When we first started our (then) small operation, we were only interested in having two female does and leasing/renting a male buck for his services. We purchased two doelings from a woman that really had too many goats and no sense of patience. She claimed that our queen of our herd was being bullied. We loved "Queenie" the moment we saw her and were glad to take her that day. We also took her mate that had a full set of horns to go with. Off we went, in the back of a small pick-up truck and the long drive home.
When we got home to our new residence, the doelings didn't know what to do. They were kept in a small area; now they have a huge pasture to roam! While they took off to get themselves acquainted, we took to get their sleeping arrangements established. The previous owners of our house had horses and had a horse stable in the pasture. This was perfect as we converted it into a goat barn. Lots of hay was placed on the floor. A new water trough was filled to the brim. Grain was in the feeders. These girls thought that they were in heaven!
Over the next few months, we added things to their "area" so that they had plenty to play with. The two became extremely inseparable. We started doing our research on mating season. Well, instead of leasing a buck, we purchased one. He, too, had his own Taj Mahal of goat shelters but we realized he seemed a bit lonely - time to buy another goat! As you can see, it gets to be very easy to get sucked into the goat lifestyle!
Time went on and we now had a herd of four goats. Life was great. Time to see if one of the now bucks could interest one of our now does. Sure enough - we had pregnancy's on the calendars. I can go into the details of goat sexuality and mating in another blog. The purpose of this one is to talk about goat stones.
During all of this, we noticed our second buck wasn't peeing as often as we thought he should. This little guy was the apple of our eye - he was 100% blond (technical color in goat herding) but really looked white. He had the personality of 100 goats and was super wonderful to be around so seeing him potentially not feeling well upset us both. We decided to start monitoring him.
Over the next two days, we saw him struggle to pee. He started arching his back, straightening his tail, crying while trying to urinate. We panicked and called the local vet. He turned us over to a university in OK that has several trained staff members for goats suffering from urinary calculi.
Anyone raising goats should be aware that goat stones is a horrible and life threatening problem; usually more prevalent to male goats than female.
What are Urinary Calculi?
Urinary Calculi is the formation of crystals or stones in the urinary tract which block the elimination of urine from the body. (These are commonly referred to as Kidney Stones in humans.) Most often these crystals are formed due to a metabolic imbalance in the body caused by feeding too much grain to bucks and wethers. This is most commonly found in show wethers, or bucks being given large amounts of a high-concentrate feed along with low amounts of roughage or hay.
There are several different types of crystals or stones but the one most prevalent with home based breeders
is struvite crystals. Struvite crystals are formed when the calcium phosphorus ratio is off in toff in the diet, and feeding low amount s of hay. In winter months, if water isn't kept warm for goats, they don't drink as much and this can compound the problem and create the presence of more stones.
is struvite crystals. Struvite crystals are formed when the calcium phosphorus ratio is off in toff in the diet, and feeding low amount s of hay. In winter months, if water isn't kept warm for goats, they don't drink as much and this can compound the problem and create the presence of more stones.
For us, our little guy was genetically pre-dispositioned to suffering from the stones and the breeder we purchased him from never informed us. We spent thousands and thousands of dollars and 5 surgeries to help him. Each surgery meant temporary relief. We changed his diet per the directions; we made sure he had ample water; he always had a clean shelter. Nothing seemed to work. We ended up losing him and the battle last year. The sad realty of the loss was he pulled through a new surgery; the doctor just gave him too much medicine to "Come to" and that killed him.
As it is, we experience the same situation earlier this week. One of our bucklings (not quite a year old but the proud daddy of our new babies) started exhibiting the classic signs.
- Little to no urine coming out
- Vocalization when trying to urinate
- Swelling of the penis area
- Extended time stretching out when urinating
- Extreme yellowing around the penis sheath
- Severe pain when palpating
- Teeth grinding or gritting
No time was wasted. We knew what had to be done and off we went to the vet. The procedure went extremely well. As soon as the veriform was released/surgically removed, the stones expelled themselves. There are several other treatments available and we have experienced them all. Nothing is 100% and each situation is different. It really depends on you and your financial and emotional situation.
Most veterinarians will inform you immediately that they have limited success with treatment of Urinary Calculi. As soon as you recognize that the goat is in distress, contact your vet immediately. This condition is VERY painful and the goat could die soon from a bladder or urinary tract perforation/or rupture. Most common places for the urinary calculi to deposit are in the sigmoid flexure which is in the body cavity not as previously thought in the penis shaft.
The veterinarian, depending on experience with goats, may try to reroute the urine flow from the penis. I have heard of this being done several ways, but be cautioned this is not to be taken lightly and most have to have constant treatment even after the surgery. Some veterinarians have re-routed the boy to basically become a girl, urinating out the back end: proximal PSU. Others have put in a stint that the goat will urinate out of. The stint has to be monitored daily and cleaned regularly. Most veterinarians forward these surgeries onto a University clinic and the surgeries are very costly. You can find some information here:
http://kinne.net/urincalc.htm and
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/urinarycalculi/preventingurinarycalculi.pdf
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/urinarycalculi/preventingurinarycalculi.pdf
We have been successful in the sense that our buckling is back to urinating normally. We have eliminated grain from the male diet completely and have upped our regimental practices of giving ammonium chloride to daily doses rather than twice a week. This is all under veterinary advisement.
Ammonium Chloride is a common ingredient in meat goat feeds because of the high incidence of Urinary Calculi seen in market animals. We purchase ours from Valley Vet as it is much more affordable and available in higher quantities. We don't recommend giving it to any of your herd without talking to your vet first. It can be harmful to lactating or pregnant does.
All of our goats get pasture time and get the best hay possible. Each goat area has its own stock tank full of clean water that gets changed several times a week. In the winter months, the water is heated.
Goats love to have a fresh bucket of hot-warm water on a blustery morning. This will also encourage bucks and wethers to drink more water. Make sure buckets are kept clean, I mean clean enough for you to drink out of clean.
Goats love to have a fresh bucket of hot-warm water on a blustery morning. This will also encourage bucks and wethers to drink more water. Make sure buckets are kept clean, I mean clean enough for you to drink out of clean.
There is no cure for goat stones just preventative maintenance. We are hopeful that our little guy won't experience any more issue but we are knowledgeable enough to know that this might now be the case. In the meantime, he is happy and so are we so we are only remaining positive!
