Deadly disease going through my herd

At 3 days old i would not think parasites. Bacterial seems more likely. A few other things that kill baby quickly is not getting enough milk...too much milk..not pooping. Usually these are isolated events. What color were babies scours?

 

Color and smell of scours can help us know what might be going on.

 

Two things pop in my mind, Enterotoxemia or salmonellosis. (salmonella is zoonotic, wear gloves just in case)Both can cause black poop and fast death. Entero I would think would kill a baby much faster than a few days, but again, your treatment may have slowed that? Salmonellosis is less likely to cause death in adult goats but can happen. These are just guesses. There is no real way to know for sure whats going on. I would go ahead and do the fecals on your herd. Since vets are far away, maybe call and talk with one, see what they think. If any one else gets sick..I would give cd antitoxin and or Milk of magnesia and a quality electrolyte. Banamine for pain, if temps are not sub. Ill find you a link on Salmonella for more info.

 

http://goat-link.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=185&Itemid=1#.X6XXbFNKhsM

 

I am so sorry this is happening and hope you find the cause soon!

 

I went to my books from college..here are some pages I thought you could read and give you some help. Maybe one of them will fit the problem.

Hope this helps

 

Mycoplasma got into my herd and we lost 3 kids less than 2 months. Had to put down 3 does and 2 bucks. Do you have a state lab? I sent one of the kids to my lab at UC Davis for necropsy. They tested for everything and found micoplasma in its joints.
Swollen joints, swollen throat, staggers, fever, can't eat or drink, a horrible death.
It is passed in milk from infected nursing does. But we think it was passed by semen from an outside infected buck. Several types of this disease, some types extremely contagious. Ours was relatively mild. Our vet has seen it on cow dairies. Was a big problem back in the 80's on big goats dairies. 90% death of kids.
My lab tests ear swabs and milk samples. I hear that other labs test nasal swabs.
There is no cure or vaccine for this disease. Testing, isolation, culling, pasteurized milk and colostrum, are the only preventive measures to prevent its spread.

W

 

Forgot to add that chronic mastitis is a symptom in milking does.

 

Milk and ear swabs are easy to take. Get swabs and 3ml sterile sample tubes from your vet. The ear swabs are not temperature sensitive; i send them US postal as they are the cheapest shipping.
Milk samples go in the same 3ml sample tube, half from each teat.

 

Any news? I’m sorry you’re going through this - it must be so difficult. I truly hope you can figure it out and save your remaining goats!!

 

If its only outside, it must be environmental. Has anyone sprayed crops or a lawn service sprayed or something? (Crop field 100 feet to my North, they sprayed the soybean spray for weeds one year- it blew into my barn and I lost a couple does to chemical pneumonia- boy was I mad)..

Did they drop raccoon rabies bait? (they do that around here and it makes our dogs really sick if they find it) They aren't spraying for some invasive tree bugs or anything?

Have your goats been eating frozen grass? Have you had problems with neighbors? Strangers feeding something to the goats? Sorry for the off the wall questions, but if its only outside goats, that is strange. I sure hope you can solve your sad mystery!

 

Is this something to be worried about? My goats are outside year round, so they are bound to eat grass with frost on it at some point. I've never heard of this precaution, so I would like to be educated on it please. Feel free to respond in a private message so as to not hi-jack this thread.
Thanks.

 

I like to feed a hay ration before turn out. Depending on the type of grass in the pasture, it can at times cause toxicity problems.

 

I sure hope you are successful treating it this time! Good luck!