Deworm the flock at least twice a year — in autumn April and spring — using products that target roundworm and liver fluke. Where possible, deworm only those goats showing signs of worm infestation, not the entire flock.
This saves money, and decreases the possibility of worms developing resistance to deworming medication. If goats show little improvement after one week of deworming treatment, administer an ultra-broad-spectrum and long-acting LA medication, such as Prodose Yellow LA, against liver fluke, conical fluke, nasal worm and roundworm. These medications have a long-acting residual effect against re-infestation, especially against wireworm and hookworm. Coccidiosis Coccidiosis is caused by unhygienic conditions in goat housing or kraals.
Older goats can act as coccidiosis carriers, shedding the parasites in their droppings. As young goats are more susceptible to coccidiosis than older animals, they can become infected through these droppings, especially in wet conditions.
Signs of coccidiosis infection include watery or bloody diarrhoea, dehydration, loss of appetite, and loss of general condition. On day one, 14ml should be administered by mouth for every 10kg liveweight. Give dehydrated goats a rehydrating solution. Each dehydrated goat should receive ml of this solution four times a day for three consecutive days or until you see an improvement.
To reduce the potential of coccidiosis infection, avoid overcrowding the flock in an enclosure. Ideally, the enclosure should have slatted floors to allow droppings to fall through the openings. Mastitis Lactating females diagnosed with mastitis should be administered 10ml of a LA oxytetracycline antibiotic, injected into the muscle of the hind leg every third day until cured.
Deadly heartwater Bont ticks can transmit the potentially deadly disease, heartwater, to goats. Find out whether heartwater is common in your local area and implement tick control measures if necessary. It is a robust organism and can persist in the environment for up to a year. A formalin-inactivated bacterin using biovar 1 is used in healthy sheep and goats over three months of age.
Adverse reactions have occurred in goats given the sheep vaccine. Once the prevalence of infection is reduced to a low level then infected animals should be culled rather than vaccinated. Campylobacter fetus is one of the most common causes of abortion, late fetal loss in ewes, and the birth of dead or weak lambs.
It is rarely a problem in goats. It may be prevented by vaccination given shortly before breeding. Two inactivated vaccines are available in the United States. They contain both C. A third vaccine is available in Australia and New Zealand. This may contain multiple C. Immunity develops in about 21 days. Do not use the vaccine licensed for cattle in sheep. Bronchopneumonia caused by Pasteurella multocida, Bibersteinia trehalosi, and Mannheimia haemolytica is common in sheep and goats of all ages.
It may be especially important in young lambs that have received insufficient colostrum. These organisms are normal inhabitants of the sheep nasopharynx. In times of stress caused by shipping, weather extremes, or overcrowding they can invade the lungs and cause pneumonia. Several types of vaccine are available to control these infections. These include whole cell bacterins, leukotoxin-toxoids, and cell surface iron binding proteins. The whole cell bacterins rely on outer membrane protein antigens specific for each serotype.
Unfortunately, A2 is poorly immunogenic in sheep. As expected, these bacterins work reasonably well against homologous serotypes, but are less effective in protecting against unrelated serotypes. Leukotoxins are critical virulence factors for M.
Addition of a leukotoxoid to these vaccines thus increases their efficacy. Like the outer membrane proteins, however, there is a great diversity in leukotoxin types. It expresses iron-binding proteins siderophores on its surface. Antibodies against these siderophores will effectively reduce its growth.
Like the outer membrane proteins and leukotoxoids these proteins differ between different bacterial strains. However, when used in a vaccine against the appropriate strain they can be very effective.
The prevalence of respiratory disease in lambs increases beginning around three weeks of age. Maternal antibodies to these organisms appear to interfere minimally with vaccination of lambs so they can be vaccinated as early as 10 days of age.
