Doe walking/standing abnormally. Do I need to wrap, splint?

[Beatrice]

I have been raising bottle babies about seven years ago and in 2019 we started our meat goat heard with a buck and three does. We had goats kidding in 2020, so this is our fourth year kidding. Most of our goats are Kiko/Boer/Fainter, but this one (with the possible mastitis) is Boer and about 25% Dairy cross. This is her first time kidding, she is almost two years old, and has twins. We are located in Wisconsin north of Green Bay.

 

[Beatrice]

We called a vet and we are going to bring her in for a check up.

 

[Ridgetop]

They are available by the individual tube in most stores that stock them. I buy the tubes by the box since the individual cost is cheaper. If you can't get Today and Tomorrow, there are other brands. If you are in a location with dairy cattle, the dairy equipment store will stock them. I am in California and can't buy them here anymore without prescription so buy in other states when I travel. Another reason to buy them in bulk. I don't just use them for mastitis. I use them off label for treating any puncture wounds in my Anatolians, horses, or sheep. Punctures can heal over on top and develop major abscesses deep inside the healed skin. The mastitis tubes allow me to get the antibiotics deep into the puncture.

Since you have an established meat goat herd, I would cull this doe. Treat her now and see if you can clear up this mastitis. If you really want her bloodlines and decide to keep her, be prepared to pull one or both kids and bottle feed them each time she kids. She might lose part or all of that half or her udder. Even if she doesn't lose the entire half, the scar tissue will make it hard for her kids to get milk out and they will abandon nursing that side. They will both try to nurse the remaining half which might make enough milk or will result in stunted kids. If you keep her you will have to watch closely for a return of the mastitis, pull the kids and bottle feed. If she can raise one kid each kidding, you will still have to botte feed the other. If you are raising these goats for meat sales, this will make her an unprofitable doe to keep in your production herd. Personally, I would cull her. Since you do not milk daily, it will be harder to catch mastitis in the beginning stages when you can treat and clear it up.

If you start getting mastitis cases, when you dry off your does after weaning, you can use "Tomorrow". This is a long-term single application medication to prevent future cases of mastitis. You use the same type of application method into the teat and massage into the udder when the doe is almost dry. It prevents mastitis from developing in the drying udder. When the does freshen the following year, the kids can nurse without any withdrawal times. There are other brands of this type of mastitis medication that work the same way. These are the 2 I used. We had a large dairy herd a number of years ago and I started treating the does with Tomorrow at the end of their lactation. After I started this routine we never had another case. We used an iodine-based udder wash before and after milking, then used a teat dip sealer before the doe was released from the stanchion.

The problem with nursing ewes and kids is that you can't clean the teats each time.

With respect to the doe with the loose shoulders, you will need to keep an eye on her and her kids. This might be a structure problem. How old is this doe? If she is an older doe with years of production behind her, it will probably not cause any problems. If she is a first freshener, I would consider replacing her with a doe with better shoulder structure. If she is a young doe in her first or second lactation showing this type of problem, it will only get worse. Giving Selenium may help, but Selenium deficiency weakness usually shows up in the newborn animals rather in the mothers prepartum.

Does your pasture have a good Selenium content? You can do a soil test through your County agent. If you feed hay, check where it comes from and what the Selenium content is in that area. You may find that annual Selenium injections will be needed. If so, I liked to give them before breeding the does. If you have a good relationship with your vet, you can ask for a bottle of Selenium to give annual doses to the herd. Otherwise, the vet can do a ranch call and give the shots.

Hope this helps.

 

[Beatrice]

We finished giving the doe with mastitis her antibiotics. We have seen her kids drink off the infected side so hopefully this is cleared up.

I do not know if our goats are low on selenium. When we took the goat with mastitis in, the vet suggested we give them Multi Min 90 injections.

The goat with the loose shoulders is very slowly going back, but she has a major cud throwing up problem. It has lasted for over a week and the bottom of her jaw is just covered with it. What should I give her?