Expert: Cheryl K. Smith - 11/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: 4" x 2" roll fence with 3 strands of barbed wire on top. 2 perfect boer nannies get out everyday. No holes, no crawl spots, 3 goats are gently hobbled to have no problem standing but out of step to walk. THEY STILL GET OUT !!!!!! Any ideas ?

ANSWER: Yes, use electric wire. Barbed wire is too dangerous for them. And higher fence.

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QUESTION: Southern Oklahoma has mild winters but I have a round bale delievered and wrap a cattle panel around it so they have to eat through the 4 x 4 wire and thus don't waste so much. What is your opinion and what kind of hay do you recommend. Someone said I need to give them some "overeating" medicine yearly. Do you know anything about that ? I wormed them with pour on Ivectin last month. How often do I need to worm them ? Someone suggested changing back and forth between worm medicines. What is your opinion ?

ANSWER: Doens't the hay get moldy from the moisture? I am not sure what hay they have there. The best is orchard grass. I have a timothy/orchard grass mix right now. I avoid fescue, and my goats hate bentgrass.

The overeating medicine is the CDT vaccination. You can get that at a feed store and it has the amounts on it. That is supposed to be annual. I don't use it, but veterinarians recommend it.

You need to give all wormers except moxidectin, at twice the cattle dose, to goats orally with a syringe down the back of the throat, even pour-ons. Ideally you would send a sample of feces to a lab for testing to see what parasites you have and how bad they are, or do your own with a microscope. Otherwise, NO, do not keep changing worm medicines because that is what causes resistance. You can change once a year. Some people deworm twice a year. Always do it the day after a doe kids, because her resistance is down and she can be affected then. I check my own under a microscope, so I don't do it very often. Go to www.scsrcp.org to read up on the latest in deworming goats, particularly in southern states.

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QUESTION: Every summer I have one nanny die. A month ago, when this year's nanny died, I opened up her gut to look for worms. Everything seemed perfect and healthy looking to my ignorant eyes. Nothing that looked like the worms that I was told she probably had.  My spring babies never seem to grow much. I feed them cattle creep feed and fabulous grass but they just seem to be stunted even though their parents are big goats. Any ideas ?  Thanks a million !!!!

Answer
Steve,
I can only answer this with a bunch of other questions. Did this doe have diarrhea? Did you look at the liver? There is a parasite called a liver fluke that kills.

I am also thinking  coccidiosis, a protozoal parasite, which you wouldn't be able to see. That could kill an adult doe. If goats have a chronic case it could stunt their growth. You can give them medicated feed or put a preventive in the water and see if that helps.

Are you giving them minerals? If not, they could have a deficiency.