Webinar puts spotlight on goat health
25 August 2020
A recent goat industry webinar hosted by MLA Senior Project Officer Emily Litzow (watch above) featured several key speakers and focused on the importance of goat health.
Protecting goat herds
The guide presented in the webinar, A farmer’s guide to good goat health, included approaches to the protection of goat herds, touching on biosecurity measures that can be taken on-farm such as considering the potential harm feed, water, animals and chemicals can impose on stock.
Vaccination methods were outlined, giving producers guidance on:
- what they should be vaccinating for
- when they should be vaccinating
- tips around administration
- dosage and reading labels.
Managing parasites
Worms can be of significant threat to goats, particularly Barbers Pole and scour/intestinal worms. The guide provides examples of clinical signs that producers can be aware of and approaches to monitoring and treatment.
Healthy goats
Guidance was given around what producers should be looking for in order to recognise a healthy versus unhealthy goat. A number of observations can be made that can help producers determine whether or not an animal is showing abnormal signs and should be monitored for health issues.
These abnormal signs could be a result of the contraction of exotic or notifiable diseases.
The guide presents a list of clinical signs to be aware of in livestock so any threat of disease can be dealt with quickly and effectively, for both the benefit of the animal and the farm’s standard of biosecurity.
