Aborted fetus necropsy report back

[Jcran]

The vet called yesterday and the doe who aborted her kids 6 weeks early may have had listeriosis; nothing else came back positive, and the abomasum of the necropsied fetus had a small amount of the listeria in it. In addition, the doe had a very high fever two days after aborting (106.4) One thought is an obvious housekeeping issue, i.e., I missed something in the pen, had dirty feeder or something. The other is possibly moldy hay. I did have one stanchion feeder I know I left loose hay at the bottom of, and it was icky wet when I finally pulled it out and cleaned. The other was ONE moldyish bale that I fed until I hit the moldy spot, then tossed (didn't know it was moldy until I noticed the hard spot in the middle). Either one could have been the culprit. A hard lesson learned, but one LEARNED.
Chastened in California

[susanne]

lesson learned? how could you possibly avoided feeding moldy hay if you did not noticed?
i have the the same situation right now. i had a moldy bale and i did not noticed until i had the feeder filled and they already started eating. i always look at the hay and most of the time also smell it and i swear i did not smell anything. all my girls are bred and i hope i got it out in time.
i guess this are things that can happen
don't beat yourself up over this.

[HazyDay]

Yes we got a new silage bale yesterday and I think the girls had a very small amount of mold, see I only milk my does in the AM and mom does the hay/silage. So I find out half way to our shop where I do my schoolwork that she seen some mold! I ran into the barn as I got home and everyone was ok, but tommorow will tell.

[Ernie]

Yeesh. How clean does the area need to be for the does to carry a kid to term without problem? I'm not dumping garbage in their stall or anything, but it's not the cleanest place in the world either. They poop in there, after all, and I can't keep the chickens out unless I trap the goats in there for the entire pregnancy.

[susanne]

the place needs to be clean so you can go on your knees without getting wet or getting breathing problems from ammonium built up.
it needs to be so clean that the udder does not need to be cleaned because manure is sticking on there. they don't need to be confined but a clean pen helps them stay healthy

[Ernie]

Ah, so I'm ok then. All winter I just keep piling on more straw whenever it gets icky. In the spring I haul it out. It's not so nice I'd want to eat lunch out there in the straw, but I don't mind kneeling down.

[Liese]

Ernie, just make a practice to go out to visit with your goats everyday and sit with them. If you can't just sit down in the straw and be comfortable then more straw is needed. I personally like having the chickens out in the goats' house during the day since they really fluff up that straw and aerate. It does mean thought that the straw eventually migrates out the south opening but a few min. of raking it back in is all it takes. Then I sit and visit .

[Liese]

Joan , Thanks for posting the results to remind everyone to watch out. Because of the sudden warmth we are watching not only the hay but washing out the buckets everyday again.