Client's Question: My goats have diarrhoea problems quite often and I do not know how to resolve these problems? Can you please help me?
Vet's Answer:
I refer to my recent field visit to your goat farm. I noted your anxiety or complaint of diarrhoea in goats after consuming a new feed. The relatively large number of deaths and miscarriages recorded in your farm is a concern and should warrant immediate remedial actions.
Unfortunately, no autopsy has ever been done to verify or establish the cause of deaths, though you have observed diarrhoea being the common clinical symptom. I have through my field investigation on 6 April 2008, noted a number of clues leading to the few presumptive diagnoses namely, D-Lactic acidosis, enterotoxemias and parasitic problems.
Lactic acidosis or commonly called grain overload is due to feeding too much high energy feedstuff (various grains and sugars) including concentrates, maize (corn), barley and mollasses, which could trigger excessive production of acids in the rumen that could cause rumen impaction and atony. The high concentration of nutrients/acids causes body fluid to be drawn into the rumen, consequently could cause severe dehydration. The onset of acidosis could happen as early as 8 to 12 hours after feeding and often lead to sudden death in the youngs. Hence, it would be crucial that goats should receive sufficient quantity of quality roughage (fodder, leaves and other vegetative stuff) in addition to the concentrates.
While on enterotoxemia, it is a disease associated with Clostridium perfringens, bacteria common in soils, which thrive on diets high in starch and sugars associated with grain overload. In pregnant goats the condition is also known as pregnancy toxaemia and often this could cause miscarriages.
I would also suggest that you look into the routine endo-parasite control programme. Worms and Coccidiosis also display diarrhoea and sometimes blood in faeces, which I have noted in the pens. A simple monitoring on the level of infestations could be done using brine floatation technique and with the aid of a microscope. These are sound investments for sustaining the herd health.
For better assurance of your feed quality, I would suggest that you seek help from your feed supplier and arrange for the necessary laboratory tests including test on mycotoxins, to allay whatever doubts you might have on the feed.
It is advisable that a balanced diet feeding programme be duly developed in order to ensure that goats are fed with adequate fibres in addition to reasonable content of proteins and high energy nutrients. Adequate water should also be provided to goats living in a feed-lot system since the water would help to bring down the excessive body heat generated during the happening of grain overload. A minimum amount of granulated salt may be added into the drinking water since the salt will assist in keeping water in the animal's body for much longer time and hence help to prevent dehydration.
Diarrhoea problems in goats will only be resolved if you are able to maintain a balance of diet and ensure a choice of feeds or concentrates which are totally free of contamination.
