4 month old buck with diarrhea ... just acquired

[Rarely Herd]

I brought a very healthy looking 4 month old buck Monday. He has been acclimating well with my does that are about the same age. I gave them a little alfalfa to split yesterday afternoon ... don't usually give but just a little of this at the time, about 3 times a week.

Buck has diarrhea this morning. He is active, not floppy or sick acting, but definitely has a problem.

Wife called and is going to give him a little Pepto .. any other suggestions?

 

[ksalvagno]

With going to a new home and everything, I would probably treat him for coccidia. Big changes can bring out the parasites. Also I would probably either feed alfalfa on a regular basis or don't feed it at all. Sometimes those occasional treats can get them too.

 

[glenolam]

It could be a few things, but stress from the move is my first guess. Change in diet/scenery and friends can mess up his system.

I agree, start a coccida treatment. It probably won't hurt to give him probios or vitamin B to get his rumen back on track.

You said he was 4 mos and acclimating well with does....are they in the same pen? I'm assuming since you said buck he's still intact - be careful he doesn't breed them. Some people say the does are too young and not in heat, others say that's not true - most all say bucks can and will breed earlier than 4 mos.

 

[cmjust0]

I brought a very healthy looking 4 month old buck Monday. He has been acclimating well with my does that are about the same age. I gave them a little alfalfa to split yesterday afternoon ... don't usually give but just a little of this at the time, about 3 times a week.

Buck has diarrhea this morning. He is active, not floppy or sick acting, but definitely has a problem.

Wife called and is going to give him a little Pepto .. any other suggestions?

If he's active, I'm guessing that means he's acting more or less normally.. If that's the case, and he's just kinda got the squirts, I'd be inclined to join the other responders in saying it's probably stress and/or dietary in nature..

Pepto + Probios would be beneficial, if that is indeed the case.


Still..with him being new and already having been introduced to the rest of the herd without a quarantine period, there are a few health-related things I'd deal with right off the bat.

-- Vaccinations. Unless you have some reliable way to know that his previous owners had vaccinated him very, very recently -- like, the day before you got him -- I'd hit him with C/D-T. A simple claim from the previous owner that he's "up to date" without them being able to say exactly when he was vaccinated simply wouldn't cut it with me...

-- Deworm. I'd probably just use the strongest dewormer currently in your current rotation. Get that done quickly, though...I personally know a knowledgeable, responsible goat breeder who lost the use of Cydectin on his farm because he brought in goats that were carrying cydectin-resistant parasites.

-- External parasites.. Lots of goats have mites and lice, and if he has them, you risk introducing them to the rest of your goats. I've successfully treated external parasites in the past with Ivomec 1% injectable, injected SQ at a rate of 1ml/25lbs, with the treatment repeated at 3wks.

-- Coccidia.. While he may not (or may, I suppose, since he is scouring..?) have acute signs of coccidiosis now, most goats carry them, and there are different strains even within the goat-specific species of coccidia. If he carries coccidia to your herd, and they're a different strain, it could cause problems. Sulfadimethoxine is generally accepted as the best treatment for coccidia.

-- Hooves.. I'd probably trim, clean, and treat them with copper sulfate solution whether he seemed to have any hoof scald/hoof rot or not. They can carry some of that stuff in the mud and dirt on their hooves, so even if another goat on the property where he used to live had hoof issues, he can track it right on over and into your herd.

That's all I can think of right now (short of blood tests for CL/CAE/Johne's/etc), but I'm sure there's more.. We don't buy in very many goats, so I'm not really all that well versed in the protocol.