VACCINATION  &  DEWORMING    AT  ONION   CREEK  RANCH  IN  TEXAS

Newborn  and   Young  Kids

At about 6 weeks of age,  kids born in the current year   and their dams are run through the working facilities.   Kids are given their  first CD/T  and  first  Presponse HM  pneumonia vaccine  and dewormed orally with the dewormer that I know from experience works on my ranch.   Dams' eye membranes are routinely checked for coloration (FAMACHA).  If  the dam's inner lower eye membrane isn't RED to BRIGHT RED, then she  and her  kids are putting into a holding pen and fecal counts using McMasters' green-gridded slides are used to determine eggs per gram that the dam  is carrying.   I don't much worry about worms in kids at this age, but if a kid looks poor, I will check it for worms.

If the eggs per gram count is 250 or more, then the dam   is dewormed orally with a dewormer which I believe works on my ranch and kept in a restricted area  for one week, at which time a  fecal count is done again.  If the dewormer didn't kill 95% of the wormload, then it by definition FAILED and a different class of dewormer must be  chosen and the process starts over again.   This is the ONLY way to know if your dewormer worked.

Second vaccines (boosters) are given at 10 to 12 weeks of age (30 days after the first vaccines were administered) and FAMACHA is used to determine if kids or dams  need additional dewormer.    If the eye membranes are not RED to BRIGHT RED, the fecal count process using McMasters slides is used once again.   Ear tagging takes place concurrent with these booster vaccinations, and weaning can begin to take place when  males are three months old.

Annual Vaccinations  &  Deworming

Sometime after Labor Day (the time frame fits my ranch schedule), annual vaccinations  of CD/T and Presponse HM pneumonia  and deworming begins.  Everyone gets the vaccinations.  Not everyone gets dewormed.  If they don't need deworming, they don't get dewormed.   Deworming when it isn't needed results in worm resistance to dewormers.

CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis) Vaccinations

Beginning in 2012, I began vaccinating my  herd with the very effective  CL vaccine for goats made by Texas Vet Lab in San Angelo, Texas.   My herd was one of three used to test the vaccine in the summer of 2011 for submission to the USDA for approval, so I am familiar with the vaccine.

I do NOT vaccinate kids born in the current year (under a year of age).    I wait until  they are a year old.  My article on CL on www.tennesseemeatgoats.com  explains in detail why I take this approach.  if you have CL in your herd, you can't follow this protocol; you have to vaccinate sooner.  But don't assume that an abscess is CL.  Most aren't.  Send the pus   to Bob Glass at Pan American Vet Lab in Blue, Texas for analysis.  Pus analysis is more accurate than blood  analysis.     Bob Glass can be reached at 512 964 3927.   I would never send pus or blood for testing to state labs or WADDL or UC-Davis.  I have heard from many goat raisers how WADDL and UC-Davis recommended they kill their goats if they tested positive for CL.  This  is absurd and unnecessary.     Bob Glass is  better,   less expensive, and willing to talk with you personally about your concerns.

Regardless of age, sex, or condition of the goat, I NEVER use the CL vaccination concurrent with any other vaccine.  I don't vaccinate pregnant or lactating does.  I don't want the goats stressed and this vaccine has some short-term  side effects that exist because of the unique nature of the CL bacterium. My article on CL and this vaccine explain in detail.

Usually around December of each year, I vaccinate  yearlings and older goats with the CL vaccine.  I wait until goats are a year of age before I give the 1 cc initial vaccine and the 1 cc booster  30 days later (not 14 days, as the label says).   Read my article on the CL vaccine in detail to understand why I do what I do.  I have covered my protocols with the vaccine manufacturer.

DRAWBACKS TO  FAMACHA:    FAMACHA is a great field test for H. Contortus (barberpole stomach worm) but do NOT rely on it.  FAMACHA only tells you what is actually happening in the goat right now.  It does not reflect additional worms that haven't reached the point in their life cycle where they begin sucking blood.  This means that the goat is in imminently worse shape worm-wise than FAMACHA indicates.    A FAMACHA field test score of  RED to BRIGHT RED is all I will accept. If coloration is lighter, fecal counts must be done.

FECAL COUNTS USING McMASTERS SLIDES  are the only way to know if your dewormer worked.   Count the eggs per gram.   About 250 eggs per gram in many cases means deworming is needed, but some goats are debilitated by  a lower fecal count.   Choose a dewormer (not a "white colored" dewormer), give orally, do fecals again in seven days.  If the KILL did not reach 95%, the dewormer did not work. You get to  start over with another class of dewormer.  This is the ONLY way to know if the dewormer worked.

WHITE-COLORED DEWORMERS:   Safeguard/Panacur and Valbazen do NOT kill stomach worms in most of the USA.  I never use them for stomach worms.

COCCIDIOSIS  is a protozoan which does not respond to dewormers.  I don't include Cocci for that reason.  I have a separate article on Coccidiosis on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, ONION CREEK RANCH, Texas     7.1.2020

The author, Suzanne Gasparotto, hereby grants to local goat publications and club newsletters, permission to reprint articles published on the Onion Creek Ranch website under these conditions: THE ARTICLE MUST BE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND THE AUTHOR'S NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REPRINT. We would appreciate notification from any clubs or publications when the articles are used. (A copy of the newsletter or publication would also be a welcome addition to our growing library of goat related information!)