r/goats Jun 20 '23

Asking for goat health advice? Read this first!

32 Upvotes

If you are asking for health advice for your goat, please help us help you. Complete a basic health assessment and provide as much of the following information in your post as possible:

  • Goat's age, sex, and breed
  • Goat's current temperature as determined by rectal thermometer. Please, for the love of god, take your animal's temperature. Temperature is ALWAYS VITAL in determining whether your animal might be ill or in need of assistance.
  • Whether the goat is pregnant or lactating
  • Goat's diet and appetite (what the goat is currently eating, whether they are on pasture or browse, supplemental grain, loose mineral, et cetera)
  • Goat's FAMACHA score (as determined by the process in this video) and information about any recent deworming treatments, if applicable
  • As many details regarding your animal's current symptoms and demeanor as you can share. These may include neurological symptoms (circling, staring at the sky, twitching), respiratory symptoms such as wheezing or coughing, and any other differences from typical behavior such as isolating, head pressing, teeth grinding, differences in fecal consistency, and so forth.

Clear photographs of relevant clinical signs (including coat condition) are helpful. Providing us with as much information as possible will help us give you prompt and accurate advice regarding your animal's care.

There are many professional farmers and homesteaders in this subreddit and we will do our best to help you out of a jam, but we can't guarantee the accuracy of any health advice you receive. When in doubt, always call your local large animal veterinarian who is trained to work with small ruminants.

What's up with that blue Trusted Advice Giver flair?

The mods assign this flair to /r/goats users who have an extensive history of giving out quality, evidence-based, responsible husbandry advice based on the best practices for goat care. Many of our users give terrific advice, but these flairs recognize a handful of folks who have gone that extra mile over time to become recognized as trusted community members who are known to always lead people in the right direction. If you get a slew of responses to your post and don't know where to start, look to the blue flairs first.


r/goats Feb 03 '25

PSA: The Dangers of AI Husbandry Advice (with example)

53 Upvotes

Hi everybody!

Recently, we had a user post a picture of a goat that may or may not have soremouth, also known as contagious ecthyma, scabby mouth, or orf. I won't link to the post since it isn't relevant whether or not that was what was afflicting the animal, but in the course of responding to that user I felt an opportunity to point out something that I have noticed and has been gnawing at me.

For many users seeking help, if they do not come straight to the sub, they will go to one of two places to get information: Google or ChatGPT. This post is about the former, but in case anyone was wondering if ChatGPT is a valid place to get advice on husbandry, what to eat tonight, how to live your life, or companionship: it is NOT. Large language models like ChatGPT are a type of generative AI that seeks more or less to respond to prompts and create content with correct syntax that is human-like. The quandary here is that while it can indeed provide correct answers to prompts, that outcome is often incidental. It isn't an indication that the model has researched your question, merely that it has cobbled together a (sometimes) convincing diagnosis/treatment plan from the massive amount of data across forums/message boards, vet resources, and idle chit-chat that it is trained on. The point is this: you should never be in a position where you have to rely on an LLM for husbandry advice. If you have access to an internet connection, even the generative AI from Google search is a better option. But that doesn't mean it's a good one, bringing us to the principal subject of this post:

Orf! What do?

For some relevant background, we have never had a case of orf on our farm. I have read about it in vet textbooks and goat husbandry books and seen many images of it, I'm familiar with what it is, how it is spread, and at a high level what to do about it and what not to do. That said, when I was helping this user, I thought I'd brush up and make sure I wasn't providing misinformation. I knew orf was viral in nature and reckoned that in moderate to severe cases it could probably cause fever, but I wanted to see if I could find a vet manual or study of the disease in goats to confirm how likely that would have been. This was what I was met with:

Hm...

If you don't scrutinize this too closely, everything looks sort of on the level. Orf is indeed self-limiting (not sure why the AI says usually, there is literally nothing you can do to treat the root cause, but okay), and it more or less implies that humans can contract it so be careful. The symptoms section looks fine, overall, prevention is... eh... The orf vaccine is a live vaccine. Application of it is not something that most small scale homesteaders or hobby farmers will be familiar with and using it is basically putting the virus on your property. Orf is a nuisance disease and the main time it is a problem is when it is being transmitted between a dam and her kids. Proactive vaccination in closed herds that have never seen a case is not a vet-recommended practice.

