MEETINGS of the Goat Veterinary
Society always bring an internal
smile. Arriving at Wincanton
Racecourse the gathering room was
well signed and there were various
“good mornings” and indications of
welcome before finding the coffee
and biscuits.
While adding the
milk (cows, not goat)
the conversation of
the two ladies beside
me started with, “Did
you find the two males
you were after?” It
promised to be an interesting day and
the content did not disappoint.
Membership is available to veterinary
surgeons and goat keepers and there is a
real intermixing of various experiences.
Dr Tony Andrews chaired the
papers and discussions and rattled
through the points of administration.
Information about the Society is
available at www.goatvetsoc.co.uk.
The management and feeding of
dry goats was highlighted by Tim Frost,
from Dorset, with 1,600 milking goats,
and Tom Chamberlain from the
Shedfield veterinary practice. The
Childhay goats are milked three times a
day through a rotary parlour.
Seventy days after introducing the
billies the goats are scanned and the
scan repeated at 100 days. Scan
negatives are moved to the next milking
group. Eight weeks before kidding,
milking is reduced to twice daily with a
ration change and a few days before
drying-off, at three weeks prior to
kidding, milking is once a day with no
concentrates and then every other day.
No drying-off antibiotic therapy is
administered because of the risk of
residues after kidding and the does are
dry for three to six weeks. The herd has
a 365-day kidding interval and a cull rate
of 22%, with plans to increase this to
30%. Most does kid at 18 months of
age and then do not kid again but are
milked on thereafter. The best does are
selected to kid again to provide herd
replacements.
Tom Chamberlain provided
comparisons between studies on cattle
and sheep because little information is
available about dry goat nutrition. The
goat has a good appetite in the early dry
period but this falls off with the energy
requirements of the foetus doubling
every three weeks. It is important to
maximise appetite and provide a good
ration in late pregnancy, while avoiding
the laying down of internal fat.
Milk yields vary from 600 litres to
1,500 litres per lactation and a ration
should be targeted at uniform milk yield groups. The high yielders tend to be
physically bigger goats, and thin, high-
yielding goats are more likely to have
triplets or quads.
Within the delegates, half were
drying goats off gradually and half
abruptly but it was discussed that with kidding over a four to
eight week period it is
difficult to offer a
good ration and
prepare the goat for
kidding. A number of
the milking herds are using milk recording
and there was discussion about whether the National Milk Records type of
analysis for cattle could be successfully
applied.
A future meeting will consider the
role for artificial insemination with goat
herds and management of extended
milking periods without breeding.
Catriona Ritchie from SAC
Aberdeen reviewed the tests and
elimination protocols for costly diseases.
The test and cull programme for CAE
(caprine arthritis encephalitis virus)
requires a series of blood tests for
animals over 12 months of age.
Antibodies are identified for about two
years before clinical signs with over 50%
of a flock being infected when clinicals
appear, so prevention of spread by
culling is a reality.
The long incubation period for the
virus and the persistence of the
infection allows the disease to develop
in joints (arthritis), lungs (pneumonia)
and the brain with noticeable weight
loss. If an eradication programme is not
practical, then kid snatching before
licked by the dam, culling goats in poor
condition and keeping the herd young
may prevent a major clinical problem.
Bacteria survive for months
Bacteria in pus from abscesses due to
CLA (Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis)
can survive in the environment for
months. A blood test is available but it
is not validated in goats. Because of the
thick abscess walls, antibiotics are
unable to penetrate to the site of
infection and there is no vaccine
available in the UK.
The vaccines used overseas reduce
the severity of the clinical signs but do
not eliminate the infection. Any animals
seen with abscesses should be culled.
Small group screening prior to sale
of rams and ewes is available with the
group remaining in isolation for twelve
weeks.
Accreditation for enzootic abortion
is available after a two-year testing
period. A positive indicates that infection may have occurred years
earlier but a negative blood test indicates
no infection. Detectable antibodies are
found following an abortion and long-
acting tetracyclines in late pregnancy
may prevent the abortion but are not
expected to eliminate the infection.
Abortion materials are a risk to
pregnant women and other animals.
No formal accreditation scheme
exists in goats for Johne’s Disease
(Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) and
it was discussed that a pilot study was
needed. Vaccinated animals show
positive with a blood test but it may be
possible to have an ELISA test that is
not affected by the vaccine.
Offspring become infected in utero
and from the dam’s faeces, colostrum
and milk and because of intermittent
shedding infected animals can show
negative when they are positive. The
comment was made that it is difficult to
grow strains of the organism obtained
from goats. Practical measures include
reducing the exposure of young goats
to dung and only spread dung on
pasture that is to be grazed by adults.
Patrick Burke (DEFRA) reported
that six UK goat herds
have had cases of
transmissible spongiform
encephalopathy since
2004 with one new herd
in 2009. Two herds were
culled in 2008 and one
had a 36% prevalence
for TSEs. The operation
of the fallen goat
scheme, with farmers
’phoning DEFRA to
investigate suspected scrapie cases, was
discussed and several delegates
commented on the difficulty of
operating the scheme.
Regarding BSE in goats, one UK
case is considered positive that was born
in 1987 and died in 1990 and one case is
subject to further investigation which is
expected to take a further two years. A
consultation on the new TSE
regulations for the EU ended on 2nd
December.
French proposals to limit the
importation of milk from herds infected
with scrapie are causing concern. Within
the EU there are 13.4 million goats on
8,700 holdings.
The production and marketing of
meat goats is a potential area of expansion for UK goat keepers. Kattie
Little is undertaking a Nuffield
Scholarship to investigate this emerging
industry in various countries and she
will be reporting back to the society
next year. It is said that goat meat is
“good for women”, low cholesterol, low
fat, high in protein and high in iron. A
transition from traditional to
commercial production with niche
marketing is anticipated.
Electronic identification
Hilary Stephens from Shearwell assessed
the pros and cons of the various means
of tagging for goats and the new
regulations coming. Electronic
identification will not be compulsory
but this approach is said to be more
accurate, faster and cheaper than plastic
tags.
The correct application of split tags,
button tags, flag tags and wrap-around
tags were discussed. Poor quality tagging
is said to be quite common. Goats born
after 31st December 2009 will require
double conventional tags.
Following the recent outbreaks of
E. coli 0157 on farms visited by children, David Harwood
highlighted the
increasing role of
veterinary surgeons
with visitors to farms.
Although not an animal
disease issue, the
infection is widespread
with from 10% to 29%
of animals believed to
be infected.
Detailed
information is available on the web from the Health Protection
Agency, Veterinary Laboratories Agency,
Food Standards Agency and the Health
& Safety Executive.
An experience with AI in cashmere
goats, with the aim of improving fibre
quality in one herd, gave a 25%
pregnancy rate. Lesley Prior indicated
that the detail of sponge use and
timing requires further investigation.
Also under development is a
biosecurity checklist for goat herds:
Kat Bazeley has interpreted
experiences and recom-mendations
from sheep and cattle.
Anyone with views on goat herd
biosecurity is invited to contact the
secretary (e-mail
nickclayton2@mac.com).
