I, Farm Boy! Common Farm Problem: Stopping Goat Diarrhea!

One of the most common problems faced by local farmers is diarrhea especially among free-ranged native goats.

While healthy goats have dark pelletized poops, those with diarrhea would excrete wet and greenish wastes.

Dehydrated, goats with Diarrhea would become emaciated, weaken and die.

There are three common causes of Diarrhea in goats, one of which affects only kids or young goats.

1. Tethering goats in the grazing area early in the morning when the grass is still wet or feeding them with freshly cut forage with a lot of moisture causes Diarrhea;

2. The presence of intestinal worms and failing to regularly deworm them could also cause Diarrhea;

3. For young kids, overfeeding them with milk and Coccidiosis could cause Diarrhea.

To address cause No. 1, do not bring your goats to the grazing area when the grass is still wet. Also, do not serve them freshly-cut forage. Wait for at least a day after cutting before feeding them the forage.

For problem No. 2, regularly deworm your goats with Oral Dewormers easily available in agrivet supply stores. You could also try Crushed Young Betel Nut meat mixed with water and pumped orally into the goats guts.

For Diarrhea in kids, I found this remedy from a goat raising website:

“The most common cause of diarrhea in goat kids more than 3 weeks old is coccidiosis. It is treated with over-the-counter oral meds. Amprolium (Corid) or sulfa drugs, such as sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine (Albon) are most commonly used once a day for five days. If you start treatment for coccidiosis, and you don’t see any improvement within a couple of days, you need to get a fecal to get a definitive diagnosis,” according to The Homesteader page.

These recommendations are based on actual farm experience and may not be very accurate.

So, the best option is still to get a fecal sample and bring this to the laboratory for clinical analysis.

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