by Patricia Stewart

Created on: March 22, 2009

Picking a healthy goat is very important whenever you are bringing a new goat home. There are some nasty diseases with no cures, and once they get established in your soil, there's nothing you can do but start over on a new piece of land. Start out by just observing behavior and general coat condition. A healthy goat should have clear eyes and nose, a shiny hair coat with no bald patches, and a twinkle in its eye. Bald patches may be a sign of a mite or lice infection, causing the goat to rub due to irritation.

If you are buying from a breeder, ask them if they test for CAE, Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis. This disease has been an issue for a long time in goats, and thankfully, conscientious goat farmers are finally taking it seriously. There are three blood tests, any of which will give you a heads up if there's a problem. Any possibly "positive," should be automatically checked with one of the other tests to verify. CAE shows up after awhile with stiff and swollen legs, awkward walking, sometimes a click from the knees of an infected goat. The udder is often hard and the animal's coat may be oily or scaly. If you are buying from a large farm, ask if they practice CAE prevention, which means the kids are bottle fed, never nursing off of mom. CAE is most commonly spread in the milk, but often doesn't show up as an illness for many months or years.

If you see any signs of swelling beneath the jaw or any oozing sores, do not buy that goat. Do not buy a goat from that farm, and wash your hands immediately. Caseous lymphadentitis, CL, is a highly contagious disease spread by discharge. The abcesses swell up in the lymph glands and as they pop, they spread the disease.

Always ask the seller what type of vaccinations they give. When was the last time the goat was wormed, and what kind of wormer was used. A healthy goat should not have visible ribs or backbone. It should have healthy pink eyelids and gums and manure that comes in pellets, individually. A goat that is passing runny or clumpy manure is not at its best. It may just be a rich diet or stress, or it may have a severe case of worms.

Keeping a goat healthy is really pretty easy. Good hay, adequate grain, fresh water and draft free home. But curing a sick goat is often impossible. I would not recommend ever buying from a sale barn, as those animals are exposed to many different germs under high stress conditions. This makes the more susceptible to bringing a problem home with them. Often times, the animals are taken to the sale barn because they are sick, or old, and the owner can't, or doesn't want to invest in healing them.

It's a good idea to keep any new goat in isolation from the existing herd, for at least two weeks. Usually, if something is "brewing" that is enough time to see how the animal does, without endangering the rest of the herd. But remember, goats are herd animals, so if possible, buy two new ones, at least, so they can keep each other company during the quarantine. They'll be much hardier and happier that way.

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