Sorry to say our sick buck died today.I had posted that after the Vet came out he was doing better.I had been feeding him and givng him apple juice.This morning I went out and sat with him awhile and he was moaning.He had been doing this off an on for sometime.I came into the house to see if I could locate some info on his condition and went back out to the barn and he was laying streached out crying.I ran back to the house to call a Vet.He was not there so I called the lady we bought him from and by the time I got out to the barn he was dead.I wanted to ask if their is anything I can spay in the area we had him to kill any of the worm eggs.I don't want to ever go through this again.Hard to watch a animal suffer. Thanks. Jack

-- Jack Murdock (jrm@salemnet.com), September 03, 2001

Answers

Hi Jack..I went back and found your original posting. I am so sorry you and your goat had to go through so much. I am almost to the point of not doing any more with goats. I read on here all the stuff going wrong with them..and I think..I have never had animals that were so vulnerable as goats. When I was a kid...we had goats ... they did not get sick like this. I sincerely hope that was an isolated case, and that things go smoothly for you now. Again, I am so sorry for your loss. It sounds like you did all you could. Sher

-- Sher in southeast Iowa (riverdobbers@webtv.net), September 03, 2001.

Sher: I have been thinking the same thing today.Wondering if goats are for us.I would have thought the Vet could have taken care of this poor animial.It really bothered me to see him die that way.Not to mention the $500.00 we paid for him.Losing the money dosen't bother me as much as losing a goat in that manner.We have spent alot of money on taking care of them and we still lose one.We like goats alot and enjoy them.This happened so fast.I hope to learn from this and not let it happen again. Thanks for the response Sher. Jack

-- Jack Murdock (jrm@salemnet.com), September 03, 2001.

Jack and Sher, rarely do folks come onto boards like this, or onto goatworld.com (they have a goat message forum and 911 site) or any of the other sites with just......my goats are doing wonderful, everyone is fine.....so the only type of things you hear on boards like this is sickness, illness and death. The amount of chickens, pigs, calves, etc. that are lost on this and other boards are just as much as those with goats. Getting really good information about the stock you are choosing to raise before you get them, understanding about nutrition, worms, and disease that is previlant in your area, before you have problems. Does little to no good to come here for help if you live in Alaska and I live in Texas! Understanding also that in the lesser breeds of animals, llama, goat, emu, vets simply are guessing, so get on the boards with the best information, learn all you can, become your own vet, read.

Jack nothing can get rid of worms or cocci in your ground except a deep freeze, hens and ducks will also help. I spray the barns and ground with techtrol, a powerful disinfectant. Be careful with bleach as mixed with the urine in the ground it makes a powderful take your breath away chemical! With the investment of a 500$ buck should have came a wealth of knowledge from the person you purchased from. After care help is just as important as the actual purchase and over all herd health of the herd before purchase. If you had purchased him from me, as it sounds you were local to this breeder, I would have been their with you. We rarely loose animals, and neither do my customers. Once again prevention is the key here in our part of the country. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 03, 2001.

I am so sorry to hear that Jack . Have you been in contact with his breeder? Depending on how safe it would be you can use a blow tourch on the cement to kill worms .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), September 03, 2001.

Jack, I'm really sorry to hear that your buck died. Like Vicki, I'd have to say that in general, goats are very healthy, hardy animals, much more so than other stock I have raised (or tried to raise!). I have had a few die, especially this year since some of the stock got CAE. I had a valuble buck kid die in the same way you described, he had CAE and coccidiosis. The thing about goats is that when they get really sick, there is not much leeway, they can die pretty quickly. The other side of it is that they don't usually get that sick. It is a good idea to always worm new stock and quarantine them, that way if they are wormy or have some bug, the other goats don't get it. If your area is damp like ours is, you might want to feed all the kids and young stock feed with a cocciostat added. We have lost enough kids to cocci that I plan to start that next year, the ground is so wet here that they are always being reinfected.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), September 03, 2001.