How To Prevent Acidosis in Goats
Acidosis can affect goats of all ages but mainly shows up in high-producing milkers and occasionally in kids. It is not a "disease" but an indication of a management problem. Its effects can range from mild to fatal when it progresses from ruminal to metabolic acidosis. Enterotoxemia is often a sequela.
Asymptomatic mild ruminal acidosis occurs frequently in high-producing milkers fed large amounts of concentrate. The only sign may be low butterfat milk, which is in part due to the imbalance of fatty acids and prevalence of the "wrong" acids in the rumen. In more severe cases, the doe becomes listless, goes off feed, and sometimes has mild bloat. If not treated, her whole system can become affected. Prompt veterinary attention is essential! With metabolic acidosis, the animal becomes dehydrated, comatose, and dies relatively quickly. Oral or IV fluid therapy becomes critical to saving the goat.
Conditions predisposing animals to acidosis
Most commonly, acidosis develops due to an imbalance in the feeding program or because a goat, usually a kid, gorged itself on grain (grain overload), thus making the stomach environment more acid. In young kids the rumen is not yet fully functional, and a lowered gastric pH (acid) creates an ideal environment for harmful bacteria to proliferate, such as Clostridium perfringens. As the pH continues to drop, these bacteria die off and release deadly toxins which lead to potentially fatal enterotoxemia.
Milkers, being pushed for highest production, are often fed large amounts of concentrates along with top quality alfalfa hay. This leads to an excess of sugars and starches in the rumen that cause a lowered rumen pH as they ferment.
Preventive Measures
- Don't overfeed milk or concentrates; kids should eat hay well before being offered grain at weaning. Adjust the amount of grain fed according to the quality of forage; in other words, the better the hay, the less grain. This helps to maintain feed efficiency and high quality (high butterfat) production, and costs less, too.
- Feed hay in small quantities several times a day, if possible. Be sure they eat most of it, especially when feeding alfalfa. If a goat picks out only the leaves and pushes the stems aside, it's like feeding her only concentrates. Again, don't overfeed; goats are notorious wastrels of hay, given half the chance. If you can only feed twice a day, alternate between alfalfa and grass hay (if feeding alfalfa). A mature milker will eat three to five pounds of hay per day. If by the next feeding a lot of hay is left over, you are feeding too much!
- Allowing goats access to free choice baking soda is probably one of the best preventive measures you can take. Do not feed baking soda free choice to bucks, however; it's an alkalizer and could predispose them to urolithiasis (stones). Bucks do well on quality first-cutting grass hay (alfalfa is too high in calcium, which again could lead to urinary problems) and small amounts of grain during the breeding season.
- Prevent stress. Just like we develop an acidic stomach under stressful conditions, so can goats have similar problems. Baking soda and probiotics help in keeping the internal flora healthy.
- In cold weather, goats benefit from eating extra corn. Feed coarse, stemmy hay, which will offset the acidifying effect of the corn, while generating more internal heat to keep the animal warm.
If you encounter a goat that is listless without any other signs of disease (elevated temperature, unusual discharges, coughing, etc.), or she is mildly bloated, try giving her a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda directly into her mouth so that she has to eat it. If she is suffering from an acid stomach (if not, it won't hurt her) she will usually show marked improvement within an hour, sometimes almost immediately. If she does not improve within a few hours or she deteriorates further, seek veterinary help immediately. You are likely dealing with a different problem, or the condition has progressed beyond the capabilities of mere baking soda.
The above suggestions are meant as guidelines only, and it is the owner's responsibility to seek veterinary assistance.