Newsletter from Goat Veterinary Consultancies - goatvetoz. Dr Sandra Baxendell has written about how to perform a cud transfer, use disinfectants, and revive cold flat kids plus strongyloides worms

1. Cud transfer
When goats have undertaken
a course of antibiotics, the
rumen bacteria and
protozoan population can be
severely disrupted.
Probiotics are often given to
people who have long
courses of antibiotics, but
what about goats? There are
commercial probiotics for
goats as well.
A cud transfer is also needed
if the goat has had rumen
acidosis where high acid
from excess grain can kills
off the normal cud
microflora.
If you live near an abattoir
then you may be able to get
some fresh rumen contents
for drenching the sick goat.
If this is not possible, then
you can try and get cud from
a normal healthy goat. Sit
quietly besides a very
domesticated goat that is
resting and stroke her gently
on the left side of her neck.
As it cuds, you can see the
bolus of food come up the
oesophagus. After a couple
of times, be ready to grab the
goat's jaws as the bolus
comes up and then using
your fingers, scoop out the
cud. Be careful as goats have
back molars on both the
upper and lower jaws.
A safer way is to wait until
the goat is cudding and then
syringe warm water into the
goats mouth and collect it in
a clean dish held under the
jaws. Then immediately
drench this warm cud water
into the sick goat.
Goats need a functional
rumen as these rumen
bacteria make Vitamin C and
all the Vitamins Bs that goats
need. Normal goats don’t
need these vitamins, but
goats that are ill with rumen
issues or not eating, can
benefit from multi- vitamin
injections.
Strongyloides
Strongyloides papillosus are
not your typical goat worm
but are fortunately rare.
Eggs are in the faeces but
these are smaller than
normal worm eggs and you
can see the larvae already to
come out. So it is possible to
identify these eggs with a bit
of care. I have only seen
these eggs in large numbers
(thousands) in dairy goats
kept mainly in sheds. The
odd egg is not of concern.
Goatvetoz Winter Newsletter
Goat Veterinary Consultancies - goatvetoz Winter 2022
Cold flat kids
When there is a wet cold
winter, kids can quickly
become hypothermic i.e.
cold and unresponsive.
When this happens, your
first instinct is to warm
them up quickly after
finding them flat on their
sides in the grass. But this
is not always the best.
If the kid is over 5 hours
and can’t hold up its head
or swallow, then warming
it will cause convulsions
and death. You need to
first give it an
intraperitoneal injection of
glucose diluted with warm
sterile water. This allows
the kid to send glucose to
its brain before it warms
up and needs it. I have a
video showing how to do
this:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=30vjr-
9byhA&t=10s
A 20 gauge 1 and ½ inch
needle works well and you
will need a 60ml syringe or
a couple of 20ml syringes.
Ask your vet to supply the
glucose and sterile water
before the kidding season.

2. Like many worms, these can
cause ill-thrift, poor growth
rates in kids, anaemia and
scouring. However their life-
cycle is very different and
very quickly completed.
If there is warm and
moisture then these eggs
hatch and can develop into
infective larvae in only 2 to 3
days. Wet bedding in the
subtropics are an ideal
environment for these
worms to quickly build up.
These worms can penetrate
the skin of goats and often
cause irritation of the feet.
Some worm eggs may hatch
at the anus and penetrate the
skin there. Also these larvae
can be excreted in the milk of
goats. While migrating
through the goat’s body
these worms can go through
the lungs and blood vessels
and even the placenta so it is
possible for kids to be born
with these worms.
These worms are very small
and thin and their common
name is threadworms. There
are impossible to see in the
small intestines on post-
mortem but can be identified
in gut sections examined
under a microscope.
The good news is that goats
can develop a resistance to
them once a year or more of
age. Also worm drenches
kill them and there does not
appear to have any resistant
strains.
In the USA and Japan
Strongyloides papillosus been
associated with sudden
deaths in calves kept in
sheds at around 3-4 months
of age. Of interest, these
calves often had a dramatic
precocious udder
enlargement in the days just
before their deaths. This has
not been recorded in goats to
date. Many dairy breed goat
kids develop tiny udders
with no problems.
There was one report of
experimental infection of
goats with Strongyloides
papillosus and unfortunately
6% of these goats died
suddenly of a liver rupture
with resultant blood in the
abdomen. Sudden deaths
due to heart attacks has been
recorded in lambs in Japan
that were given massive
numbers of larvae via the
skin.
Prevention is keeping the
flooring of goat sheds clean
and dry and regularly
replacing the bedding. Let
the sunlight in to dry the
floors and use lime on any
wet areas. Strongyloides
worm eggs should be
monitored in regular worm
egg counts. Kids will need
their worm egg counts done
more often until worm
drenches and better hygiene
reduce numbers.
Disinfectants
Not all disinfectants are the
same and you need to use the
right ones for different jobs.
Some infectious agents are
more difficult to kill than
others.
The most resistant are prions
which cause scrapie and mad
cow disease. These can even
survive in formalin. The
Johne’s disease bacteria can
survive pasteurisation and
spray drying in small % of
cases. Only 2 classes of
disinfectants can kill coccidia
oocysts.
So how do you know what to
use? Some manufacturers of
farm disinfectants have good
websites that tell you the
concentration and contact
time needed to kill different
types of bacteria or viruses or
you need to email them.
Contact times vary a lot from 5
mins for corona virus or
streptococcal bacteria to 30
minutes for mycobacterium
bacteria. Contact time means
the equipment to be
disinfected is wet with the
disinfectant for this amount of
time. The concentrations
needed also vary.
No disinfectant will work on
organic matter and very dirty
surfaces, so clean first and
remove all visible dirt.
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