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03/30/08, 04:17 PM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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Help, please, my goats are down!
My goats are down and I can't figure out what I did to cause it.
I ran out of hay on Tuesday so I ordered some and it was delivered on Saturday. I tried to get alfalfa pellets to tide them over, but the feed store was out. So I give them their new hay yesterday and they're thrilled. Today they are both down with BAD diarrhea (sp?) and my milker's nose and eyes are running. I've called the vet, but he's out on a call. He'll call me when he's finished with it.
How could dry hay do this to my goats? And what can I do for them?
 RedTartan
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03/30/08, 04:19 PM
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Nubian dairy goat breeder
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: michigan
Posts: 4,465
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was the hay moldy?
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03/30/08, 04:23 PM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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No, it doesn't look moldy at all. It looks like nice, dry, green, grass hay.
RedTartan
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03/30/08, 05:38 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Troy, Vermont
Posts: 1,695
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Is there any possibility of even a small dead animal gotten baled in with the hay. I know someone who lost a valuable mini horse to that and the vet said it only has to be something as small as a mouse or shrew for it to reek havoc in your hay. I hope I am way off, though. Keep you in prayer.
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03/30/08, 05:59 PM
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Katie
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Twining, Mi.
Posts: 19,930
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did they have any type of hay between Tuesday & Saturday? A change in the type of hay my goats were used to caused scours in them 1 time.
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03/30/08, 09:17 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Missouri
Posts: 9,208
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What did they eat between Tuesday and Saturday?? They probably gorged themselves on the new hay. Is it a different type of hay?? What type of grass hay is it?
__________________
Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net
"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence
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03/31/08, 08:27 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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RedTartan, How are they doing today?????
__________________
Teach only Love...for that is what You are 
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03/31/08, 09:56 AM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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Okay, I'm back from the barn. Update time.
Yesterday the vet made a visit. He's as stumped as I am about why this happened. He looked at my hay and said it was "d@mn beautiful hay and well made too." He took their temperatures. My milker (the worse off one) had a normal temperature and my dry yearling doe was slightly elevated. Because of the fever, he gave them both a shot of penicillan (sp?), some betamine (sp?) for pain, B vitamins, BOS-e (caused I asked for it), and maybe one other thing that I can't remember right now.
He made me give my milker all her shots because I'd never done it before and he wanted me to learn. I swear he made me do it! I don't think he would've let me out of the barn if I didn't! LOL. So I stuck the poor thing four times and he left me with more penn. to give them today and tomorrow.
This morning when I went to the barn they were both standing up! They are still pooping water so I'm going to get some pepto and give them 30cc with this huge oral syringe he left me for that purpose.
My milker's milk production is almost non-existant at this point. I do hope it comes back up as we really need her milk. I have to throw her milk out for four days after her last shot...
He also recommended I give them some of my powdered yogurt starter dissolved in water to help along their rumen.
The joys of goat ownership...
 RedTartan
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03/31/08, 10:38 AM
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Having Triplets!
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: N Myrtle Beach SC
Posts: 830
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Glad that they are doing better! I'm with ya there on the shot thing... I swear, I just about hyperventilate trying to give those things... but I'm getting better. Have to! LOL!
Cricket
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03/31/08, 11:26 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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Great! Sounds like they are on the mend Congrats on giving the shots...I have trouble with that too so I make Hubby do it 
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Teach only Love...for that is what You are
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03/31/08, 11:31 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Central Indiana
Posts: 641
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I always heard Pen G shots had to be done twice a day for 5 days and no less. You may never know what caused this but I've heard just switching from one type of hay to another can cause bad reactions if it is done suddenly without adding one into the other first. You always want to change over gradually. That is why you never want to run completely out of any types of feed. If the Pen G helped them, it must have been a bacterial thing and the change in hay could have nothing to do with it at all. If they went a day or two without hay though, their systems might have been in shut down mode enought to allow bacteria to overrun. Coccidia, for instance, could affect them this time of year. Even though not as common in adults, given the right circumstances, it can happen. That treatment is different though. If after the Pen G is done and you give them Probios the day after the last dose, they are still not right, I'd start them on a coccidiosis treatment. That is just what I would do. I sure hope everything turns out OK. BTW, did you make sure is isn't fescue hay? I've heard reports of toxicity in goats from fescue hay. Just curious and trying to think of anything it might be!! Good luck to you and hopefully they are all OK.
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03/31/08, 12:00 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,923
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If you got it from some place different, changed the type of hay they are used to. Any change can cause this. Goats are very sensitive to food changes
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03/31/08, 06:12 PM
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Rattlin Rock Ranch
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Oregon
Posts: 298
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I'm glad the vet made you give the shots!!! Not that I like giving them. But I had to give them with only being told how to do it. And with the banamine being IM, I sure wish somebody would have watched me do it, to make sure I gave it in the right spot. My vet said I could give the Pen SQ (under the skin) and not give it IM. Which is a lot easier on me and the goats!!!!
I've not heard about having give to Pen twice a day. But if you miss a dose you have to start over on the number of days you give it. I give the Vit B orally. So that avoids one poke!!!
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The day I stop learning is the day I stop breathing
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes.
He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.
Old Chinese Proverb
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03/31/08, 08:46 PM
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Katie
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Twining, Mi.
Posts: 19,930
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Sure hope they rebound quickly for you! It is so stressful on you & the goat when they aren't well. Yeah I hate to give shots too but I guess I do it because it just needs to be done sometimes.
My vet has always said PenG for 5 doses, but I thinks he means 1 dose a day or every other day.
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05/07/08, 06:47 PM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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My friend's goats are sick and she wanted to see this thread, so I'm bumping it.
RedTartan
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