This document provides information on sheep and goat terminology, breeds, diseases, and management practices. It defines common terms used for sheep and goats and lists various breeds of wool, meat, and multipurpose sheep as well as dairy goat breeds. Numerous diseases that affect sheep and goats are described, including their causes, symptoms, treatments, and methods of prevention. Routine healthcare and production practices for sheep and goats such as tail docking, castration, and foot care are also outlined.

1. Sheep
Ovine

2. Terminology
• Ewe- female of reproductive age
• Ram- intact male of reproductive age
• Lamb
- noun: young sheep of either sex
- Verb: to give birth
• Wether- neutered adult male
• Mutton- meat derived from adult, aged sheep

3. Star Program
• Management system of sheep that uses breeds of
sheep that will breed out of season
• System attempts to create three lambings from
each eye in two years
• Creates 5 miniflock lambing sessions to produce
marketable lambs throughout the year, rather
than spring alone
• Additionally: estrus synchronization sometimes
combined with hormonal stimulation of estrus to
breed out of season

4. Sheep Breeds
• Wool or ewe breeds
1. Merino
- White wool to eyes, horns on rams only
2. Rambouillet
- White wool to eyes, horns on rams only
3. Corriedale
- White wool to eyes, polled
4. Columbia
- White wool to eyes, polled

5. • Meat or ram breeds
1. Suffolk
- Black face with no wool on face, polled
2. Hampshire
- Black face with wool to eyes, polled
3. Shropshire
- Black wool to eyes, polled
4. Dorset
- White wool to eyes, polled, breeds out of season

6. • Multipurpose
1. Southdown
2. Romney
3. Polypay
4. Finnish landrace- white, many babies, more
twins than usual
Tails- routinely docked, it is illegal in some states
not to dock tails of sheep, considered inhumane

7. Sheep Production
• Pasture throughout entire production cycle
• Environmental factors impact profitability
• Drought, fire, freezing, temperatures, snow, and
predators
• Behavior:
- Wide angle vision, can see behind w/o turning
head
- Respect solid fencing, not as easily spooked
- Move toward light and flock

8. Goat-Caprine terminology
• Doe- female of reproductive age
• Buck- intact male of reproductive age
• Kid
- noun- young goats of either sec
- Verb- to give birth
• Wether- neutered male of any age
• Polyestrus fall/winter

9. Goat Breeds
• Saanen- white to cream colored
• Toggenburg- brown with white stripes on face,
light colored legs
• Nubian- black or brown with or without white
marks, floppy ears
• Alpine- white to black with spotting
• Lamanchis- no pinna
• Pigmy, fainting goats

10. Diseases of Goats
• Johne’s disease
- Not characterized by diarrhea like the disease
in cattle
- Seen as chronic wasting disease
- More infective to young but can affect adults

11. • Enterotoxemia
• Cause: Clostridium perfringens type D with
sudden feed changes
• Symptoms: frequently fatal, diarrhea and
severe enterocolitis, very common in Dairy
goats under stress
• tx: fluids, bicarbonate, type C and D antitoxin
and antibiotics and given the vaccination

12. • Foot rot
• Cause: Fusobacterium necrophorum an
Dichelobacter nodosus
• Symptoms: inflammation of interdigital skin
followed by undermining of sole at heels
• tx: inspect all animals, trim all feet, run thru a
foot bath of copper sulfate or zinc sulfate an
separate into affected and unaffected,( Zn is less
irritating)
• Cull non healers ( goats also get this)

13. Pregnancy Toxemia of goats and sheep
• Metabolic disease of carbohydrate metabolism
• Associated with multiple pregnancies
• During late gestation, caloric requirements
exceeds calories consumed
• Dam mobilizes body’s energy reserves ( fats) and
ketones are produced
• Symptoms: lethargic, recumbent, loss of appetite,
fruity breath
• Tx: oral glucose, corticosteroids

14. White Muscle Disease
• Dietary deficiency of Vit E or Se
• Symptoms: stiff legged lambs, weakness, post
mortem pale muscle, white streaks through
heart muscle
• Prevention: supplement ewes with Vit E/Se,
inject lambs at day 1 and 10 VitE/Se

15. Routine Management of Sheep
• Tail docking
• Castration
• Vaccination
• Deworming
• Shearing/crutching out prior to lambing
• Foot trim/foot bath

16. Routine Management of Goats
• Vaccination
• Deworming
• Mastitis monitoring
• Dehorning
• Foot trimming/bath

17. • Tetanus
• Cause: Clostridium tetani invades wounds and
produces potent neurotoxing ( also after tail
docking, castration, and dehorning)
• Symptoms: progressive muscle tetany, stiff erect
ears, rigid extension of limbs, prolapse of third
eyelid, hyper responsive to noise, die of
respiratory failure
• Tx: remove bacteria by clean/debride wound,
high doses of penicillin and tetanus antitoxin,
supportive care

