This post is about being real and honest. It pains me to share, but for the sake of education I must.
The past few weeks have been a battle on our homestead. Miracle got mastitis as soon as she freshened. It took three doses of Nuflor, an antibiotic shot that stings horribly, to get her healthy. I'm still not completely satisfied with the condition of her udder. She is no longer showing clinical symptoms of mastitis, however, and I am comfortable pursuing natural means to get her back to top-notch health. While the vet was examining Miracle I told him I was not happy with her body condition, despite the fact that I have done everything I know to do to make her healthy. He ran a blood test and discovered that she was infected with a blood borne protozoa (transmitted by lice) that attacks the red blood cells. If she had it, the entire herd did as well. This meant an antibiotic (CTC-10) added to their feed for 30 days and a pour on treatment called BOSS. There would be no milk for human consumption for 30 days. He also did a fecal exam and said she had a high worm load. I had just dewormed the entire herd with Ivomec only two weeks prior. This meant I had to give every animal in the herd daily Panacur dewormer for five days straight, and repeat in ten days.
A few days after Miracle's diagnosis, Twilight's twins started to scour. I had put the bottle babies back with their mommas when I got Miracle's diagnosis so they could be treated with the rest of the herd, and I thought the scouring was from too much milk. I began giving a blend of Sour-Halt and Pepto Bismol, but the scouring didn't improve and the babies were acting like they were in pain. I called my
goat mentor and she came down to check them out. She was armed with Neomycin, Banamine, and Kaospect. I already had Di Methox on hand for prevention of coccidiosis. She said that we needed to get them started on all of these medicines and be very careful to keep them hydrated as well. I gave them all their medicines religiously for a total 10 days. I was able to stop the Banamine after four days, and the Kaospect after about six. It was so stressful! Diarrhea is a very serious illness in young kids, and our triple digit weather was not helping their chances of beating this. I set up a fan outside the fence for them to stay in front of, which they took advantage of.
I can finally say that all my animals lived and are off all meds except the CTC-10 that goes in their feed. We have another week to go on that one.
*WHEW* Talk about a wake-up call!
I have always managed my herd using herbs, vitamins, and minerals with only rare detours into pharmaceuticals. The past 10 months have been particularly difficult, though, and I couldn't seem to get my act together. I kept forgetting to give the herd their herbal dewormer every Saturday. That herbal dewormer has many health benefits besides just deworming. The herbs have nutritional value and help build up their bodies in the same way good nutrition helps us humans. After missing several doses of herbal dewormer I decided that I was going to have to bite the bullet and go synthetic to get me through this season in my life. I started giving my herd Ivomec dewormer. However, it didn't occur to me that I needed to start them out with a more rigorous deworming schedule and then switch to maintenance. I think this is what went wrong with the worms.
I have also always kept an immaculate goat pen. Our goats have a lean-to that is about 20'x50' with a concrete floor and full access to lush pasture. (I know goats aren't supposed to be housed on concrete, it was here when we bought the place.) I had heard so much about the benefits of deep litter method for the winter months that I decided to try it. Bad, bad, BAD decision! This was the mildest winter of my life! The deep litter bedding was okay for quite some time. But when the insect population indicated to me that it was time for the bedding to GO, it was all at once! I had to clean out that entire lean-to one wheelbarrow full at a time. It took me two days. Wayne was appalled that I pushed myself that hard to empty it, but I knew my animal's health was on the line. I fear it was too little too late. Now I keep the lean-to swept out with a push broom. I will never try the deep litter method again. Ever.
All these factors combined to create conditions favorable to the deterioration of my animal's health. I have been sufficiently slapped in the face and am (precariously) on the ball with maintaining their health needs now. For the past three weeks chores have been taking me two hours, twice a day. It is exhausting. If I had simply done a better job of keeping my animals healthy in the first place, none of it would have happened. Now I am having to play catch-up: get them healthy, get their bodies back up to their healthiest, and get back on natural preventive health care. I intend to continue using synthetic dewormer and whatever else is necessary to keep my animals healthy until I have proven to myself that I can keep up with the natural methods. I will overlap the two during that proving time, and then transition off synthetics.
