Goat Listeriosis

This was a week and month we do not care to remember. It has been about a year ago now. October 24, 2023 was when we first noticed something wrong with our one goat. This was the first time we dealt with listeriosis with our goats and we did not know much about it. We did a bunch of research but there is so many different opinions and resources it was hard to come to a complete conclusion of how we should treat her. Most people will probably say "call a vet". But from the research we did there was nothing they could have done that we could not do ourselves. If you are faced with sicknesses with your own farm animals you will have to make the decision yourself weather to call a vet or not. Vets are expensive so learn all you can to be able to take care of your animals yourself.

First, let me introduce you to Sixlet. Sixlet is our friendliest goat. Great personality, good conformation, gave us twins her first kidding and overall one of the healthiest goats in the herd. She is a all black Kiko and we bought her when she was a few months old. She was 3 years and 7 months old when she got listeriosis. She was also 3 month pregnant when she got sick.

We first noticed that something was wrong Tuesday October 24, 2023. All the goats were still out on pasture (they get moved to the barn for winter) and when we checked on them that evening we could tell immediately that something was wrong with her. She did not act like her normal friendly self. She had a slight head tilt, she was not really eating(she tried a little bit), and she was slobbering. She was still on her feet but not walking in a straight path. Thats when the research started and we determined that it was listeriosis. Catching it early enough will help determine if your goat will make it or not. This shows how important it is to check you your goats every day even if they are on pasture and self-sufficient.

We moved her and the lowest (so she wouldn't pick on Six) goat (Queeny, a young doeling) to the barn. Goats like company so we didn't just want to move Six to the barn by herself. We read conflicting things about listeriosis being contagious. Queeny never got it and is fine. Honestly the next few days Sixlet did not care or know much of anything going on so she probably would have been fine all by herself. Queeny behaved herself and never picked on Sixlet so they were a great pair to be together during this time.

For her treatments, I wish we would have kept track of everything we gave her but it was just survival mode for everyone taking care of her and seeing what she needed on a day to day basis. Listeriosis affects the brain. It is caused by bacteria called listeria monocytogenes. It can be found in soil, water, plant litter, and silage. The most likely time for pasture raised goats to get this is in the fall when the nutritional quality of the pasture is declining.

The next few days she got worse and worse. She could not eat, drink, or stand on her own. Her eyes went cloudy (blind) and we felt like giving up. We gave her several days of high doses of penicillin to kill the bacteria as well as Vitamin B. She could still swallow so we would give her water in a syringe. Electrolytes, nutri-drench, plain applesauce and oatmeal is what we would try to spoon or syringe feed her. We also had to pay attention to slight symptoms of bloat because she was not chewing her cud (ruminating correctly) and gave her baking soda and oil as needed. We would rub her belly and she would burp out the air. Every few hours someone or two of us (did I mention she was 3 month pregnant and very big already) would have to go out and get her up. We would hold her up against the wall and move her legs for her. We would switch sides she laid on and basically tried to get her to move around.

So it started Tuesday night and we continued this every few hours until Sunday afternoon. Sunday she went into labor and miscarried her twins. Once she was in labor and pushing she started eating hay. She had control over her month and tongue again. And she drank on her own. In the week that followed her eyes became clear again. We still helped her up for a few days but she was standing on her own and trying to walk. By Wednesday she would get up on her own. She still had the head tilt but was amazingly doing much better. A week after she miscarried her babies we put her back out on pasture with all her friends. She still was not walking straight and still had a head tilt but was strong enough to be out with her friends. She was so happy to be back out to pasture. We still gave her extra care until we felt she did not need it anymore.

By the time July 2024 came around for breeding season again she had been back to normal for several months and was ready to get bred again. Now (9-21-24) she is almost 2 months pregnant and doing very well. We will see come December how she kids but everything looks good right now.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated! We would also love to here your stories about listeriosis. We did not have an actual set treatment we did with her except the high does of penicillin twice a day for 5 days.