**These pages are made for only for our farm so it will be easy for us to go and remind ourselves what we need to do. We have collected those files over the years. We are always learning new information. We add and edit these files almost daily.
There are many more problems with goat keeping. These are most common illnesses and problems that we often see while our goat keeping. If in doubt, call your vet.
There are many more problems with goat keeping. These are most common illnesses and problems that we often see while our goat keeping. If in doubt, call your vet.
Goat health tests list
Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis (CAE)
This disease has two forms: the arthritis (visible) and the encephalitis (internal). They both wreak havoc on dairy herds in the world. This disease causes painful arthritic joints, mastitis, decreased milk production. Once a goat has this disease they can never rid themselves of it. The disease will be passed from mother to kid through the milk.
Annually done by blood test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 2 weeks / Annually.
Johne’s Disease
pronounced (Yo-knees)
This disease shows up as rapid weight loss and diarrhea and may stay dormant for many years. It has been linked to Crohn’s Disease in humans. Once an animal has this disease there is no cure and it can spread very quickly in the herd.
Annually done by Fecal test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 18 months / Annually.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Although this disease has not been found prevalent here in the U.S. there are still concerns since this disease can be transmitted to humans. There are 2 strains of TB that are tested for, bovine and avian. The veterinarian will inject a tiny bit of fluid into your goat, usually at the base of the tail. They will have to come back out to the farm and read the results of the testing within 3 days. Most goats come back with no reaction, some do. In fact, it is expected that a certain percentage of goats will come back as “suspect”. Don’t fret, it happens to all of us. The USDA veterinarian will come out to your farm and make another two injections, one for bovine TB and the other for avian TB. The USDA Veterinarian will come back and read the results. Most of the time, especially if you have chickens running around, it is the avian strain which causes no harm to your goats.
Every 3 years by injecting TB bacteria
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 6 months / every 3 years.
Brucellosis
This disease can cause abortion of the fetus in late pregnancy, and in male goats can cause infertility and swollen joints.Every 3 Every 3 years done by blood test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 6 months / every 3 years
Caseous Lymphoma (CL)
This disease causes abscesses around the lymph glands most often around the jawline which burst open and drain. Once this disease is in your soil it is there forever. There is a vaccine for this but it's CL it's injected into your goat. The hope is that the goat will become immune to the CL. But the goat will harbor the disease.
We purchase our goats from tested herd. Every year, our vet checks our herd.
Each time when we have any suspicious symptoms, we ask our vet to check.
*If the goat was vaccinated with CL Vaccines, she/ he will have a reaction with CL test as positive.
Can be tested everyone over the age of 6 months
Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis (CAE)
This disease has two forms: the arthritis (visible) and the encephalitis (internal). They both wreak havoc on dairy herds in the world. This disease causes painful arthritic joints, mastitis, decreased milk production. Once a goat has this disease they can never rid themselves of it. The disease will be passed from mother to kid through the milk.
Annually done by blood test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 2 weeks / Annually.
Johne’s Disease
pronounced (Yo-knees)
This disease shows up as rapid weight loss and diarrhea and may stay dormant for many years. It has been linked to Crohn’s Disease in humans. Once an animal has this disease there is no cure and it can spread very quickly in the herd.
Annually done by Fecal test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 18 months / Annually.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Although this disease has not been found prevalent here in the U.S. there are still concerns since this disease can be transmitted to humans. There are 2 strains of TB that are tested for, bovine and avian. The veterinarian will inject a tiny bit of fluid into your goat, usually at the base of the tail. They will have to come back out to the farm and read the results of the testing within 3 days. Most goats come back with no reaction, some do. In fact, it is expected that a certain percentage of goats will come back as “suspect”. Don’t fret, it happens to all of us. The USDA veterinarian will come out to your farm and make another two injections, one for bovine TB and the other for avian TB. The USDA Veterinarian will come back and read the results. Most of the time, especially if you have chickens running around, it is the avian strain which causes no harm to your goats.
Every 3 years by injecting TB bacteria
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 6 months / every 3 years.
