001.

Hoegger's has Di-Methox 40% for prevention of coccidiosis in kids. Start at 3 weeks, twice daily 1/2 cc mixed with milk for one week, and 1/2 cc dose once a week after that untill weaned. I havn't tried it yet, but I need something also for prevention here. I have heard of Coccidiostat also, goats get it year round. I was going to ask my vet about ordering me some.

Check the archives, I know Vicki uses something but can't remember at the moment what it is for kids.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

We use Albon 40%, another popular cocci prevention. This is an injectible, but should be given ORALLY. Give one cc per 40 pounds twice daily for seven days starting at three weeks of age. Then go to one cc per 40 pounds once weekly until weaned. This is also sometimes labeled Di-methox 40%. Draw the albon from the bottle with a needle and syringe, and then remove the needle and squirt the liquid on the back of the kids' tongues making sure they swallow it. You can also mix it with the milk for bottle feeding, but make sure they finish the entire bottle, or they will not be getting the full dose.

We also use Deccox-m. It is a powder that is mixed with the milk for bottle feeding. Directions are on the package.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 17, 2001.

I keep Corid for true outbreaks and for helping those with sick kids, but I use Sulfaquinoxiline 20% from Pipevet.com, Jeffers is also selling it now. It is dosed at 2cc per 50 pounds, I just guestimate all my kids start it at 3 weeks, and get 1cc, when anyone in the pen is 25 pounds we go to 2cc. I use it every 3 weeks for 5 days, once a day. If you do order it from Pipestone they sell it by the gallon, but if you call and ask they will mix it into a pint or quart for you. Obviously since you use so little it goes a very long way! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

Do you start them off on anti-coccid. meds even with no symptoms, or do you wait til they show signs of possible infection?

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), February 18, 2001.

Here in hot humid east Texas, we are less than an hour from the Gulf, if you wait for the kids to have cocci in their fecal you are to late. Diarrhea of any form in a kid is days the kid is not growing, and usually ruining his intestines by building up scar tissue. Cocci destroys the linning of the gut, making the animal small and unthrifty, because even on a good diet it can not absorb the nutrients out of the feed. I can look at folks herds and see cocci symptoms in their goats, though they don't have diarrhea yet, and remember that cocci can kill, before you ever see diarrhea.

I like the sulfaquinoxiline since it kills a myraid of disease, bacteria etc. It is just eaiser to use prevention, than it ever is to employ treatment. Watch the threads as we go into spring and early summer, they will be bombarded with folks whose kids have diarrhea and bucklings with urinary calculi, both things that can be prevented with very inexpensive sulfa drugs and ammonium chloride. Then will come the tetanus outbreaks, from no vaccinations, and disbudding or castrating anyway. Right now it is the kidding problems and kids being born weak from selenium difficencies and Dams dieing from huge worm burdens aggresively growing from the hormones of the does kidding, and not being wormed. All things have cycles, and this is just another one of them. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 18, 2001.

I agree with Vickie. Don't wait for symptoms to show or it may too late. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That's really true with cocci.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 18, 2001.