This website presents small notes on goat health, a constant challenge for me every year. In 2016 the focus is on parasites in the pasture. Their effect has been powerful due to frequent rains and overgrazing on our one little pasture place on Waller Street. All goats carry parasite "loads" and they will never fully be free of these microscopic pests that suck blood through the stomach wall. For that reason goats are very careful to eat only 8 inches or higher. When they are placed to graze in a pasture for a long time, they poop on grasses and eat them down lower than is healthy, and reinfect themselves more than normal.
This year Mercy contracted bottle jaw. She is a prime candidate for complications: a first-year milker, less than full grown, and birthed twins. Currently she is enjoying our back yard, both INSIDE the fenced in gardens as well as chewing on the apricot tree. (Open Veterinary Journal PMC4655771). She developed swelling on her jaw or an edema which at one point passed to her throat. Dr. Vigil brought medicine and I administered vitamins and iron daily for a week. She has since lost the fluid on her jaw yet is too thin. We are working on plans for a better year in 2017.
 | Bottle Jaw is the last stage of anemia, with the animal too debilitated to eat. Mercy was still able to eat, and worked very hard to do so with the swelling. She tended to eat soft leaves instead of grain. We trimmed our apricot tree to accommodate her diet. She took total advantage of her freedom and marched through the corn crop. |
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