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Homepage | Introduction | Acknowledgements Basic requirements and routine procedures Using medicines correctly | Common diseases and conditions
It is important to know how to recognise healthy and sick goats as this allows you to do several very important things, for example it allows you to:
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Check goats and know they are healthy before you buy them
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Check that your existing goats are healthy every day when you inspect them
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Quickly identify any sick goats so that they can be treated
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Identify old, sickly or unthrifty goats so that they can be culled from the flock
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Select healthy female goats for breeding
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Decide which goats to sell or slaughter
This section tells you how recognise healthy and sick goats and suggests what to do when you identify a sick goat or if you discover that one has died.
It is also important to know when it is best to wear gloves when handling a goat to protect the handler from disease and to help prevent its spread.
Taking the temperature of a goat correctly will help you to work out what is wrong with the goat as it will tell you whether the goat has a fever or not.
Finally sometimes a goat might have died and since conducting a post mortem examination will help you determine the cause of death, a section is included on how to carry out such a procedure effectively.
Animal health technicians, state or private veterinarians will be able to provide further information. |