Brucellosis
This disease can cause abortion of the fetus in late pregnancy, and in male goats can cause infertility and swollen joints.Every 3 Every 3 years done by blood test
Can be tested with everyone over the age of 6 months / every 3 years
Caseous Lymphoma (CL)
This disease causes abscesses around the lymph glands most often around the jawline which burst open and drain. Once this disease is in your soil it is there forever. There is a vaccine for this but it's CL it's injected into your goat. The hope is that the goat will become immune to the CL. But the goat will harbor the disease.
We purchase our goats from tested herd. Every year, our vet checks our herd.
Each time when we have any suspicious symptoms, we ask our vet to check.
*If the goat was vaccinated with CL Vaccines, she/ he will have a reaction with CL test as positive.
Can be tested everyone over the age of 6 months
Immunization list
Opus 7 Farm has decided to give following vaccines.
CD & T
Adult Goats and Guard llama: Annually
(Pregnant does: 1 month before due date)
Babies: 1st time @ 4-7 weeks old, 2nd time @10-12 weeks old
Rabies
All goats and guard llama
- Meat & milk withdraw time info. -
http://goatdocs.ansci.cornell.edu/CSGSymposium/VaccinatingGoats.pdf
Pneumonia
Babies:"Once PMH" @ 3 weeks onward 1/2 cc nostril
"Inforce 3" @ 1 week before weening 1/2cc nostril
CD & T
Adult Goats and Guard llama: Annually
(Pregnant does: 1 month before due date)
Babies: 1st time @ 4-7 weeks old, 2nd time @10-12 weeks old
Rabies
All goats and guard llama
- Meat & milk withdraw time info. -
http://goatdocs.ansci.cornell.edu/CSGSymposium/VaccinatingGoats.pdf
Pneumonia
Babies:"Once PMH" @ 3 weeks onward 1/2 cc nostril
"Inforce 3" @ 1 week before weening 1/2cc nostril
About G6S Deficiency
G6S-deficiency is a genetic recessive disorder affecting Nubians and Nubian crosses including Mini Nubians. Each goat has two copies of the G6S gene inherited by its parents. G6S-deficiency is caused when both of these copies are mutated and cannot function normally.
For a goat to be affected, both parents must be carriers of the G6S gene. In the future, other breeders may want to see your goat’s G6S status. Please keep this sheet and the included test results for your records.
What does a “Normal,” “Carrier,” or “Affected” result mean?
Normal result (G6S-normal)
Neither of the two alleles of the goat is a mutated G6S gene. This means that the goat possesses only normal copies of the G6S gene and therefore does not have G6S-deficiency. Breeding two G6S-normal goats will result in a G6S-normal offspring. This is the ideal result.
Carrier result
A goat that is a carrier possesses one copy of a normal G6S gene and one copy of the mutated G6S gene. The presence of the mutated gene means that one of this goat’s parents must also have a copy of the mutated gene. Although a carrier goat will appear and function normally, problems can arise in offspring if it is bred because they are capable of passing down their mutated G6S gene to their offspring.
For example: Let “G” be a normal copy of the G6S gene, and “g” be the mutated copy of the G6S gene. A carrier’s gene is Gg because it has one copy of each.
If one parent normal (GG) and the other is a carrier (Gg), the offspring will be have a 50% chance of being normal (GG) or a carrier (Gg). These percentages are represented in the diagram below. The shaded boxes represent the parents
GG takes up 50% of the offspring boxes, and Gg takes up the other 50%. However, since both normal and carrier goats appear and function normally, 100% of this pair’s offspring will be outwardly normal.
Below is a diagram for the cross between two carrier (Gg) goats.
In this case, there is a 25% chance for the offspring to be normal, a 50% chance for it to be a carrier, and a 25% chance for it to be affected completely by the mutation.
Outwardly, 75% of the offspring are expected to appear and function normally.
It is important to note that this probability is reset for each instance of mating/breeding. Each offspring has the same probability. A doe from the diagram above with quadruplets will not necessarily give birth to one normal, two carrier, and one affected goat.
Affected result (G6S-positive)
A G6S-deficiency positive goat possesses two copies of the G6S mutation (gg), and therefore, the goat is affected by the G6S-deficiency disorder.
Luckily, we can test G6S testing easily by just plucking some goat hair.
