[nihicib2]

well she seems to be much better today, very lively and eating, in fact she nearly knocked me over looking for the biscuits I was feeding her yesterday, all other goats are fine, bit peed off that they cant get outside because of the horrible gales and rain,  her sight is still not back, although she seems to be able to make out shapes and shadows, she can get to her hay rack and her feed and make her way around the other two goats so hopefully with the course of medicine she will be back to herself, so Im kinda assuming that it was the thiamine rather than listeria, quick question, what could I feed them in form of food or mineral lick etc that would stop this from happening in the future, we cant get goat feed around here, so at the moment Im feeding them a mixture of lamb crunchie (a course mix type of feed, dairy nuts and hay when they are in)  I know its not feed for goats but like I said trying to get goat feed here would be impossible and this is the feed I was advised to give them.  Any advice would be great thanks 

Brid

[jaykay]

That's good to hear  

I ordered mineral lick blocks for goats from Ascott smallholding supplies. They are the size of a large block of lard and hang up on the pen post in a special holder in the byre.

I'm sure the lamb crunchie is fine for them, by the way.

[Anke]

My vet book suggests that thiamine deficiency/CCN can develop as a result of high concentrate feeding (rumen too acidic). One suggestion is to feed Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) to goats daily at 10g per goat to reduce the chances of acidosis developing.(But I am pretty certain that mine would not necessarily eat this much, as I think it tastes foul. You could put some into the drinking water though?)  Reducing concentrate is also an obvious choice. Not sure this helps. Hope she is continuing to pick up.

[wytsend]

Lamb feed does not contain the right balance of minerals for a goat.... the cattle dairy nuts do.

A goat requires an almost identical amount of minerals/particularly copper as a cow.  Some areas are very deficient in copper or have a very high molybdenum level which prevents the uptake of copper.  The other thing that can cause major problems is a lack of Vitamin B complex.   It can be given at regular intervals by injection... at least this way you KNOW the goats have their necessary amount.

Vitamin B in its many forms is essential for efficient nerve system, brain function, rumen function  and of course cobalt intake (cattle feed) is vital for synthesing Vit B12... efficient gut function.

As your goat is now recovering,  it suggests to me that your hay and feed may be lacking sufficient minerals for goats which may be compounded by a further lack in the grazing.  Believe it or not, every area of UK has its own deficiencies which need correction.  Are you in a peat area...this is deficient... get it checked by your local farming sales business... they will be able to test the soil and advice what you need to balance the feed with.

[Skirza]

We have no end of problems getting goat mix up here so I feed calf crunch and mineral licks. Seems to keep everything bubbling along nicely

[nihicib2]

Skirza is it a goat lick you use?  Unfortunately she went a bit down hill again today, had scour but that might be from the glucose, we gave her the vitamins and some antibiotics but if she is no better tomorrow I'm afraid I will call the vet and get his advice as to whether to put her to sleep, it's just not fair on her if she continues on like this, its horrible but I don't want her suffering

Brid

[jaykay]

The scour is quite likely the glucose. Has she got good hay and plenty of water? Maybe a bite or two of ivy?

Longer term, access to a cattle lick would help if you can't find goat stuff. I have to control access to molassed ones though or they'd make themselves ill. The mineral ('salt') licks I have obviously arent so nice you eat them when you don't need them  

[nihicib2]

Well i'd like to thank everyone who gave me advice on Nora Bheag  , unfortunately we had to help her on her way to goat heaven this evening, she picked up for a while last week and we hoped for the best but it wasn't to be, she was just a shell of her former, don't mess with me, self, like I said she wasn't the best looking or the most milk giving goat but she was cool, once again thanks all
 

Brid

[doganjo]

So sorry, you did your best for her.   Did you find out what was wrong with her?

[Crofter]

So sorry to hear about Little Nora. We lost one of our milkers in a similar way (though much quicker) a few years back. I can cope with slaughtering meat animals, even Goat wethers, but you get so attatched to milkers and it's heard breaking when you lose them. Must admit that, though I'm a 6 foot Blacksmith and past 50 years old, I cried when we lost Cinnamon.

Dave

[jaykay]

I'm sorry to hear how it ended 

[egglady]

oh that's so sad, i just caught up with this thread just now.  poor lass, but you did the right thing i think, that's our responsibility as caring owners to take away their pain when we have to.

as an aside, i feed sheep feed to my goats and also offer them a mineral lick (for goats) with the added copper.  would i be better changing to cow feed? and if so, what would i ask for at the feed merchants?

[wytsend]

Defo change to Dairy nuts.... most feed merchants/ farming co-ops have their 'own brand'  which is perfectly good.

This way you are not relying on the goats taking minerals or using licks.

I have never in the last 35 years used anything else and my girls... all 30+... are very well on this diet.

The only word of caution...  have your ground checked for mineral content... most feed merchants will do this with a soil sample and very often free/very cheaply.   Contact them and they will tell you what is needed.
Most areas of UK are copper deficient but equally there are some spots which are OK.     Usually feed manufacturers produce the correct balance for the area.

[Anke]

Diary nuts are good, mine also get some rolled oats (which they love) and soaked sugarbeet shreds (soaked, so I can mix in their daily dose of caprivite and garlic - it doesn't taint the milk at all, but their breath does stink, it has banished all the vampires I have to say though...).

Change over sowly though from their current feed.

I find that one of my milkers starts to use her lick a lot when she is wormy...

[little blue]

sleep well Nora Bheag, much loved goat