I just bought a Nigerian Dwarf buck from a local goat dairy to breed to my girls, and the owner informed me that he had soremouth.
He is mostly over the infection already, their are no blisters or sores, just the scabs, and it is a pretty mild case.
According to the breeder, soremouth isn't all that serious and is so common that the likelihood of running into it eventually is almost a certainty. He even recommended letting the buck in with my does so they would go ahead and get the disease and then be done with it.
Of course, I haven't actually done that, as I wanted more than one opinion on the matter. For now, Elvis (the buck) is locked up in a separate little pen away from the others.
From the research I've found so far, this disease is very common, and it does not seem to have THAT terrible of an effect unless it is caught by babies and affects their ability to nurse. The main thing I worry about is contaminating my goat pens with the scabs so that I get outbreaks in the future.
My plan thus far is to keep him penned until the disease clears up, then bathe him thoroughly to make sure there are no scabs lurking in his coat before letting him in with my girls. As for the pen, I am going to soak everything he comes in contact with in full-strength bleach, including the ground underneath.
I am aware that this is contagious to humans, so we are keeping all handling to a minimum and will be wearing gloves and washing up thoroughly if we do handle him at all. We are also taking care not to come in contact with the area he is in before handling or feeding our other goats so we don't carry the disease to them.
Does this all sound okay, or am I just crazy to think I can keep this from spreading to my girls? Was the seller right about it being better to just let them catch it so they are immune to future outbreaks? What about vaccination, would it be worthwhile?
Other than the disease, he is a great little buck, he comes from good milking lines, and I got to see both his mom and his sister's udders which had great attachments and the teats were a good size for hand milking. He is also smaller than my girls, whichare at the outside limit of the size limit for ND's, and he has decent confirmation, so I would be improving on what I have now. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he is a gorgeous color, has blue eyes, has been de-horned, and is a total lovebug. He even leads!
I know, I know all of YOUR goats probably lead just fine, but it is exciting for me because my 3 girls had never seen a collar or lead before and leading them anywhere is more a matter of DRAGGING them. We are still working on the leading part for them!
He is mostly over the infection already, their are no blisters or sores, just the scabs, and it is a pretty mild case.
According to the breeder, soremouth isn't all that serious and is so common that the likelihood of running into it eventually is almost a certainty. He even recommended letting the buck in with my does so they would go ahead and get the disease and then be done with it.
Of course, I haven't actually done that, as I wanted more than one opinion on the matter. For now, Elvis (the buck) is locked up in a separate little pen away from the others.
From the research I've found so far, this disease is very common, and it does not seem to have THAT terrible of an effect unless it is caught by babies and affects their ability to nurse. The main thing I worry about is contaminating my goat pens with the scabs so that I get outbreaks in the future.
My plan thus far is to keep him penned until the disease clears up, then bathe him thoroughly to make sure there are no scabs lurking in his coat before letting him in with my girls. As for the pen, I am going to soak everything he comes in contact with in full-strength bleach, including the ground underneath.
I am aware that this is contagious to humans, so we are keeping all handling to a minimum and will be wearing gloves and washing up thoroughly if we do handle him at all. We are also taking care not to come in contact with the area he is in before handling or feeding our other goats so we don't carry the disease to them.
Does this all sound okay, or am I just crazy to think I can keep this from spreading to my girls? Was the seller right about it being better to just let them catch it so they are immune to future outbreaks? What about vaccination, would it be worthwhile?
Other than the disease, he is a great little buck, he comes from good milking lines, and I got to see both his mom and his sister's udders which had great attachments and the teats were a good size for hand milking. He is also smaller than my girls, whichare at the outside limit of the size limit for ND's, and he has decent confirmation, so I would be improving on what I have now. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he is a gorgeous color, has blue eyes, has been de-horned, and is a total lovebug. He even leads!
I know, I know all of YOUR goats probably lead just fine, but it is exciting for me because my 3 girls had never seen a collar or lead before and leading them anywhere is more a matter of DRAGGING them. We are still working on the leading part for them!
