Wet season is the time of the year when most rainfall occurs. Wet season also called green season since the vegetation grows, leading to crop yields and higher stock of food. Beside bringing some fests, wet season can also bring you some problems, including the problems for your goat. During wet season, your goat can be exposed with a lot of dangerous diseases. The highest occurrence of goat’s infectious disease happens during wet season. That’s why you have to take care and give more attention to your goats during wet season. Here are some tips to take care of goats in wet season.
- Provide Healthy Shelter
To protect your goat for rain and wind during wet season, you need to give your goat a shelter. You need at least 3 sided shelter to make sure there is enough protection for your goat. Make sure that your goat’s shelter is always dry during the wet season. Your goats will spend most of their time inside the shelter, since they can easily become sick if they are under the rain. During wet season, there will be many rainfall and higher possibility of water leak into the shelter. Pay attention and act quickly if it happens. Dry shelter can avoid bacterial infection like Hoof Rot. Hoof Rot is a disease that causes wounds in goat’s hooves. Make sure that you keep your goat’s hooves dry and away from water to prevent Hoof Rot. You also need to make sure that the shelter is clean.
If the water leaks inside the shelter and the shelter is not clean enough, especially if your shelter doesn’t have good ventilation, it can lead to production of harmful chemicals such as ammonia that can affect your goat’s eyes and cause irritation in the body. Another disease that can also occur as a result of water leaking into dirty shelter is Coccidiosis. Coccidiosis can cause diarrhea and anemia, even sudden death in young goat. Make sure that the shelter’s ground is dry to prevent your goats for slide and breaking their limbs. You also need to make sure that there is no thing stuck in your goat’s hooves, since it can make them difficult to move.
- Maintain Your Goat’s Health
During wet season, there is an increase of moisture that can increase the production of bacteria and parasites. The increase production of bacteria and parasites make your goats more vulnerable to the infections. Internal parasites, especially roundworms and coccidian are the most damaging problems for goats. The most common infection in goat is worms. Worm infection may not be detected since it may not show any symptoms until the optimum condition occur. That’s why you need to deworm your goat regularly. During wet season, deworming need to be done at the beginning of the wet season and throughout the season, since the worm can easily multiply during this season. Your goat may also need fecal test before and during the wet season. Avoid grazing the goat near the water pond, canals, or rivers where there is higher chance of worm and parasite infection.
There are also more tick and flies during wet season. The tick and flies can spread diseases, even the fatal disease that can lead to death. Make sure that you spray your goat regularly and keep its environment healthy.
The disease of the udder also become more prevalent during wet season. This disease called udder mastitis, makes the udder swells and your goat will stop producing milk. It can be treated using general antibiotics. Also make sure that you disinfect and keep your goat’s shelter clean most of the time.
Watch out for symptoms such as loss of appetite, listlessness, bleating more than usual. It can be the sign that your goat is in distress.
You may need to do some preventive vaccination before the start of the wet season. Vaccination can help to prevent some diseases, such as Hemorrhagic septicemia, Enterotoxaemia, Black quarter, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), and Peste Des Petits Ruminants (PPR). Hemorrhagic septicemia causes high fever and intestinal inflammation that can cause death in goat. The disease occurrence increase during wet and rainy season. Enterotoxaemia is common symptoms in young goat that cause mucous diarrhea and lead to sudden death. To prevent your goat for enterotoxaemia, avoid feeding young grass and do vaccination before wet season starts. Consult with your veterinarian to know what the best health care you need to give your goat.
- Provide Enough Food
Many young grass will start sprouts up during wet season that your goat may nibble of it, but it still doesn’t have enough fiber and contain a lot of water. Your goat still need more fiber to digest, that’s why you still need to provide your goat with enough fiber contained food. High quantity of moisture in food can also cause bloating and other digestive problem to your goat. Here are some tips to take care of goats in wet season. Make sure that you store your goat’s food in moisture free place to avoid contamination, especially to aflatoxins. You can also cut some of the young grass and dry it up for about 6-8 hours. It will reduce the water in the grass and turn it into feed for your goat.
Provide mineral bricks for licking to kids, as kids may eat contaminated soils and caught diarrhea. Don’t give your goat moldy foods. The moldy foods carry bacteria and gradually cause cancer. You can get your goat a feeder to make sure of the food’s cleanness. Food that is placed on the ground have higher possibility to be contaminated. Make sure that you give large and enough feeder for all of your goats since they will gather together around the feeder and can injured each other. Don’t forget to provide enough water. Your goat still need water to digest the food, even though it may not feel thirsty during wet season. Make sure that you give your goat clean water.