Sulmet / milk

[Redeemed98]

I'm having to treat a couple of my milkers for cocci with sulmet. Does anyone know about milk withholding times?

[Doug Hodges]

Milkers with Cocci? Is this fecal confirmed?

[mygoat]

There is no reason anyone should ever have to treat their adults for coccidiosis. I have never done that in 12+ yrs raising goats. Adult goats can have (quite high) loads, but they are not damaging to the adult as their immune system is adequate to fight it off (however, some manage the levels in adults because they shed them into the environment where dam raised kids then pick them up - usually this is done with feed through rumensin though).

If I DID have an adult animal that I suspected of being affected by coccidiosis, I would cull it. I do not want such poor immune systems being bred into my herd. I would have to rule out everything else, and there are a lot of differentials for diarrhea/condition loss.

The only POSSIBLE excuse I could come up with is if they are struggling with something else, MAYBE the coccidia could overcome them as adults. It would still really need to be an immune function debilitating disease... for which I would likely cull anyways.

Are you sure your does are suffering from a coccidia infection?

[mygoat]

That being said - here is a Mercks article with the withdrawal time for milk. Looks like 7 days.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/phar...binations.html

[punchiepal]

I went through this with a purchased 1 yo FF nubian a few years ago. She had problems when she got under stress (even going into heat caused it) and was not raised on prevention. The owner only treated at "signs" of cocci and then fecal confirmation.
We tried a few oral doses, helped but didn't eliminate. We finally treated orally, pulled from the milk string (still milked her just dumped) and started feeding only medicated feed from then on and through the winter. She grew sooooo much after that and really deepened in the barrel. We sold her after 2 more freshenings and her next owner never saw any more problems.

[Redeemed98]

Both of their conditions dropped rapidly after giving birth. I at first just suspected stress from feeding kids as one had 4. Over the past few weeks they both just look bad so I had a fecal done and the vet said there was a lot of cocci to start treating right away. It has been very wet here and I read online that it is possible for lactating goats to get an overload due to the stress on their system. I figured I'm better off trying than not.

[mygoat]

Lactating animals WILL drop a lot of weight after birth. Part of the normal weight cycle. Heavy producers will take a bigger hit to condition, but should gain through mid/late lactation and have a decent weight on them by breeding season, and then continue to gain through the dry period until kidding again. A lot of people want them to stay at a certain weight all the time and that's just not naturally the case. I have a doe who peaked at about 9lbs PER MILKING and kidded in March, she is STILL pretty thin. She is working awfully hard though, still doing around 14lbs/day.

And yes, after birth the coccidia levels will rise. Metabolically, the animal is doing a lot but the coccidia should nto be negatively affecting them. Parasites are also smasrt and know that shedding during certain periods in the metabolism of adults means a higher likely hood of INFECTING the new generation of young. (this is why some feed the rumensin diets to late pregnant and through lactation for meat animal doe herds).

What diet and how much are you feeding? Dam raising or milking?

[Redeemed98]

I'm milking once a day and letting babies eat the rest if the time. Right now I'm feeding dairy parlor 1/2 scoop twice a day w/ free choice hay and some browse. This is the third time for 1 of the nannies and I've never had her look this thin. I'm not sure exactly how much my scoop holds but I'll have to see.

[mygoat]

For my does, I free feed them on the stand during milking 2x per day and ours still get thinner. Goats need quite an intake of high quality forage and a decent supplement of grain during lactation, as it is by far the most demanding stage in their life. For example, we feed a meh hay (its whats available), free choice pasture. IN addition to that, we also feed shredded beet pulp and alfalfa pellets for forage. Our feed in the milkstand is 12 parts grain mix (soybean pellet, corn, oats, molasses, Vit E/Se supplement, 16% prot overall), 6 parts alfalfa pellet, 3 parts SBP, and 1 part BOSS. Always start with a high quality forage as the basis of the diet through late pregnancy and lactation. Trying to supply too much energy with grain can lead to acidosis, so increase nutrition with high quality forage and then supplement with grain.

My doe that milks near to 2gal/day is allowed in the milk room first, and she stays at a feed pan in the milk room until I'm done milking the other two as well. She is still pretty thin after kidding in march, but she'll gain as her production decreases. She went from around 18 lbs/day to down to around 13lbs now.

[Redeemed98]

I appreciate your advice. I've been concerned with their condition for some time and figured I had found the cause after getting the fecal done. I admittedly don't have the perfect set up as far as being able to rotate more and all but am working on it. I'm also trying to learn to do my own fecals. I've already started treating the coccidia and will go ahead and finish up this week. We'll see if this helps any.

[Redeemed98]

I've been playing around with my microscope learning to do my own fecals and I keep seeing a few of what I think are barber pole eggs. Wouldn't the vet recognize this?

[mygoat]

They should. But it's not a matter of present vs not present, it's a matter of the load. All goats will have worms to some extent. How many makes the difference.