Goat bloat: A guide for your smallholding (From Smallholder)

Goat bloat: A guide for your smallholding

10:01am Thursday 15th July 2010 in

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Grass bloat can be a perennial problem in goats, especially those who are partly or wholly housed during the winter months.

This spring has been late one and will predictably arrive in a rush as temperatures rise in May and June. Winter has been long, wet and cold and this was not conducive to steady grass growth. With the sudden rise in temperature, grass will go into overdrive and the sugars contained within it will be high very quickly. This also applies to “browsings” - the goat’s favourite forage-that’s the stuff that most other grazing animals do not eat and includes young leaves and twigs, reeds and perennial weeds.

So what causes bloat?

Bloat is caused by eating food which produces a lot of gas over a short space of time, like high sugar grasses. Sometimes the goat will get a profusion of small bubbles in its rumen instead of large ones which it will not be able to belch up (my small son used to call this a “cud burp” a perfect description), How can I tell?

The goat will have “bloated” flanks and look very fat indeed, the left flank being more distended than the right. It will be very uncomfortable and show this by grinding the teeth, perhaps getting up and down and finally becoming recumbent. The breathing maybe short as lung expansion is reduced by the increasing gas bubbles inside the abdomen.

What to do?

Bring in and stop the goat from eating further. Assess the severity and if the goat is clearly bloated but not too uncomfortable, then a drench of 25 ml of vegetable oil could do the trick. The oil pops the bubbles and then allows the goat to belch again. Having tried this, wait to see if relief is reached. If things are not improving or getting worse now is the time to call the vet.

Your vet will be able to use a trocar to get into the rumen through the flank and then insert a canula which is a tube which will let the gas out. An experienced herdsperson may be able to help but a vet is your best option Aftercare Whatever treatment has resolved the problem, the goat’s rumen will need re-balancing in order for “rumination” to continue without further problems. Feeding the goat live yoghurt(one 4/6oz tub twice a day for two days) and re-introduction of basic foodstuffs and in particular young branches. Apple twigs are good for this but not plum or any other prunus varieties.

Over a period of 3 or 4 days the goat will resume normal digestion and careful timely turning out can commence again.

Dietary ways to avoid bloat With luck, through the winter months you have been able to feed your goat the best hay possible.

If this is not the case, then 2 weeks before you expect to expose your goat to high protein grazing, elevate the fibre protein levels in the diet by feeding part horse haylage and part your standard hay.

Over those two weeks, bit by bit, reduce the hay ration and increase the haylage ration. Your goat will still get the same amount of forage but the protein level will increase. Feed by weight at around 2/3kgs per goat per day or 3/4 kgs per goat per day if no concentrates are fed.

Do not under any circumstances increase the concentrate ration or Alphalfa ration as that will definitely make your goat ill and may cause a different type of bloat.

It is well worth buying some really good haylage such as horsehage or Devon haylage for this. The bales weigh around 18kgs each.

It might cost £5 per goat to do this over the two weeks, but the benefits outweigh the costs, especially if you end up having to call the vet. Remember that haylage needs to be used within three days once opened so share it with other stock if necessary.

If your goat has kids at foot who are under six weeks old, she will need around 1-1.5 kgs per day of proprietory goat mix until the kids are about 12 weeks old and as much haylage as she wants.

If she is a milking goat with no kids at foot, then one kg per day of concentrates should be plenty plus the forage ration. If you can pick some grass and new twigs with leaves to add to her diet through this transition time, so much the better.

On this regime, it should be plain sailing to turn her out for several hours a day without problem. If she is in kid, then be careful not to turn out for more than a couple of hours at a time and maintain her current forage and concentrate ration.

She will leave food if she is getting enough outside and you can react accordingly to her portions, taking particular care just before and just after kidding as explained in the February article.

The amounts above relate to a standard sized dairy goat (Saanen type) If you have Angoras, Pygmies or Boers you will know that these amounts are variable for the different breeds