February 2024 Issue |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
• Subscribe to Meat Goat Mania • Email Us • Onion Creek Ranch • Bending Tree Ranch • OCR Health & Management Articles • MGM Archive |
||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PERIPARTURIENT EDEMA IN A HEAVILY-PREGNANT DOE Usually occurring during the last six weeks of a doe's pregnancy, periparturient edema is a very uncomfortable swelling and irritation caused by fluid accumulation within the tissues underneath the skin. The first indication is usually the doe's walking as if her feet hurt, followed by a gradual swelling in the lower part of her front legs and progressing to the lower half of her rear legs. Initial symptoms are so generalized that you can can mistakenly diagnose laminitis/founder. Unlike ketosis or other pregnancy-related diseases, periparturient edema does not cause the doe to go off-feed. She will be listless, preferring to sit rather than stand because walking is painful, but she will continue to eat. Moaning, groaning, and grinding of teeth are common symptoms. Periparturient edema usually appears in a doe that is carrying multiple large fetuses. She may have kidded before without similar problems and she may never have it again in future pregnancies. The fetuses are taking more out of her body than she can replace, putting her in a nutritional deficit condition. Edema is accompanied by increased blood pressure, decreases in blood proteins, and blockages in the body's lymph system (one of the body's main filtration mechanisms), resulting in fluid accumulation in the legs. First step in diagnosis is to do fecals to check for worms because a heavy wormload can bring on periparturient edema. Even if she has been recently dewormed, deworm the doe again. Do not use Valbazen or Safeguard/Panacur dewormers unless you have done fecal egg counts using McMasters slides and have proven that these dewormers are effective against barberpole worms in your herd. The white-colored dewormers don't kill barberpole stomach worms (Haemoncus contortus) in most of the USA any longer. Supportive care is about all you can do to help a doe with periparturient edema. Keep her as comfortable as possible, but make her get up and walk short distances several times a day, and provide her with proper nutrition. No special supplement or diet is required. Definitely do not dramatically change her diet. When kidding (parturition) occurs, you must be available and ready to help the doe stand to feed her kids during their first 48 hours of life. After that timeframe, the swelling should begin to go away and standing won't be difficult for her. Milk production should not be affected by this condition. Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas 2/1/24 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||
KIDDING INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE AT ONION CREEK RANCH IN TEXAS Kidding cannot be taught in a classroom. It must be learned by doing it. On-the-job training. There are too many little things that can happen that classroom instruction cannot cover. In addition to offering GoatCamp(tm) every October, Onion Creek Ranch offers Kidding Internships during kidding season. Persons who qualify will live on site at Onion Creek Ranch in excellent facilities and assist with kidding for 7-day internships. No tuition is involved but you must provide your own transportation and food during your stay. Shorter internships are not available; you need to be on site for 7 days, interacting with the pregnant and nursing does day and night, to experience the depth and breadth of kidding and its variations. Does don't kid on command. They kid in groups and shorter internships will result in missing kidding entirely. I try to pair an experienced person with a novice, providing 2 people for every 7 day cycle. Contact Suzanne Gasparotto at onioncrk@centex.net for additional details. Provide your name and phone # and I will call you to discuss in detail. You will have to sign a liability waiver, not have any physical or mental issues, and NOT bring alcohol or illegal drugs onto this working ranch. Kidding for spring 2024 should begin around March 6, 2024 and runs until approximately April 19, 2024, at which time all bred does should have kidded. |
||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
