Goat Animal Health

It is difficult to find many needed products with a goat label.  Many things with sheep labels are used for goats.  The advice of you veterinarian is recommended when going off label.  This animal health section includes only items that are actually labeled for goats.  Please see the Sheep Animal Health page for information on products that carry the sheep label that you may need.  That page can be found here:  Sheep Animal Health

Typical vaccination programs include the goat labeled vaccination for overeating disease (enterotoxemia) and tetanus.  The vaccine is labeled for clostridium perfringens type C and D and tetanus toxoid.  It should be given to bucks annually, does annually 4-6 weeks before kidding, does can be revaccinated 6 weeks later if desired.  Kids should be vaccinated at 8 weeks and again at 12 weeks.  If doe was not vaccinated before kidding, kids should be vaccinated at 2 weeks and boosted at 6 weeks.  Many programs include the cattle/sheep colostridial vaccine, such as ultrabac 7 or covexin 8, among others.  Although not as common in goats, the major target of this vaccine is blackleg and malignant edema.  Most versions of this vaccine need to be boosted 4-6 weeks later, then annually.  It is preferred that does be vaccinated 2-6 weeks before kidding to pass immunity on to the kids.  Kids should be vaccinated at 10 to 12 weeks, and then again 4 to 6 weeks later.  If does were not vaccinated before kidding, kids should be vaccinated at 4 weeks and then again at 8-10 weeks.  For sever wounds, castration, and disbudding, it is recommended that animals be vaccinated against tetanus. 

We hope to expand the information on our site to include some of the more common problems associated with goats.  That information can be found here: Internal Parasites

Many of the external pararsites are the same as cattle.  Again many products do not have goats on the label.  Cattle content can be found here: Fly & Insect Control

A herd health calander is a great start and this one if from the Virginia Cooperative Extension:  pubs.ext.vt.edu/412/412-501/412-501.html