They should then be boosted three to four weeks later. A third booster may be needed around 12 to 14 weeks of age. If sheep are intensively housed and at high risk of respiratory disease then they may be revaccinated semiannually or annually. The gram-negative intracellular bacterium, Chlamydia abortus , causes enzootic abortion in sheep and goats worldwide.
Infected animals shed large amounts of the agent in the diseased placenta and uterine fluids. Killed vaccines are widely available. This organism has a reduced growth rate at It is used in some European countries. Unfortunately, strain 1B has been implicated in cases of vaccine breakdown. Genomic sequencing has indicated that its genomic sequence is identical to its parent strain. As a result, it is not attenuated and can cause serious disease outbreaks.
Vaccine-identical strains have been isolated from cases of disease. Contagious ecthyma orf, soremouth, or scabby mouth is a skin disease of sheep and goats. The virus infects wounds around the mouth often caused by abrasions or thorns such as from prickly pear cactus. As a result of these large painful lesions, the lamb or kid is unable to suckle.
The infection may then spread to the ewe and cause mastitis. Soremouth vaccine is unique because it contains virulent virus obtained from the scabs of affected animals. Lambs should be vaccinated when around one month of age. A booster may be administered two to three months later. The vaccine is brushed on to scarified, woolless skin at a time and place chosen by the sheep producer.
It is commonly administered by a scratch to the inner thigh or foreleg of a lamb. The vaccine may be available in a container with the needle attached and a dye to ensure a successful take. Otherwise the vaccine may simply be brushed over the scratches.
Ewes are vaccinated inside the ear or under the tail. It produces an uncomfortable lesion, but after 12 to 14 days the scab falls off, the lesions heal, and the young animal is immune. They should be revaccinated annually. Ewes and does should be vaccinated well ahead of lambing. Animals should not be vaccinated immediately before a show. Vaccinated animals should be segregated from unprotected animals until the scabs have fallen off.
A lesion produced on the inner thigh of a kid as a result of vaccination against soremouth orf. Soremouth is a zoonosis and will cause disease in humans. Vaccinators must therefore wear appropriate protection, including gloves and goggles.
Flocks that are free of soremouth must not use this vaccine because it introduces the virus into a flock. Serotypes 1, 2, 11, 13, and 17 are present in the United States. Serotype 8 is present in Northern Europe. It is transmitted by the bite of infected midges Culicoides and as a result it has a seasonal occurrence. BTV can infect wild and domestic ruminants including sheep, goats, cattle, buffalo, deer, and antelope.
Bluetongue infection is inapparent in most infected animals. Nevertheless, it can result in lethal disease in infected sheep and wild ruminants. BTV usually does not cause clinical disease in cattle except for serotype 8 in Europe. Vaccination is used to minimize virus spread and allow the safe movement of animals.
Both live attenuated and inactivated BTV vaccines are available for use in sheep or sheep and cattle. Studies suggest that they both provide protection for at least a year. Recombinant BTV vaccines have been investigated but none have been licensed. Viruses for inactivated vaccines are grown in large-scale suspension cell systems under controlled conditions. When the culture reaches its maximum titer the cells are disrupted, the supernatant clarified and filtered. The virus is then inactivated by the addition of binary ethyleneimine or other inactivants.
The inactivated virus is then concentrated and stored. Antibodies appear in response to vaccination by seven days but the duration of immunity is unclear. Live attenuated vaccines have been produced by adapting field isolates to growth in tissue culture or embryonated chicken eggs. These modified live virus-bluetongue virus MLV-BTV strains retain the ability to replicate in the vaccinated animal and as a result can stimulate a strong antibody response after a single dose of vaccine.
Antibodies appear by 10 days postvaccination, reach a maximum 4 weeks later, and persist for over a year. However, these vaccines, if underattenuated, may also depress milk production in lactating ewes. They also cause abortions and nervous system malformations in lambs especially if ewes were vaccinated during the first half of gestation. MLV-BTVs also cause a viremia and, as a result, may be spread by their vectors to other unvaccinated animals.
