Tag: goat and sheep health

Immunotherapy: A New Field in Medicine

Immune Enhancement for Health

Immunotherapy is a new field in medicine. It is the education and upgrading of the immune response. This is accomplished through a line of organically sourced oral products. The upgrading of the immune system is so dramatic that we can treat problems that had no known treatment before. Immunotherapy is accomplished using tiny molecules, called Transfer Factors, readily absorbed from the gut. These chemical messengers are the very top messengers of our immune system. They help identify diseases, turn on, and control our immune response. This group of molecules works by educating and stimulating the natural killer cells. These are the cells defending us from bacterial and viral infections. These immune molecules also regulate this response, ensuring that our defenses don’t harm the host.

When Ramaekers Immune Formulas products are combined with good management, vaccines, and other medicines, we can open doors that are closed to us with conventional medicine approaches.

Currently, we have very few “goat-approved” drugs, antibiotics, or vaccines available. Immunotherapy helps to fill the medication void. These products also work synergistically with our regular antibiotics. There are two essential products: Newborn Immune Primer for non-ruminating kids under 8 weeks of age and Adult Immune Primer for ruminating animals.

Immune Enhancement for Health: Uses Include

• Pre-breeding use enhances conception rates and decreases bacteria that can cause abortion when coupled with a pre-breeding program. Use 1 oz on Days 6 and 7, prior to breeding. A study by the University of Florida on ET work found that it improves conception and egg quality by 58%.

In Billys, semen quality is improved by using on Day 1 and Day 2, 90 days before the breeding season, and then repeating at 15-day intervals. It enhances semen concentration and increases semen volume three to four times.

ET protocols increase the number of eggs produced, increase the quality of eggs by 58%, and improve implantation rates by 14% (conception).

• Pre-kidding use improves the quality of the nanny’s colostrum, decreases bacteria and viruses in the nanny’s body, and enables the nanny to perform more effectively as a mother. Use 1 oz on either Day 6 or Day 7 before kidding.
• Post-kidding: On Days 1 and 2, one teaspoon of small ruminant colostrum should be given orally to the kid to educate the immune system against 3,000 pathogens.
• Growth promotion, administered on Days 15, 30, 45, and 60, is continued with immune support, disease prevention, and health, which enhances the size and growth rate of breeding and show stock. NFI helps these animals reach their genetic potential.
• Protection during hauling stress to help prevent shipping and respiratory disease. Great for show animals.
• Enhancement of treatment with antibiotics to treat mastitis, abscesses, sore mouth, and pink eye (chlamydia) is the only treatment for pinkeye.

Additional Uses

Caseous lymphadenitis is a bacterial disease caused by the Corynebacterium species of bacteria, for which there is no known successful treatment or vaccine that produces good results. That is, until we started using the Ramaekers Immune Primer products. We have control programs for this chronic problem in small ruminants. It has worked in approximately 30 flocks to date.

Chlamydia eye infections (also known as Pink Eye) are bacterial infections that can sometimes be associated with viral infections. The disease causes a cloudy eye and often results in blindness in the affected animal. These usually respond slowly to treatment or not at all. When treatment was coupled with Immune Primer products, we cleared 100% of the affected eyes.

Gangrene Mastitis is a severe and often fatal bacterial infection that affects them soon after kidding. Historically, this has been referred to as a blue bag. We have treated many cases coupling Immune Primer and aggressive antibiotic therapy. In a high percentage of cases, they do survive and will slough off the affected blue-black tissues.

Using the patented Immune Primer Products, immune support helps the animal’s immune system perform at its peak level. In today’s small ruminate production, when the potential for new products, vaccines, and antibiotics is low, immunotherapy can help us become more efficient and have a more financially stable industry.

Immune Enhancement for Health: Tips

• Prevent contamination of feed and water with fecal material
• Keep pens clean and bedded
• Deworm and vaccinate systematically
• Check feces several times per year.
• Use Immune Primer products to enhance health, enhance response to meds, and promote growth and performance.
• Use goat-appropriate minerals or cattle minerals that have proper copper levels.
• Use pasture rotation: good fencing and chargers make it easy to do “Premier” fencing.
• Strategic worming plans and coccidia prevention will lead you to health and performance.

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Information compiled by Dr. Bob McClung

Goats are intelligent, social, and challenging to herd

Goat Facts: Goats are versatile, domesticated animals that are kept for their meat, milk, and fiber. The domestic goat is a species of goat-antelope mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. 