The treatment section is where things get spicy with the part about scab removal. Oof. Now that is not even close to true and doing that when the goat is with other goats or going to a quarantine space where they will then shed the disease will cause it to spread to any other goat that inhabits that space unless it is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The bottom says the info is for informational purposes only and to consult an actual professional for advice, but that begs the question of why Google would provide that information front and center by default when you search when the first result below is an actual vet resource with correct advice. I won't get into the weeds about the ethics of that because it's a separate soapbox, this is the reality we live in now. This bad advice is particularly relevant because the user on our sub mentioned they had been picking off the scabs. So let's do another Google search for some clarification:

Oh dear, oh no

If you explicitly search whether or not you should remove the scabs, the AI overview is different. Not only do you see that you should not remove the scabs because they are infectious (very true), the overview now says that doing so will delay healing. The first "featured snippet", a feature separate from their generative AI overview, is an overview from the state of Victoria's government agricultural representative body, a reliable source. The highlighted text reinforces the "do not pick scabs off" advice. The overview still fails when it says to apply dressing to lesions. Evidently it has not ever reckoned with what it would be like to bandage an entire goat's face and mouth, which they need to eat, but maybe I'm an idiot. Let's check:

Thank you, Dr. Google

As you can see, generative AI is basically a hodgepodge of vague but mostly correct advice intermingled with plainly wrong advice. Seeking correction to the wrong advice, if you know that it is wrong, leads down more rabbit holes. I hope this highlights the importance of sourcing your information from reliable, proven veterinary resources/textbooks or state agricultural extensions that provide support for their claims with research. This sub prioritizes evidence-based husbandry practices and is one of the few forums to try to stick to that standard and I consider it important especially for people who don't have goat mentors offline.

This is not only important because users need good advice; it also affects the people that don't use this sub and go straight to Google. Reddit struck a deal a little under a year ago to make their data available for training AI. The information we post on this sub is being used as part of the training for these AI models and Google's SEO is increasingly favoring reddit at the top of search results in a number of areas. As the sub grows and the social media landscape changes, more people that never post but need info may find themselves coming here. Let's all try to do our best to make sure the information we share and advice we give is solid!


r/goats 11h ago

Goat Pic🐐 Goat loaf

Thumbnail
gallery
66 Upvotes

I wish I could have gotten a better angle, but if I had gotten any closer he would have gotten up🄲


r/goats 11h ago

Help Request Could she have gotten bred?

Thumbnail
gallery
13 Upvotes

For context; I was separating roosters out of my main flock, they are getting pushed out of resources pretty hard and I plan on eating them since they are still young. In the midst of all of it, my fatty goats heard me messing with grain bags and this little lady took a shortcut through the fence to come investigate. She was not out with the boys when I came out to do chores etc, all of my stuff is weirdly connected, very inconvenient but it works for me and it’s even harder to explain. But she fit through the fence where mister loverboy had been flirting with my adults.

I don’t smell his pee on her, he is pretty raunchy even for it not being prime rutting season yet. But she’s acting like she’s in heat, and one of my older does has been chasing her around and mounting her since she’s been in with the boys. As soon as I saw her I snatched her up and put her back where she belonged. It literally only seemed like she came in there for potential snacks.

the buck was more than occupied with trying to figure out where the bag of chicken feed was hidden, he’s a chicken food goblin and he’s broken down my chicken coop door more times than I can count.

I do have a Nubian buck, but he’s still a baby, and has barely even a clue what he’s doing yet, my Nigerian dwarf buck is a push over and the Nubian buck respects him. So if she is bred it would almost 100% be by the Nigerian buck. However she was born April first, so right around 6 months old even. should I get her lute through my vet? Or should I wait to see if she returns to a heat cycle? She was in with the boys for less than 15 minutes.


r/goats 14h ago

Help Request What is this skin issue?

