Today, In Part 2, we are going to look at the answer to the question, “Which Animals Does The Bible Say Are Clean and Unclean For Food?” And “Do the dietary laws still apply to us today, or are they done away with?” *Clean animal list to come!*
Click here for part one: Clean/Unclean for Food Animals Pt. 1
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Parasites are a very common problem in goats. Overloads of them can cause lots of issues, including diarrhea, lethargy, anemia, and even death.
The most important mineral in keeping worms/parasites at bay is Copper. Keeping their Copper levels correct is VERY important.
Check often under their eyelids, and what you want to see is a dark red/hot pink color. See the ‘anemia’ guide below, for an example.
The darker the coloring under the eyelids (you can also check the insides of their lips), the better their Copper level is. They are also less likely to have an overload of worms. (This is not the same thing you look at to see if they have coccidia; they can have coccidia and not be anemic).
If your goat is not pooping ‘pebbles’, this is another signs their copper levels/worm load is out of balance.
You need to have the minerals free choice, especially, (in this instance) Copper sulfate. This way they can take what they need to prevent issues. Some give Copper Bolus’; we have not found them to be effective enough.
What can I do if my goat is having an issue now?
If they are looking pale under their eyelids, and are lethargic, their Copper levels are low. It is likely the worms have overloaded their system, and are taking a lot of blood. Begin with isolating the affected goat.
You want to get to work with them as soon as possible. Worms can be life threatening; we lost a goat kid to worms a few years ago. We did not realize what was going on yet at the time.
We always offer molasses; if they are really bad off, they may not want to eat it, but they need it to help with their iron levels. In this case, we give B Vitamin shots to stimulate the appetite.
We mix molasses, along with kelp in the grain ration on a regular basis, as well.
As a natural ‘drench’ we give:
2 1/4 tsp. Vitamin C
2 1/4 tsp. of dolomite (calcium/magnesium)
1/4 tsp. of copper sulfate
1/4 tsp cinnamon
We split this half in the morning and half in the evening, and put it into an empty, dry mouth. We also do this when/if eyelids start looking pale.
Usually, this alone clears it up, unless the animals have not been receiving Copper regularly. Keep records of when and which goats need repeated doses, and how often you have any worm issues. As your goats mineral levels get higher, you should see the instances decrease.
Keep Kelp free choice; it has lots of minerals to help balance their systems.
In the South/Southwest, Barber Pole worms can kill in hours. They are nothing to play around with. If you give the above drench, and it does not work quickly, we give a chemical drench right away; they are a very quick killer. This is usually the only worm that we have had to give a chemical drench for, once we learned about, and started giving, the minerals.
Commercial chemical de-wormers drive down the Copper that is in the animals system. So, if you give one, be sure to replace what they have lost, and have the Copper sulfate free choice for them to get what they need.
Keeping mineral levels up, and checking eyelids, is the best prevention.
Causes of Mastitis:
Stress
Injury
Unsanitary milking conditions
Unsanitary pens
Not milking a doe before kidding, and letting the udder fill and get hard.
Drying doe off too quickly
Symptoms include:
-Hot painful udder
-Hard udder
-Clots in milk
-Occasionally blood in milk (this makes the milk turn pink)
Mastitis Treatment:
Hot STRONG Mullien Tea
-2 quarts of water
-5 large Mullien leaves (½ cup dried)
Add your water and Mullien to your tea kettle or pot.
Bring to a boil. Let steep for 20 minutes.
Apple Cider Vinegar drench:
-1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
-2 TBSP Epsom Salt
-Fresh Lemon Juice from one lemon
Add the above to a long necked bottle, and fill the rest of the way with water.
This can be reused as well. Shake well before each use.
Essential Oil Blend:
-1/2 cup melted coconut oil
-1 TBSP peppermint oil
-1/2 tsp tea tree oil
-1/2 tsp eucalyptus oil
Heat your coconut oil, once warm remove form heat.
Add essential oils to your warmed coconut oil. Don’t add the essential oils to the coconut oil before you heat it up, it will burn your eyes.
Instructions:
Bring out your hot Mullien tea, a bowl, and rags (make your tea as hot as you can stand).
Pour tea in bowl, over top of rags. Squeeze out rags and place on udder, massaging while holding the rag on the effected area. Do this until your tea is warm.
You can reheat and reuse this a few times, just make sure you put it somewhere that nobody will try to drink it.
Milk out as much as you can. After your done milking, drench the teats.
After drenching massage the warmed oil blend on the whole udder.
