I just read on a goat breeder's website wherre she feeds her pregnant does Purina Show Goat that apparently contains an ingredient to prevent cocidiosis in kids. Is this true and what is your experience?

-- Lynn (moonspinner@bluefrognet.net), February 13, 2002

Answers

Hi Lynn, I believe there are several commercially made feeds that contain coccidiostat medication (decox,etc)in them. I think more importantly, though, that feeding any of these doesn't guarantee prevention from coccidia organism. Kids are not born contaminated with coccidia, but they are most susceptible at 4-6 weeks old generally, when their rumens are beginning to function. Medicated feed certainly can't hurt, but sound management practices such as clean pens/quarters and fresh uncontaminated water every day, along with generally healthy immune systems will make a huge difference. I also use a sulfa drug (Albon, Sulmet for example), as a preventative in all water supplies when my kid crop reaches about that age :)patty Prairie Oak Miniatures http://www.minifarm.com/prairie_oak http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Littlegoats moderator

-- Patty Putnam (WI) (littlegoats@wi.rr.com), February 13, 2002.

Down south here it is pretty common management to use a prevention in the grain. Especially if you have nursing babies. If you start the dams on the grain with deccox or lasalocid in it about 50 days before they kid, this will dramatically lower the amount of occycst they are passing into the pasture and barns. Better yet is to move them into a pen to have the babies in while on this feed. This gives the kid a better start than being born into pastures with parasite loads in them. Most then have a creep feed area, an area only the babies can squeeze into, which has the same feed with the same drug, that the babies can consume freely without competition from the mom. This is how we ran our boers, and how I am going to run the few I am getting! vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.

I am wondering if the milk from a doe on decox feed is useable by humans? Thanks, Julie

-- J Wilkinson (okwilk213@juno.com), February 14, 2002.

It is not cleared to use in diary stock, and it has meat residues also. But...Lasalocid would have to be fed at 5 pounds for a good milker for any residue to be found in the milk. This with a milk sample we tried to find it in at a lab. It could possibly show up as a carrier in the milk, but we couldn't find it. Don't have the info on Deccox. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.