Thumbnail
gallery
5 Upvotes

This is Lemon our 5 year old fainting goat. She is one of three does that we have. She’s has had this skin issue on her back/sholders on and off since the spring. She itches them quite a bit and the bald spots would come and go until about 2 months ago this one popped up and won’t go away. Had a vet take a look and they were unsure what it is and gave Dectomax thinking it might be lice but none of the other girls are itching or have flaky skin like her.

It’s been a few weeks since the injection and I have not noticed any improvement. Was hoping someone might know what’s going on and have some suggestions on treatment. Thank you!


r/goats 1d ago

Help Request First time nanny rejecting kids

5 Upvotes

I posted pictures here, a few days ago, of our first-first time nanny, and she is doing great with her triplets. Then we had a second nanny birth, also triplets, but she is experienced and she is doing awesome. Then the third nanny birthed, also triplets, but she has completely rejected her three kids. I’m having to restrain her just to let her kids nurse, but even after 3 days she just isn’t bonding. She has stopped moving away/kicking at her kids when they nurse, but as soon as I take her off the rope, she just moves across the pen. I have her tied up again, on a slack line so her kids can nurse. Any advice?

Also, I think I am done with kids, if anyone in central or south central Texas wants a particularly potent male Nigerian dwarf goat, message me. He’s friendly, likes getting petted, kinda stinks, and is three for three on siring triplets…


r/goats 1d ago

Mobile goat pen set up

Post image
31 Upvotes

Does anybody have a mobile goat pen set up with livestock panels? Maybe even with wheels on the back corners? I only have 3 goats and would like to move them around my yard without them wandering to the back porch.


r/goats 1d ago

Help Request 7-month-old goat will not eat minerals

Post image
17 Upvotes

(Please enjoy the image I took of him being bad and ignoring mešŸ˜‘ā¤ļø)

When I first got him in March I got him at 20 days old (yesterday was his 7-month birthday)

When I got him the original owners were really stupid and decided that he did not need to be on a bottle any longer so they were weaning him....at 20 days old..

The reason being is he's a buck and they don't see any value in Bucks despite him being out of show quality stock they only care about the does which if I had known this before I got him I would not have gotten a goat from them ( it took 2 months to get him to accept the bottle and a load of force feeding with vet supervision)

And ever since I got him he always turned his nose up to lose minerals, I even got a mineral block just to have it there in case maybe that's what they were using and he was familiar with it, he wasn't interested in that either and even now he will not eat minerals, I will pour them in his bowl in a little Mound and they clearly never get Disturbed.

Currently what I'm doing is I will put a little bit of minerals in his soaked Timothy pellets, I give both of my goats soaked Timothy pellets in the evenings because when I'm giving the other animals grain I guess they feel left out because they will not shut up or stop trying to get out until I give them something, but right now that's the only way I can get him to eat them, I use the DuMOR loose minerals, but I've also tried the Purina Wind and Rain minerals, and the Manna Pro loose minerals just to see if he would eat those instead but he won't.

I want to know if it's just going to take him time, and he might actually start eating them eventually, and if I should keep doing what I'm doing? I only started mixing the loose minerals with his food last month, up until then he had never had any because he wouldn't eat them.

(And for those of you curious about his leg it's healing well and he actually walks on the nub, I'm planning on getting a hock brace at the recommendation of the vet to support his good leg)


r/goats 2d ago

General Husbandry Question Grain Storage

Thumbnail
gallery
39 Upvotes

I need help finding an image of grain storage. It was similar to the toy storage rack seen below in the 2nd image but I was like grain storage bins/trash cans. This would also be used for mineral and alpaca grains as well. TIA!

Bestest goat for tax


r/goats 3d ago

Humor The sleepiest goat in the world

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

397 Upvotes

r/goats 3d ago

How can I help this baby?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

34 Upvotes

I'm getting a little pygmy goat from my current job because she's struggling to put any weight on being with the rest of the weaned kids. I'm hoping with a bit of 1-1 care she can get better on some good quality goat feed and some hay and obviously any medication she may end up needing. I'm just wondering what everyone else would do with her in this situation? What food do you recommend and if any what extras should I be giving her for that added boost?