(Don’t bring out your oil blend until your ready for it, other wise it will cool before you use it.)
Mastitis Prevention
Keep pens clean with fresh bedding.
Wash udder and teats especially paying attention to clean the orifice.
Milk out doe before kidding if udder starts to get tight.
Have Dolomite available at all times
When drying off does, pay close attention to bag tightness
Ringworm is a common fungal disease in goats. It is a fungus, not a worm, and mostly appears during prolonged periods of wet weather. As with many other skin conditions, keeping the loafing and sleeping areas clean and dry will help reduce the occurrence of ringworm.
Ringworm can be located almost anywhere on the goat’s body. Left untreated, it gets bigger and bigger.
Warning: Ringworm is contagious both to other goats and livestock, and even to humans.
In the case of ringworm, we treat twice daily.
Treatment: WEAR STERILE RUBBER GLOVES WHEN TREATING RINGWORM!
We begin by (again, wearing gloves) picking the ringworm ‘scabs.’ After the scabs have been ‘picked,’ dry any puss that comes out with a paper towel. Spray with WD-40 on any area showing ringworm signs. Allow to rest with this until evening.
Evening Treatment: Apply straight tea tree oil on any area showing ringworm signs, then spray with iodine. Dust with sulfur, and give 1 tsp sulfur internally. We also at this time give 1 tsp of copper sulfate, along with a Tbsp of dolomite internally.
We continue this treatment until all areas dry up; we then let it scab over. Most of the time, this comes about 8 days after treatment. It will normally take about 3 weeks for the hair to grow back in the affected areas.
Milk fever can occur in many types of livestock and animals. We have personally experienced it with a few cows, a goat, and a dog.
It normally occurs after the birthing process/end of pregnancy, when the animal begins to lactate. (Making milk to feed it’s young.)
The cause of milk fever, is a depletion of the blood calcium and magnesium levels too quickly. The animal’s reserves, of these minerals, are not high enough to both sustain it’s life and the life of it’s young, through the mineral output of the milk.
-Prevention-
The best prevention for milk fever, and many, many other ‘diseases’, is to have the animal’s mineral levels, at the right levels in the first place. This is especially true, when approaching the birthing process.
In livestock you can keep their minerals up by having them graze, so they can get what they can from the land and plants. You should also have their loose mineral supplements available free choice. They know their needs, and they will take what they need once they become accustomed to the system.
We try to have following available to them:
Kelp, for iodine and trace minerals
Dolomite, for calcium and magnesium
Sulfur, for assimilation of selenium, external parasite prevention, and coat health
Copper, for internal parasite prevention, immune system, white blood cell and antioxidant production
Redmond salt. helps maintain weight and appetite, while also providing trace minerals.
When your animals have the correct levels of minerals, you are blessed with a lot less dis-ease. If your soils, or the soil your hay is grown on, is known to be deficient in certain minerals, make sure they have access to that mineral. Also, be sure to remineralize your pastures and hay fields.
–What about Mankind?–
It is the same with our own health. Dis-ease, is just that; your body is not at ease. God says He made us from the dust of the Earth.
“And Yehovah, God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7
Disease comes from deficiency in one or more minerals. Our bodies do not have a drug deficiency, so when we take drugs, they don’t fix the dis-ease of our bodies. They often times just mask the problem, and then cause side effects. With these side effects, come more drugs to “help” with those side effects. This is not a true solution to the problem.
We are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14
Our body was made from the dust, which is made of minerals, and they all have their function in the process of our bodies.
–Calcium and Magnesium–
Calcium and magnesium are the most important minerals, especially in prevention of Milk Fever.
This is very important before, during, and after a pregnancy and lactation.
Be alert and especially watchful of your animals’ health always, so you will notice any changes in behavior that might alert you to an issue or mineral deficiency. This is ALWAYS important, but even more so towards to end of a pregnancy. There are big demands on the animals body, as it is both sustaining itself and their young. The last stage of pregnancy, is also, when the baby grows the most.
Plus, their body is preparing to nourish their young with milk! This takes a lot of minerals, and if they don’t have them, they can’t give them.
God says this, and, if we obey Him, we can save ourselves loss, pain, and suffering for our animals.
We now feed our livestock organic alfalfa pellets, along with a small amount of other mixed grains (oats, wheat, corn, etc.) in the final stages of pregnancy. This also helps with keeping up the minerals, as well as providing extra nourishment and reserves for the lactation.
Since we have been doing the above things, we have not had our animals suffer any milk fever, although our soils are very poor.
