Help with skin problem on my goats

GoinHome · #1 05/05/12, 01:24 AM

I have two goats in my herd which have developed sores on their backs that are very round, presenting with a patch of skin/hair that pulls off revealing the red, round, bloody-looking sore underneath. Each goat has only one of them, on the upper back. Doesn't seem to heal up. On one of the goats it has lasted a while, on the other, I just recently noticed it.

We do have horse flies here. Can they create such a sore when they bite? Seems to me that it would heal up though.

Can a disease cause this? A parasite?

They have been wormed recently with a generic ivermectin, normectrin.

New to this area, Arkansas Ozarks. Encountering so many new challenges with my goats. Starting to get exhausted dealing with so many new issues.

Help, please... thanks for any help.

Alice In TX/MO · #2 05/05/12, 05:53 AM

Can you tell us more about their diet and mineral supplementation? Thanks.

What kind of goats?

Backfourty,MI. · #3 05/05/12, 05:56 AM

Is there any way you can get pictures & post them here for us, it would help with trying to figure out what is causing the sores.
I would think horse flies could cause sores if they were biting the animal enough. I think I would clean the area really well & put some Tri-Care on it. It has something in it to keep the flies off it, antibiotic ointment & something for pain. But that's the only thing I can think of to do with out seeing it or really knowing what the problem & more back ground that could be causing the sores & hair loss.

Do they get a good loose mineral? the hair loss can be from something like a mineral deficiency & then maybe the flies are biting the bare area's, just guessing though.

bee · #4 05/05/12, 08:22 AM

I'm thinking it so might as well say it...could it be CL?? Presenting because of the stress of the move?? Read the CL sticky at the top of this forum. I certainly hope to be wrong!! Good luck!!

Minelson · #5 05/05/12, 08:22 AM

First thing that came to my mind is ring worm. Picture would really help

Sorry you are having a hard time.

KrisD · #6 05/05/12, 08:46 AM

Michelle is right it could be ringworm. My horse got rain scald (a fungus like ringworm) and had the same type of thing. Are they small like thumb tack size or bigger? I used a betadine wash daily for two weeks to clear it up. Pictures would sure be helpful.

CarolT · #7 05/05/12, 11:58 AM

Rain scald came to my mind, too. Been wet there? More humid than they were used to?

where I want to · #8 05/05/12, 12:15 PM

The first things that occured to me too was ringworm. CL forms abscesses so it doesn't sound like that at all.
Flies can cause wounds where the animal chews itself raw due to irritation but that would present as an increasing raw area rather than lifting a dead area to reveal a wound. But with a wound exposed, flies might then become a problem.

GoinHome · #9 05/05/12, 12:53 PM

Thank you, everyone, for your replies...

Goats are on pasture, supplemented with alfalfa hay, they get a loose mineral. They are quite stressed from the change to this wet, humid area, compared to the arid area we came from, so yes, their health is not that good, trying to build them up. And they all just finished kidding.

Sorry, can't do pictures, I realize that would help.

I have seen rain scald on my horse before, it doesn't look like that to me.

It is about the size of a nickel, I would say, with the reddest, rawest, bloodiest part in the middle about the size of a pencil eraser.

Not CL, I am sure of that.

I have never dealt with ringworm yet, but what I have read seems to indicate an itchy, scaly, hairless spot, but not an open, raw, bright red wound. The raw center of these sores is very round, not irregular borders.

I did put some betadine on one of these yesterday and today it looks like it has dried up a bit. I am wondering now if the goats got a bug bite or an injury (they do go in the woods to browse) and then it got infected from the soil where they lay down, or elsewhere in the environment.

Guess at this point in time, I will keep applying betadine for a while and see if that clears it up.

Thank you everyone... if anybody thinks of anything else, I am all ears.

praieri winds · #10 05/05/12, 01:01 PM

we were getting sores on our goats too we sprayed a fly repellent on them the flys are gone and the sores are healing yes the flies will eat sores in spots the goats can't reach

BethW · #11 05/05/12, 04:37 PM

Ticks sometimes cause sores like these on my goats, although they tend to be somewhat smaller...I'd say a dime size or less. They're itchy, too.

CaliannG · #12 05/05/12, 09:43 PM

Just throwing out ideas, because I am stumped also:

Cattle grubs?

bee · #13 05/06/12, 09:24 AM

Hmmm...what Caliann said. In that type of fly attack there is an open hole in the center of the area that the fly maggot breathes thru. On rabbits they are called warbles. You can actually express the maggot with enough pressure. Eventually the maggot drops out to pupate and (if not infected) the wound heals. This one is fairly easy to prove/disprove...just squeeze one...totally gross, but will narrow down the possibilities.