Transmission of vaccine strains by the Culicoides vector midge has been documented in Europe and the United States. It may be used in goats. The vaccine is given to sheep and cattle over 2. Animals require two doses of vaccine, 20 days sheep and 31 days cattle after the second dose, to develop protective immunity and prevent viremia.
Nevertheless, blanket vaccination of cattle, sheep, and goats has brought the disease largely under control although occasional outbreaks continue to occur in France and Germany. Interestingly, cattle still had antibodies six years after receiving the BTV-8 vaccine.
Follow label directions for dosage, methods, and timing of vaccinations. Vaccinations for abortions and pneumonia are available for some species. Get a diagnosis for abortions before using a vaccine.
Chlamydia and Toxoplasmosis are common microorganisms that can cause abortions, and producers can vaccinate for these if the disease gets in the herd. If the vaccine is used, a booster should be given each year, two to four weeks prior to the breeding season. Prevention for some abortive diseases can be provided through antibiotics such as chlortetracycline, or CTC added to the feed for several weeks prior to birthing.
A veterinarian should be consulted for proper doses and timing. For pneumonia, Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida vaccines are available and labeled for goats, sheep, and cattle. Follow label directions. Generally, after 3 months of age, inject 2 cc subcutaneously and repeat in two to four weeks. If given earlier than 3 months, animals should be re-vaccinated at months of age. The colloquial term foot rot , especially when applied to small ruminants, can be misleading as foot rot is not a simple one-bug, one-disease condition.
Rather, several forms of foot rot lesions can occur in small ruminants, and it is important that the correct disease process be diagnosed before pursuing vaccination against infectious foot rot.
Benign foot rot also known as foot scald is due to Fusobacterium necrophorum infection, whereas contagious virulent foot rot is due to bacterial infection by Dichelobacter nodosus. The former F. Commercial vaccines exist for both conditions. Vaccination against F. Vaccines against contagious virulent foot rot due to D. The vaccine has proven effective as a tool to minimize the incidence and spread of the disease in flocks with foot rot.
However, it is not labeled for use in goats, and a clear diagnosis of foot rot due to this pathogen should be established by a veterinarian before implementing vaccination, as it is only one tool of many required to eradicate the disease from a flock or herd.
Contact your veterinarian for more information about benign versus contagious foot rot in small ruminants. Mannheimia hemolytica and Pasteurella multocida are pathogens that cause bacterial pneumonia in goats of all ages. Mannheimia hemolytica is also a cause of septicemia in young kids and mastitis in does. The role of Biberstinia trehalosi in the epidemiology of goat pasteurellosis has yet to be fully determined.
The leukotoxin of M. Serotype is important for all of the above bacterial species. With Mannheimia , serotype A2 is most commonly isolated from the lungs of diseased sheep and goats. This is in contrast to cattle, in which serotype A1 is more commonly isolated.
This is important from a vaccine standpoint, as vaccines developed against Mannheimia hemolytica and Pasteurella multocida target cattle-specific serotypes, which are not necessarily the serotypes found in diseased small ruminants. No bacterin has proven completely effective against pasteurellosis in goats. Use of cattle toxoid vaccines developed against the leukotoxin may provide some protection. Use of the cattle vaccine constitutes extra-label use, and a veterinarian must be consulted to prescribe the vaccine before its administration.
Generally, vaccination of kids older than 3 months of age is carried out with an initial series of 2 shots administered 2 to 4 weeks apart. If given before 3 months of age, the kids should be revaccinated at 4 to 6 months of age. Autogenous vaccines for pasteurellosis in goats are also available. Consult your veterinarian for diagnosis, sample collection, and production of autogenous vaccines.
Prevention of pasteurellosis by vaccination might be best attained with the use of vaccines that incorporate iron-regulated proteins IRP ; this type of vaccine has been evaluated in small ruminants in other countries.
0コメント