She will be coming with a friend of a similar size but she's is tiny at the moment. I'm not sure on age as I haven't been working there that long but i will be finding out.


r/goats 3d ago

Goat Pic🐐 Best Scratchies Ever

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

169 Upvotes

Enjoy this video of my guy realizing how lovely brushes are!


r/goats 2d ago

Help Request My doe is only half dried off. Why?

Post image
0 Upvotes

She’s still in milk, but her udder is very VERY lopsided right now, I weaned her kids, milked her half way out the day of, and then less the day after that. and periodically checking for heat or painful engorgement, which she never had. Her udder is not hot and she’s not running a fever, her famacha looks good it’s a bright pink, but not red I’ve been checking on the daily for any changes.

But her udder is lopsided i had this same issue last year, i expressed it from that side, it would stay down for a few days and then fill right back up over the course of 3 days (i wasn’t milking all the way out, just trying to help send the signals that I’m not really ā€œeatingā€ anymore) and that worked for the most part, but she was still technically ā€œin milkā€ when we bred her back, but she wasn’t full of milk or anything.

Her temperaments the same, shes actually back to her old princess self, I don’t believe I’ll be breeding her ever again, at least on purpose, she’s far too difficult to manage having her dam raise since she randomly picks her kids off of her. She had twins last year and kicked the doeling off at three days old, and had triplets this year and kicked one of the kids off at 2wks and kicked her buckling off at 9wks, but kept her favorite and was ever so kind to it etc, each time it was a chocolate solid colored kid, so maybe she just has a preference idk.


r/goats 3d ago

Need some good vibes and happy endings if anyone's got them.

Post image
48 Upvotes

I only feed timothy and pasture to my wether boys but unfortunately my Meriwether (5 yo) is genetically predisposed to forming stones. The first time at 3 yo he managed to pass it on his own. We only knew after the fact because he was peeing blood and we managed clear any remaining with pushing fluids. Since then we have supplemented his water with flavored Gatorade water and he hasn't had any issues until last Saturday. 3 of my boys ate some weed or another that didn't agree with them. The other 2 got diarrhea but he only got clumpy poop so I didn't really think anything of it but now I wonder if his stomach bothered him and he didn't drink as much water, I don't really know. But 2 weeks later he was clearly straining to pee. He only had a few stones but they were lodged in pretty good. We got him in for surgery but he had to have is urethra cut to remove the stones, which I guess decreases his chance for recovery because scar tissue can form causing secondary blockage. Anyway we are waiting to see if everything healed but I could really use some success stories if anyone has any. I love this guy I bottle fed him as a baby and losing him will really be hard. Also we did send the stones for analysis but the vet thinks they are likely silica based so something like ammonia chloride doesn't work.


r/goats 4d ago

Breed Identification Can someone tell me what type of goat this is pretty please?

Thumbnail
gallery
160 Upvotes

I saw this goat at the Brisbane show and loved it. It was small but seemed fully grown, super soft, very placid! There were a few all the same size so I don't think it was a baby. The image search says angora but it was smaller and different horns to the ones I see on google images. This is Australia if that's important :-)


r/goats 2d ago

General Husbandry Question Pygmy goats

1 Upvotes

Hi all!

I am getting two Pygmy doe’s soon. I have 3 pet sheep (weathers) super friendly. Two are hoggets & 1 lamb. They mostly free rage graze around the property and just stay with one another and don’t venture too far. My question is, would the goats mob up with the sheep and follow one another or would I have to keep the goats locked up and bring the sheep in for play dates?
The sheep sleep in the shed behind one of tractors we have, will the goats sleep with them?
I’m planning on doing up our old shearing shed as a space for the goats to play and have their own feed and lick block that the sheep can’t access. The shearing shed is also relative secure but I will be working on it to make sure they can’t escape, should I lock them up there at night instead of with the sheep?