Goat Facts:

• First tamed by humans 9-10,000BC
• Member of the cattle family
• 210 breeds with 450 million worldwide (4-6% in the USA)
• China has the most goats at 170 million
• Goats’ eyes are rectangular in shape instead of oval
• They have good night vision
• Goats are bred for milk production, meat, skin, cashmere, mohair, and as pets.
• Life span is 8-12 years, with exceptions of up to 15+ years
• Worldwide, more people eat or drink milk from goats than from any other species
• Goats don’t like to get wet and will seek shelter when it is raining
• Goats are very susceptible to parasites
• Goats deposit fat internally and less externally than sheep and cattle; therefore, they have more fat around their organs.
• Goat milk is hypoallergenic and higher in Calcium and Vitamin A than cow’s milk.
• Goat milk is naturally homogenized and can be digested in less than 20 minutes, while cow’s milk may take all day.
• Goat meat has less fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, mutton, or poultry.

More Goat Facts:

• Coffee was first discovered when herders noted that animals became very energetic after nibbling on coffee beans.
• Dairy goats produce 2-3 quarts of milk per day, or approximately 5,000 gallons of milk per year, with some improved milkers producing more than 1 gallon per day.
• Goats can consume 3-5% of their body weight of dry matter on good pasture and less on poor pasture.
• Market infrastructure is disorganized in the movement from farm to consumer
• Some goats have milked up to 5 years after only one gestation
• Goats don’t have tear ducts
• Goats’ primary illnesses are coccidiosis, parasitic worms, and pneumonia
• Goats don’t like to eat feed that has been soiled, contaminated, or has been on the ground
• Some naturally polled goats are also infertile (male or female)
• Goats like to eat woody plants and are utilized as pre-grazers in the West to improve pastures for cattle, e.g., leafy spurge
• Azaleas are poisonous to goats
• Vomiting is almost always a sign of poisonous plant consumption
• Lactating in close contact with “musty” bucks may produce “goaty” tasting milk and may be offensive.

Parasite Strategy

• Feeding a coccidiostat in the feed for 2 weeks to late-gestating animals decreases the environmental load and the passage of Coccidia from adults to young.
• Always use Coccidiostat in the starter or creep feed
• Have a clean and dry environment
• Coccidia is worse in cold and wet times of the year

Worm Strategy

• Inhibition-heavy loads of worms change the pH of the gut and cause ½ of the worms to cover their mouth parts with membrane and leave the body for the new host: parasite survival techniques
• We have learned that the food source in the worms’ bodies only lasts 42 days
• Don’t pasture for 45 days after 1st green grass
• ½ of the worms starve on the pasture. This is a great time to worm goats in the 45-day inhibition phase
• Parasites lose resistance to wormer in 18 months
• Use wormers strategically and rotate
• Spring-August 30, 30 days before kidding
• Deworming is performed within 30 days before kidding to prevent the transfer of parasites from the nanny to the kid.

Breeding Facts

• Age of puberty: female 7-10 months; male 4-8 months
• Breeding age male 8-10 months
• A healthy buck can breed 20-40 does
• Gestation length 146-153 days
• Females 80# body weight, time to breed, or 75% of adult weight
• Estrus length 12-36 hours
• Signs are tail wagging, mucous discharge, swollen vulva, bleating, mounting, or being mounted.
• Female adult weight 22-300# breed dependent
• Male adult weight 27-350# breed dependent
• Goats can deliver up to 3 litters of kids in 2 years
• Goats can deliver 1-5 kids/gestation

Odd Reproduction Problems of Small Ruminants

• Ringwomb
• No consistent predispositions, etiology unknown

Theories:

• Genetic link-autosomal recessive
• Lack of release of hormones that soften cervical collagen
• Infectious in nature (unlikely)
• Estrogens in feed, moldy feedstuffs
• It may or may not recur in the same female
• Manual dilation doesn’t work- still left with a thin band of cervical tissue
• No studies clearly document the efficacy of any drug or treatment to complete dilation

Treatment:

• Not advised to pull. Will get hemorrhage and death of neonate +/- dam
• Cesarean

Goat Facts: Abnormal udder development

• Rare in sheep, common in goats
• Precocious udder development
• Young, unbred goat
• Glands produce normal, mild

Treatment

• Prostaglandin, then FSH if it fails
• Do not milk out
• Cease grain

If a goat is not for show, do nothing

Pseudopregnancy (Cloudburst pregnancy)

• Goats have never been reported in sheep
• Unknown etiology
• Accumulation of fluid in the uterus
• It may or may not have udder development
• Treatment is Prostaglandin because a CL is persistent. To prevent this, some breeders breed on the first cycle.
• The goat is anestrus during this time but remains fertile.