–Signs and Symptoms of Milk Fever–
There are several signs of Milk Fever, the most common are listed below.
(In dogs, it may seem like just a prolonged continuance of labor signs- however; she will not be visibly contracting, or giving birth to more pups.)
-Treatment- (Livestock)
Many books will tell you to give Propylene Glycol. While this helps instantly, it only offers temporary relief. While it raises the blood sugars, it DOES NOT address the mineral deficiency, which started the disease in the first place.
We start treating, by giving B Vitamin shots to stimulate the appetite. This is VERY important! In our experience, once they get ‘down’ you probably won’t be able to get them to take in anything, including mineral. We then offer all the hay they can eat, with molasses on it.
We gave NutriDrench, according to the dosage on the bottle, 3x daily. It contains many vitamins and minerals. We give this with a syringe, right into their mouth.
It is important to give them all the kelp they can eat. This was the most effective home treatment we found. It is FULL of minerals.
Calcium Gluconate, in IV form (our vet administered) helped both of our cows, more than anything else. This must be given slowly, as to not stop the heart from beating. It must be followed by magnesium for maximum effectiveness.
With our cows, this helped within 48hrs.
With our goat, we gave calcium, in the form of Natural Vitality’s ‘CALM’ Plus Calcium, with water, in a drench, and she ate all the kelp she wanted. Plus dolomite/molasses mixed in with her feed, once the appetite returned. This ‘cured’ her in about 6 hours.
-Treatment- (Dogs)
With dogs, being sure they have the minerals can be a little more tricky- since they don’t eat hay or graze. (Like ourselves) Although, sometimes, our dogs will eat a little grass. 🙂 Our dogs have never wanted loose mineral in the above forms. So, we try to ensure their levels are right, by feeding them raw milk, raw scraps from our home butchering, and soup bones.
We only dealt with it once with one of our dogs, she was very restless. Once we realized the cause, we treated her with the following. Since then, have not had this issue reoccur. We give our female dogs these things every time they have a litter.
We treated her with:
All the bone broth she would drink
Nutritional Yeast (for the B vitamins)
Black Strap Molasses (for the iron)
Yogurt, and raw milk
This cleared her up, (and she went to sleep!) in about 3 hours.
Remember “prevention is better than a cure”. So, keep up those minerals in yourself and your animals.
Symptoms:
small ‘pimples’ and/or scabs on your goats udder.
Contagious? Yes, can spread to other goats, through teat dips, udder cloths, and dirty hands. Wear gloves when milking and treating infected animals.
Cause:
This is a staph infection that occurs when an animal is copper deficient. Prevention is best, and can be done by making sure your animal gets sufficient copper.
Treatment:
Hydrogen Peroxide
Copper Sulfate (like you use for your swimming pool)
ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar)
Give A&D shot as soon as symptoms occur.
Pop pimples (while wearing gloves) when they come to a head. Give Vitamin C orally as well at this time. Make a wash with a cup of hydrogen peroxide, 2 TBSP copper sulfate, and a cup of ACV. Dilute to half with water. Use as a wash at milking time.
For us, this treatment cleared the infection inside of 24 hours.
Orf occurs in young kids and lambs. They can also give it to their mothers, if they are nursing.
WARNING: This ailment is zoonotic, meaning it can spread to humans. Always wear gloves when treating affected animals.
Symptoms:
Orf is a herpes linked organism, that shows up as pimples or sores. The sores will be found on the noses and mouth of young lambs/kids and the udders of their mothers.
Cause:
The leading cause is copper deficiency. So, the best prevention, is to see that your animals copper levels are correct. This plays a role in many ailments, including internal parasites.
Treatment:
Of course, give them supplemental copper. No, copper does not kill sheep. They need it, just in smaller amounts. You should keep dolomite on hand in case of a overdose, as dolomite is the antidote to a copper overdose.
Since we had other lambs and kids on the ground at the time, We made sure to up their copper. That way the issue would not occur with the other animals, and it did not spread beyond one lamb and his mother Had we been sure they had gotten their minerals, the problem would not have occurred in the first place.
To clear up the sores, we personally used WD-40 directly on the scabs. They dried and cleared up within a week.
Another treatment we did not personally use, but it said to have worked for others and is more natural:
3 tsp copper sulfate
3 tsp vinegar
mix into a gallon bucket of water, and use as a dip for all affected
Again, prevention is better than a cure! Keep up those minerals for your livestock and yourself!
Do You Know My Father? 