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Mouth sores

2K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  ETDairygoats 
#1 ·
Please help, I just noticed these mouth sores on my 5 month old buckling. Otherwise seems fine. I have had goats 4 years and haven't seen this before. Any help is much appreciated.
 

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#6 ·
It is orf. Our commercial milking herd had a runthrough of it a few weeks ago.
Your goat's orf looks new, the scabs have not fully formed yet.

As said above it is highly contagious and can be transmitted to humans so wear gloves.

It is part of the small pox and chicken pox virus. Once the animal gets it, they are immune if they are healthy.
We used iodine to treat it. It kills off the scab and eventually the virus.

One goat can affect over 20 goats in about a week. It spreads like wildfire!

Religious healing prayers were used by us and they did work (I think some people use them for warts. But the iodine was most effective.

There is a vaccine out, not sure of the name, I'll try find out.

In bad cases orf can spread down the throat, which eventually chokes the goat. One of our goats got it on her tongue but we treated it ASAP!

If you have any milking goats that are infected on the udder or teats do not drink it, as it can be transmitted through the milk. This only happens if the kid thats suckling off her is infected.

I have loads of info to give if needed!
 
#7 ·
Just has to run its course. Some say quarantine. If you plan to have kids in the future or show, you may want to just allow it to spread now and get your herd immune to it. It seems to happen at the most inopportune time. My last bout of it, I just exposed the herd so I didn't have to worry about does getting it just after kidding on their teats and not wanting to nurse. Or a buyer coming to your farm, or outbreak right before show. If you just have pets, you may want to quarantine. Very contagious to people. If you have children, may want to not let them pet for a while.
 
#10 ·
I may be wrong here but I think if you add any more goats to your herd, they will go through it as well.I believe it runs it's course in each goat but that any new goat coming in, will get it as well. After they have it and it runs it's course they are immune? I think....sorry you have to deal with this... :(

Do some searches on soremouth in goats...lots of info out there...

Oh yes! and do NOT touch it with bare hands...it is contagious and from what I have read, painful to humans. either way, not something you want to get!
 
#12 ·
Ok, I have applied iodine this morning and will continue. Little guy still appears full of energy and vigor. He is eating browse and drinking. I did intense and up close inspections of the herd sire, his 13 mature does, and his 6 doelings ( kept in separate pasture ). Still no animals besides this 2 month old buckling have any signs. Hoping it is confined to him but I have chosen to not quarantine him. He is with the herd sire and the 13 does. He is on opposite side of the property from the 6 each 6 month old doelings. The reason they are separate is they all belong to our buck. Which is what makes this odd, the only additions to our herd in over 2 years are from within. The beginnings of our herd have occupied the same 18 acres for 15 years. Do you think another animal ie: deer, rabbit, chicken or any other wildlife indigenous to southeast Tennessee could have introduced this virus? Before we started the goat herd, no domestic animals had ever occupied the property.
 
#13 ·
Deer, I think, can get it. Not sure about rabbits and chickens. Dogs can get it too, our collie got it. I live in Ireland so I wouldn't be familiar. Sheep can definitley get it.

Orf, in most cases, won't affect the goat's behaviour or wellbeing.

When checking the goats mouths, look for bumps or blisters.

I think it could of been deer. However orf isn't airbourne so if your goats weren't in contact with deer or the ground the deer was grazing on it probably wasn't deer.

Should take about 2 weeks or a little more to completely clear up the scabs and blisters. The scabs are still contagious when they have fallen off the goat so keep the area disinfected and try clean up the scabs if you can find them. (Not easy!)

Good luck!
 
#15 ·
Ok, I have applied iodine this morning and will continue. Little guy still appears full of energy and vigor. He is eating browse and drinking. I did intense and up close inspections of the herd sire, his 13 mature does, and his 6 doelings ( kept in separate pasture ). Still no animals besides this 2 month old buckling have any signs. Hoping it is confined to him but I have chosen to not quarantine him. He is with the herd sire and the 13 does. He is on opposite side of the property from the 6 each 6 month old doelings. The reason they are separate is they all belong to our buck. Which is what makes this odd, the only additions to our herd in over 2 years are from within. The beginnings of our herd have occupied the same 18 acres for 15 years. Do you think another animal ie: deer, rabbit, chicken or any other wildlife indigenous to southeast Tennessee could have introduced this virus? Before we started the goat herd, no domestic animals had ever occupied the property.
As I understand it, sore mouth lives in the soil. Animals that have had it previously become immune once it has ran its course. It could be that the goats you currently have have never been exposed to it, hence the manifestation of symptoms. If memory serves, I think it takes a couple of weeks for it to run its course and be done. If you are thinking of vaccinating you need to be aware that, according to everything I've read, sore mouth is a live vaccine and it will cause the disease in any goat that has not had previous exposure.
 
#17 ·
I actually sold the buckling yesterday morning. I told the man all about it before he drive down from Knoxville. He said it was fine and he would let his 4 does go ahead and get it and be done. Now 9 other does have it and the herd sire. I have 4 girls that were adults when I bought them and they show no signs at all. I have a Kiko doe I bought at 3 months and she shows no signs, I'll tell you something, those Kiko are resilient. I think that is the direction I am going to take. I have bred much size into the herd with my giant Saanen buck. I am going to find a Kiko buckling to introduce to his daughters. Super-Goat, enormous skeleton, lots o meat and parasite resistant!!!!!
 
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