The shearing shed area is quite large including a yard around it, so I was thinking about locking the sheep and the goats up together for a few days and monitor them to see how they get along. I feel like I should add that my sheep are super friendly, I don’t think one is even sure it’s a sheep and they took the lamb in no questions asked and they also get along with my chooks and are super gentle with them.

If I’m missing anything or need to take anything else into account please let me know! A huge thank you in advance.


r/goats 3d ago

Media or Goats in the News Rabid baby goats prompt North Carolina mobile petting zoo scare

Thumbnail
abcnews.com
24 Upvotes

r/goats 3d ago

Breed Identification Please help me identify the breed of these goats I bought ... ~24 to 26 inches high... thx so much!

Thumbnail
gallery
22 Upvotes

r/goats 3d ago

General Husbandry Question Rabies

9 Upvotes

I run a mobile petting zoo. I’m now second guessing. Goats are not required to have the rabies vaccine and you can’t get it in store- you have to go through your vet. Yes, they can get other vaccines easily but that does not prevent rabies. Do you think it’s worth getting the vaccine? Should I cancel upcoming events ?


r/goats 3d ago

Help Request Doe bullying doelings. Worried for winter

5 Upvotes

Hello, first time posting here. This is our first year of having goats and got 5 nigerian dwarfs. We started off with 2 doelings but very soon after got 3 more, a 1 year old doe, a doeling and a whether. The newer doeling is a kid of the doe. The doe is bullying the original doelings and the whether and is kicking them out of the shelter. We have a barrel in the pen for them to play on and noticed last night that the 3 were sleeping in there. With winter on the horizon we are worried. The goat shelter we have is a decent size and im wondering of installing a wall down the middle will be good or if i should build a seperate shelter. The shelter we have has 2 doors on it so the individual "bays" will only have 1 door which ive read is a bad idea when it comes to bullying in the herd.

Thanks for reading, hopefully someone has some input


r/goats 3d ago

Help Request Goat uti?

2 Upvotes

My 5 year old Nigerian female has been squatting to pee, a small amount (~1/2 cup) comes out, and she’ll continue squatting for about 10 more seconds with nothing coming out. I am worried about stones or UTI.
She is not flicking her tail, grinding her teeth, or uncomfortable. She is a healthy weight, drinking and eating (Bermuda and minerals) as usual. The urine is clear. The 3 other goats are doing well with urinating. Temp is 103.
Any advice for some otc treatment is much appreciated.


r/goats 4d ago

General Husbandry Question Any good sources for reliable information on taking care for goats?

1 Upvotes

Hello, we are looking for good, reliable information on how to take care for goats. We are beginners.
Can you recommend some good books, websites, podcasts etc.?

Help is much appreciated! Thanks! 🐐


r/goats 4d ago

Nigora (Nigerian DwarfƗAngora) Goat land usage

1 Upvotes

Hello, all! I am in the learning stages to prepare to hopefully breed nigoras in the future. Step 1 seems to be determining how many goats you have room for. I am getting conflicting information and so would like y'all's expert opinion. How many acres per goat? I have access to about ten acres total, a 4 acre lot and a 6 acre lot. What size herd could that comfortably support? What is a comfortable square footage for each goat if I were to split that up into a couple smaller pastures? Thank you for your advice and opinions!


r/goats 4d ago

Help Request What is in this poop?!!?

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

r/goats 4d ago

General Husbandry Question I have a question plus I have an update on Prince

5 Upvotes

I'll start with the question, I was wondering if temporarily using one of the Stalls in a horse trailer would work as a temporary housing solution for prince? A friend of mine needs a place to sit his trailer, and he said I could use it to house him for a while if I need to, it's a stock trailer with a bunch of ventilation in it it's meant for hauling cattle but it would absolutely hold him I just want to know if it would be okay to keep him in there.

And for the update, he's going to be okay though he needs to be confined, I he has a minor fracture in his Cannon bone in his right hind leg, past that he's just baggered and bruised and traumatized, but he's going to be okay.

Frosty is also doing okay even though he's not the one that got hurt he doesn't have a pen now, but he seems perfectly content being in the house at night and hanging out with the chickens in the day.