Spontaneous Lactation

• It seems to be relatively common and of no consequence
• Unknown etiology
• Estrogens in feed, estrogens from an abnormal ovary
• Mastitis

Treatment

• None required
• Can try hormonal therapy
• Mastectomy, ovariectomy, ovariohysterectomy

Goat Facts: Tips on Natural Synchronization

• Remove bucks from sight, sound, and smell 2-3 months
• Start to flush 2-3 weeks before breeding
• Deworm 2 weeks before breeding
• Pen “teaser bucks” or bucks in nannies to breed
• 15 days before the breed turns out on the desired breed date (male odor, behavior stimulates synchronization of estrus)
• We also use 9mg/# of LA200 2 weeks before breeding to decrease Chlamydia, Campylobacter & Lepto

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These testimonials and case studies of goats and sheep are presented for informational purposes only and are not intended to endorse any specific product. The information is not intended to substitute for consulting your local veterinarian. Instead, they offer the reader information written by pet owners and/or veterinarians concerning animal health and products that have shown results.

Pinkeye or Chlamydia Study in Goats & Sheep

The Goat & Sheep Case Studies involved seven goats initially diagnosed by Dr. Meyers with Pinkeye or Chlamydia and other bacterial infections. Two of the seven goats were breaking with the disease; the other five had severe infections and were going blind. At the beginning of the study, Dr. Meyer had treated all seven goats with antibiotics for three weeks with little or no improvement.

Ramaekers Adult Immune Primer

The goats were then placed on Ramaekers Adult Immune Primer. They were given one ounce once a day for 14 days with no antibiotics. The two goats affected by the disease showed significant improvement within approximately 48 hours. The other five goats returned to normal within 10 days, with no scarring of the eye and the warts just dropping off.

Transfer Factor Technology

Trust transfer factor technology to optimize immune system function in small commercial ruminants. While many products use single, rudimentary ingredients known to aid immune health, Ramaekers Nutrition delivers the only immune support products harnessing transfer factors supported by a unique and patented blend of essential nutrients and potent nutraceuticals.

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(Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis)

CASEOUS LYMPHADENITIS KEY POINTS:

• Using Natural Immunotherapy dramatically improves the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy
• OMRI Listed Immune Supplement
• Enhancing the effectiveness of cell-mediated immunity is an essential supportive therapy.

A 4-year-old crossbred ewe was presented with a 4cm abscess lateral to the right mandible. Considerable weight loss was observed. Therapy included Ramaekers Adult Immune Primer Support for Livestock (Available for Order Online) and procaine penicillin G. Both were administered once daily on days 1, 2, 3, 15, and 30. By day 15, our field veterinarian noticed remarkable clinical improvement and weight gain. She regained over 90# and returned to her prior healthy body weight.

Caseous Lymphadenitis Summary:

• It appears that by harnessing the power of the immune system, we can penetrate and effectively address conditions involving abscessation
• Natural Immunotherapy can improve the effectiveness of traditional forms of therapy.
• This type of immune supplementation should be started early at the first sign of illness.

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Trust Transfer Factor Technology

Medicine is the Science of Disease, and Nutrition is the Science of Health.

Trust transfer factor technology to optimize immune system function in small commercial ruminants. While many products use single, rudimentary ingredients known to aid immune health, Ramaekers Nutrition delivers the only immune support products harnessing transfer factor supported by a unique and patented blend of essential nutrients and potent nutraceuticals.

Patented Formulas

Our transfer factor technology is derived from a proprietary blend of bioactive peptides extracted from bovine colostrum and egg yolks. This blend combines unique plant-derived heteropolysaccharides, lactic acid-producing probiotics, and highly bioavailable micronutrients.

The synergy of this combination of ingredients enables the “immune intelligence” (the body’s ability to recognize and remove harmful cells) in our formulas to assist your goats and sheep in naturally producing an effective, rapid, and appropriate immune response.

Immune Primer

Like colostrum (or first milk), which transfers vital immune knowledge from mother to newborn, our Newborn Immune Primer and Adult Immune Primer formulas educate and activate the function of the mother’s and calf’s immune cells within hours, without side effects, using our patented transfer factor technology.