Goat leg fungus or something else?

[sawfish99]

One of our oberhasli's has scabby type sores on a back leg. It is isolated to a single leg on a single goat. The sore appeared to be like a large scab unbed the hair. We clipped the leg and broke off the scabs/scales as much as possible. We have been cleaning the leg with an iodine based cleaner. The area is not swollen or warm. She is not in milk, but we are still feeding her twice a day to improve her conditioning.

My wife thinks it is similar to fungus she has seen on our horses before (which is why we are using the iodine based scrub), but it just seems odd isolated to such a small area. There are a lot of vines and briars in their fencing. Before we bought them they were in a cleared pasture.

Here is a picture. The coloring is from the iodine scrub.


Any thoughts?

 

[Roll farms]

Scaly leg mites. A vet could take a scraping to verify that.

I would inject her w/ Ivermectin.
Dosage for injection is 1cc per 110#. She won't like it.
You can also try it orally 1cc per 25# but I've had quicker results w/ injecting it when treating for external parasites.

You can also put 7-dust or livestock dust on her daily for several days. Repeat in 7-10 days and again at 21 days.

 

[Chaty]

Yep had a case years ago and its Mites...Ivermectin Injectable should take care of it..

 

[cmjust0]

x3

 

[sawfish99]

Thanks for the help. I was able to buy the ivermectin locally yesterday and injected all 4 goats last night. 2 were showing lots of signs and a 3rd had just developed the first sore. Hopefully it will clear up quickly.

I am assuming the chickens next to teh goats are the most likely source, so I will also dust all the chickens.

 

[Roll farms]

FYI - MOST creepy crawlies are species-specific, meaning a human can't get bird lice, a bird can't get goat lice (and vice versa).

Sheep and goats and some cows and goats can get the same lice / mites / etc, but USUALLY bird bugs don't bother goats.

 

[sawfish99]

Interesting. I wonder if they picked them up from the deer that were inhabiting the area that is now fenced for goats. I know with certainty that deer were bedded in the same location.

 

[Hickoryneck]

That is very interesting I had never heard of goats with scaly leg. Thank you for posting it on here

 

[cmjust0]

I got a load of hay from a guy who I know has mites in his herd from time to time, and lo and behold...I ended up with a 'mitey' goat. This hay was stored up in the guy's barn loft, too.. Not even like his goats were able to rub against it or anything.. Not the first time I've heard of mites coming in on hay, either..

Bottom line is it's nothing you did, or could have prevented, or anything like that.. It just is. And now that you've treated for it with ivermectin injections, you should be all good.

 

[Goatmasta]

I have had the same experience as cmjusto. I have got mites from straw. Mites unlike lice are not species specific. You and your dogs, cats and any other animal you have can get the same mites. The biggest carrier of mites that infect hay/straw that is stored is raccoon(s). Then the hay/straw carries it on to the animals eating or bedding in the hay/straw. As cmjusto said, it just happens.