You can go through MDGA for discounted price with UC Davis.
G6S-deficiency is a genetic recessive disorder affecting Nubians and Nubian crosses including Mini Nubians. Each goat has two copies of the G6S gene inherited by its parents. G6S-deficiency is caused when both of these copies are mutated and cannot function normally.
For a goat to be affected, both parents must be carriers of the G6S gene. In the future, other breeders may want to see your goat’s G6S status. Please keep this sheet and the included test results for your records.
What does a “Normal,” “Carrier,” or “Affected” result mean?
Normal result (G6S-normal)
Neither of the two alleles of the goat is a mutated G6S gene. This means that the goat possesses only normal copies of the G6S gene and therefore does not have G6S-deficiency. Breeding two G6S-normal goats will result in a G6S-normal offspring. This is the ideal result.
Carrier result
A goat that is a carrier possesses one copy of a normal G6S gene and one copy of the mutated G6S gene. The presence of the mutated gene means that one of this goat’s parents must also have a copy of the mutated gene. Although a carrier goat will appear and function normally, problems can arise in offspring if it is bred because they are capable of passing down their mutated G6S gene to their offspring.
For example: Let “G” be a normal copy of the G6S gene, and “g” be the mutated copy of the G6S gene. A carrier’s gene is Gg because it has one copy of each.
If one parent normal (GG) and the other is a carrier (Gg), the offspring will be have a 50% chance of being normal (GG) or a carrier (Gg). These percentages are represented in the diagram below. The shaded boxes represent the parents
GG takes up 50% of the offspring boxes, and Gg takes up the other 50%. However, since both normal and carrier goats appear and function normally, 100% of this pair’s offspring will be outwardly normal.
Below is a diagram for the cross between two carrier (Gg) goats.
In this case, there is a 25% chance for the offspring to be normal, a 50% chance for it to be a carrier, and a 25% chance for it to be affected completely by the mutation.
Outwardly, 75% of the offspring are expected to appear and function normally.
It is important to note that this probability is reset for each instance of mating/breeding. Each offspring has the same probability. A doe from the diagram above with quadruplets will not necessarily give birth to one normal, two carrier, and one affected goat.
Affected result (G6S-positive)
A G6S-deficiency positive goat possesses two copies of the G6S mutation (gg), and therefore, the goat is affected by the G6S-deficiency disorder.
Luckily, we can test G6S testing easily by just plucking some goat hair.
You can go through MDGA for discounted price with UC Davis.
Milk testing
We do 2 kinds of milk testings.
One for this page is for bacteria counts
One is for Raw Goat Milk Herd Share to make sure that our raw goat milk is safe for human consumption.
When we have does in milk after kidding, we wait until at least 2 weeks before drinking because we would like to make sure getting rid of any colostrum in milk.
After 2 weeks from kidding and second week of Tuesday, we will collect all does' mixed milk into a vial and send to our RMAC's (Raw Milk Association of Colorado) designated lab, Microbial Research, Inc.
Our basic monthly tests are Coliform enumeration, Salmonella detection, E. coli O157 detection, Standard Plate Count.
When we are going to add newly kidded doe into the program, we add Campylobacter Isolation & Listeria detection testings over basic monthly testing.
The other milk testing is for our milking goats'
production and fat etc. contents.
The DHIA organization that you can use reliably and we recommend highly is
Meadowlark Testing Association
697 Rd. 155 Carpenter, WY 82054
Phone: 307-649-2216
Contact: Karen Butler
E-mail: [email protected]
Meadowlark Testing Association uses TDA labs in Greeley CO for 305 days milk testing automatically.
When you go through Meadowlark Testing Association for DHIA 305 milk testing, you will be taking testers' test through them to become a milk tester.
**If you are already a milk tester from other organization, and are interested in only testing for one day milk testing through MDGA or TMGR, you can go through TDA labs directly.
Our farm tests DHIA milk testing used to be through Langston University DHI Laboratory
TDA Labs
8215 W. 20th St. Greeley, CO
http://www.tdalabs.com/milk_quality.php
We either test 305 days or one day test.
We, then, send to MDGA & TMGR registries to be accepted for milk stars.