Sheep Goat Case Studies Flashcards
A goat producer with several abortions believes he has Chlamydia in his herd and wants to feed tetracycline from breeding to lambing. He wants a feed prescription for tetracycline. What do you tell him?
(Old school belief: if you feed tetracycline entire time animals pregnant they will not get Chlamydia even if exposed. But…)
- We don’t know if it the abortions are due to Chlamydia, mycotoxins from mouldy feed, spontaneous… etc. And most of strains of Chlamydia in NAm are resistant to tetracycline. Waste of AMD for no gain, and increasing potential for AMR selection pressure
- Fine for clients to have some tetracycline on farm and have an SOP, in case they need to use for dog bite or something. But not giving it prophylactically or for anyone’s entire pregnancy.
A sheep and goat producer wants an injection to make all of his animals come into heat at the same time so he can lamb them between Christmas and New Years. He has 140 ewes, 3 rams, 40 goats, and 0 bucks. What do you tell him?
- If he wants to lamb at Christmas he needs to breed in July. Probably sheep not cycling very well in July bc there is no functional CL, so giving prostaglandin injection (like Estrumate) wouldn’t do much in sheep. Injection could be fine in goats bc they are not as seasonal.
- 3 rams is probably not enough to get all of the ewes bred in 1 week. And currently has no bucks so obviously needs some.
A producer has 140 ewes and 50 goats. Some are pregnant and some are not. Some goats were purchased 3 weeks before they were due to start kidding and were immediately added to the flock. He placed them all together in a large pen and fed free choice 1st cut mixed grass/alfalfa hay that was quite mature when it was cut along with 2 x 5 gallon pails of whole barley once daily dumped into a few piles. What are some concerns you have?
- Commingling pregnant and non pregnant animals is a biosecurity concern.
- The new animals should have been quarantined
- Goats are CL dependent for their entire pregnancy and if stressed enough will abort, so purchasing and transporting animals about to kid is not recommended.
- This is not enough energy for all 190 animals and many will not be able to access the piles
- You can’t manage sheep and goats the same way
Producers with 25 ewes are asking if 3 rams is to breed over 2 weeks. What do you tell them?
With 3, may spend more time fighting than breeding.
You only need 1 ram for this number of ewes
Producers with ewes are wondering if they should add oats or barley to their ration. What do you tell them?
- Adding oats into ration not beneficial for the ewes, but will cost a lot of money. Oats are more expensive per ton (bc they are eaten by humans and horses) and have lower caloric value and digestibility than barley.
A producer wants to know, should he buy some does 2 weeks away from kidding?
No, stress of transport may cause abortion
A producer has recently had several abortions. Wants to know what to do with the fetuses and placentas?
Send them all to lab - the more samples, the better the diagnostic ability
More abortion issues are diagnosed from placenta than fetus
You are contacted by a producer that has 250 goats and is supposed to begin kidding in 3-4 weeks. They have had 8 does die since January and are concerned now because there are a number that seem weak and three have kidded/aborted in the past week. What are your thoughts on all the deaths?
- Deaths since January, when it is cold. Nutrition issue? Even best managed goat operations will have someone die when it is crazy cold; they are not as tough as sheep to cold. But 8 is too many.
- Goats with poor nutrition expend a lot of energy surviving. Reproduction is expendable so if cold and hungry will delete the fetuses.
- So potentially a nutrition issue: look at nutrition program.