18. • White Muscle Disease
• Cause- occurs in young born to dams on Se
deficient diet
• Symptoms: muscular weakness, stiffness,
sudden death if heart is involved, necropsy
shows pale, white or streaked muscle
• Tx: early cases inject Vit E and Se, prevent by
making sure diet is correct

19. • Caseous lymphadenitis
• Cause: Cornybacterium pseudotuberculosis
• Symptoms: highly contagious, lymph node
abcesses, carcass condemnation, spread to
other animals by pus, can be endemic in herd
• Tx: aggressive culling, surgical removal of
abcess, flushing wound and long term
antibiotics in valuable animals

20. • Pseudopregnancy
- Can occur in doe w/wo exposure to buck
- Accumulation of fluid in uterus, one or more
corpus luteums on ovary
- Tx: injection of prostaglandins F2alpha to lyse
corpus luteum

21. • Mastitis
- Blue bag mastitis ( gangrenous mastitis)
- Cause: Staphylococcus aureus #1, or
Pasteurella Hemolytica
- May progress rapidly and cause death
- Tx: antimicrobial therapy, NSAIDS, fluid
therapy, teat amputation but is usually not
rewarding

22. • Urolithiasis
- Goats that are obstructed tend to vocalize due
to pain
- Usually at the urethral process or the sigmoid
flexure
- Usually occurs in males
- Tx: remove obstruction using cystotomy is the
treatment of choice

23. • Caprine arthritis-encephalitis
• Cause: RNA virus
• Symptoms: polyarthritis, CNS disease, and
pneumonia is possible
• Trans: through milk of infected dams
• Tx: eliminate it from herd through testing of
dams

24. • Pregnancy toxemia – ketosis of goats late in
gestation
• Symptoms: neurologic signs, anorexia, motor
weakness leading to death, usually in does in
their 2nd or 3rd pregnancy ( ketones in urine)
• Tx: propylene glycol ( 100 ml PO, BID) IV dextrose
or glucose every 5-7 hours, insulin, B vitamins
• Prevention is the key to eradication, through
body scoring and correct feeding in gestation

25. • Pinkeye
• Cause: Mycoplasma conjunctivae
• Symptoms: blepharospasm, conjunctivitis,
photophobia, corneal edema
• Tx: self limiting but tetracycline topically is
recommended to reduce spread of disease
and speed healing

26. • Orf/soremouth, contagious ecthyma
• Cause: common viral disease
• Symptoms: crusty, proliferative lesions around
mouth, nose of young and teat/udder of
mother
• Tx: self limiting in 4-6 weeks
• ZOONOTIC- can affect humand so take care
when handling animals

27. Goat Behavior
• Flock in extended family groups with strong
hiercharchy
• Males and females establish dominance by head
butting ( make sure to dehorn)
• Threatened goats sneeze at you
• Orally investigate environment, excellent climbers, gate
openers
• Browse lines
• Seasonally polyestrus, primarily in fall, strong odor to
bucks
• Wide angle vision, move to light, respect solid fence

28. Sheep and Goat diseases
Viral
• Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis ( big knee)
• Prepatent: up to several years
• Asymptomatic carrier state exists, virus is latent in bone
marrow
• Stress precipitates viremia> leads to ability to infect others
• Adult symptoms- mild to severe lameness, joint
enlargement
• Kids- neurologic disease, incoordination, hindlimb
weakness
• Tx: none
• Prevention: serologic testing and culling of infected animals

29. • Bluetongue
• Prepatent period- 2-4 days
• Trans: biting insects, mechanical vectors
• Symptoms: fever, edema of lips, muzzle,
eyelids, tongue swollen and purple,
incoordination/lameness, respiratory distress,
death by suffocation
• Prevention: vaccination and insect control,
killing frost halts outbreaks

30. Sheep and Goat
bacterial diseases
• Clostridial diseases
• Cl. Perfringens Type D- pulpy kidney
• Cl. Perfringens Type C-
enterotoxemia/hemorrhagic enteritis
• Cl. Tetani- tetanus
• Tx; none
• Prevention: vaccination

31. • Caseous lymphadenitis (pseudotuberculosis)
• Agent: Cornebacterium pseudotuberculosis
• Symptoms: abscessation of lymph nodes
• Trans; exudates from lymph nodes is
infectious, asymptomatic carrier state exists
• Dx: symptoms, culture, serology and culling of
infected animals

32. • Campylobacter ( vibrio0
• Agent: Campylobacter fetus
• Trans: oral contact with aborted
fetus, membranes and reproductive tract
fluids
• Symptoms: abortions, stillbirths, birth of weak
and fading lambs
• Prevention: vaccination

33. • Enzootic abortion of ewes ( EAE)
• Agent: Chlamydia psittaci- rickettsia
• Symptoms: abortion, conjunctivitis, arthritis,
epididymitis
• Trans: arthropod vector, all rickettsial diseases
require arthropod vector for transmission
• Tx: none
• Prevention: vaccination