Goats going down

I agree. Take the logical first step and get a fecal. This will answer the worm problem and then go from there.

I was wondering this too. The little Boer cross I got in April (born in March) has done this a few times. Never any other symptoms. She has been wormed, had her vaccinations etc. and seems healthy. She eats the same feed as the others (not sweet feed). When I bought her I thought her mother looked like a Spanish goat (she was in the pasture quite a distance away), but now I've been thinking that she has some fainter blood in her because she startles easily and stiffens slightly quiet often. Her father was a pure Boer and he was the father of my fullblood Boer doe as well. She also has what to me looks like fainter eyes, but I've honestly never seen a pure fainter so I'm just basing this on photos I've seen. She has only went down a few times. The first time I panicked-- the next few times she has came out of it on her own within a few minutes

But I doubt fainters would be down for the 20 minutes the poster reports and act weak.

Just double checking, but you are giving the injectible orally, right? Also, I have seen reccomendations of 1cc per 34 lbs. orally, so perhaps the lower concentration and the higher frequency has made it less effective for you? I would definitely have some fecals done. Do some just after worming and again at that 6-week mark, and see what's really happening with the parasites.

Honestly, I would be looking for some Angora experts on this question. I think Angoras have a lot of different issues from dairy and meat breeds, which is what a lot of folks here have. I'm sure there are Angora lists on yahoogroups.

I checked at goatworld and the chart said double what cows get, and cows get 1 cc per 100 pounds of bodyweight, so that translates to 1cc to 50 lbs of body weight.

Secondly, Angoras need worming mroe frequently than other breeds, their more succeptible to worm loads. 6e and I were talking about it and it seems that the Angoras are much more fragile than most breeds of goats. they can get ill from weather changes, notworming enough, feed changes, and on and on.

So far today, no one has gone down. i am crossing my fingers and hoping. i will grain them around 5 pm.

Maybe we'll get lucky and find out what is causing this!

I use ivermectin at 1cc per 33lbs and use it on my pregnant does if they need it. I use cydectin and valbezan otherwise. I seldom use ivermectin, but when i do, it's at the higher dose.

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Diane Rhodes
Feral Nature Farm
LaManchas, MiniManchas and Boers
Member ADGA, MDGA

I've used ivermectin for 17 years, no worries, facls show it works. But you can't worm with anything on a frequent, whole-herd rotation without breeding resistant worms. So I agree, it is how you worm that will tell how long you can use any one wormer.

On your troubles....Hmmm...Just for kicks... Are you feeding spring hay? Or is it fall hay? Is there Johnsongrass (buck) in the hay? Frosted buck has a toxin in it.

You might want to cut out the sweet feed, as it seems you have some kind of sugar troubles. It may be raising their blood sugar, then leading to collapse of it later. I'd cut back on all grains in an effort to stabilize the sugar level in the blood. Do you notice this tends to happen after you feed?

Googled "weak kid" and found this...maybe there's something there for you:

http://www.motesclearcreekfarms.com/...s/weak-kid.asp

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

Yes, I realize that 1 cc per 50 lbs has been the usual dosage in the past. What I'm saying is that some folks are moving to a higher dosage because of resistance. So perhaps the higher dosage would work for you. But if you keep worming everyone every 6 weeks, I doubt it will work for you much longer, if it's even working now. you really need to do fecals to find out what's happening.

Hi jim,

Update here

After moving the entire herd from Ga to Kansas, we have finally found out the problem.
The problem was that i couldn't get hay here. and was only feeding forage from the woods on my property. SO what happened was that they lost weight which was hidden visually by their wool growing.
Since i was graining them and feeding leaves and bark, they love bark for some reason, they weren't getting any grass of which ihad none.

The only thing that was keeping them on their feet was the sweetfeed. frick went down right after getting to kansas and we started mixing molasses into the feed and she stopped going down.
Then we were finding out that they weren't getting enough protein at 21% so we had to up the protein.
Now none of them go down, and their growing fat, and wool is growing fast too!
No problems with worms either. Oh and they have 6' tall grass to munch on all day. acres and acres of it

It sounds like a parasite problem to me, actually. I had 2 kids go down myself this year. I use Ivermectin injectable. I dose at 2CC per 100 pounds, oral, but I did go as high as 2.5CC per 75 pounds on a special case that seemed resistant. With the Ivermectin, and if the problem is the blood-sucking parasites (such as the barber pole worm), you will also need to worm 10 days from the first worming date to ensure you get both the eggs and the young larvae. On one doe, Ivermectin oral did not work, so I dosed her injectable at 1 CC per 30 lbs. It worked. I orally dosed her at the 10 day mark and I've not had a parasite problem with her since.

One thing that I have to do is to also watch the rumen PH. If the goats have free choice baking soda (bicarbonate soda, or even Rumen Buff by Kent), it seems the wormer works much better.

Once a kid goes down, stay on top of the Vitamen B and extras for a few days when/after you worm them. I am glad to hear that the Power Punch brought them back up for the moment.

***Ooops...I cannot find a delete button. I see your problem has been resolved!! Good news!!!****

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Mary

All the goats are now in my care and they are all doing well. The does in question were terribly under weight and the one that was the worst just did not have the energy to get her through the night and so by morning was down and couldn't move. It didn't take but a day to figure out that her blood sugar was dropping too low during the night and since she had no fat to sustain her, couldn't stay up. So, we just started giving her sweet feed in the evening to keep her going during the night. With lots of grain and free pasture, she is now gaining weight and is doing very well and never goes down any more.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

Yep they couldn't be in better hands! I don't know how they managed to survive me.

I am so glad that you found the problem! When I saw your post (obviously old) my first thought was well they aren't getting grass or hay, so they are probably are missing something nutritionally. I think that goats are designed to live on leaves, although I understand that sometimes that is the only option!