The Results of the SNIFF TEST!

At the beginning of kidding season, we decided to have a 'sniff' of all of the does that were due to kid. Why? Because there's a theory that a doe that smells bucky will have bucklings, and a doe that smells like hay will have doelings. 

Following is our results for the 2014 breeding season at Firestone Creek farm.

Doe (Dam)	Buck (Sire)	Smell / Gestation time	# of doelings/bucklings
Muddy Creek B2 Panama	On Firestone Creek AA Mesa (history of producing high % of doelings)	Panama's head smells 'bucky' on 2/14; she is due on 2/21. She is pregnant with multiples--looks like three or more. She has a history of having bucklings, so maybe there is a doeling or two in there.	1/2 Kidded on Feb 24th with one small doeling and two bucklings, one on the big side! She did have a bucky smell, so I'd say this one was a 'positive.' POSITIVE RESULT
On Firestone Creek HWD Acorn	On Firestone Creek AA Mesa (history of producing high % of doelings)	Acorn smelled like hay on 2/14; she is due on 2/15. She has a history of having doelings. She looks like she may be pregnant with one or two kids.	Well, she smelled like hay, and she had one doeling, so we are at 100% right now! :) POSITIVE RESULT
NC PromisedLand Z Bella	On Firestone Creek HWD Bo Peeps	Bella smelled like hay on 2/14; she is due on 2/15. She has a history of having doelings.	Bella kidded 2/22 with TWO bucklings. So this is 100% contrary to how she smelled, which was like hay with no bucky smell at all! I'd say this is -100% NEGATIVE RESULT
On Firestone Creek Palisade 2*M 5*D	*B NC PromisedLand RB Bolero *S	On 2/14 Palisade smelled a little bucky. She is not due until 5/15. She has a history of twins and triplets; the triplets are usually bucklings and doelings.	Palisade kidded with THREE doelings, which is quite contrary to the bucky smell she had in February. I'd say this was a big -100%, too, unless maybe I smelled her a bit too early. NEGATIVE RESULT
On Firestone Creek BJ Kukarabisha	On Firestone Creek AA Mesa (history of producing high % of doelings)	On 2/14 Kuka smelled like hay. She is due on 2/20.	Argh! Kuka smelled like hay but delivered two healthy bucklings on 2/24. This result is another negative--strong one, just like Bella. NEGATIVE RESULT
On Firestone Creek R Palabra	Proctor Hill Farm B Cuervo Gold *S	On 2/14, Palabra smelled a little bucky. Due on 3/13.	Buckling and a doeling. This would be a positive, I suppose, since she did smell just a little bucky. POSITIVE RESULT
On Firestone Creek UP Sunnee Day	Proctor Hill Farm B Cuervo Gold *S	Will smell again next week. She could tell I was up to something and didn't want to be sniffed. Perhaps she thought I was going to nibble her or make her wear deodorant. Who knows! :) NO RESULT

RESULTS:

While we did have bucklings out of some of the girls that smelled bucky, we also had THREE (3) --yes, you heard right-- THREE doelings out of a doe that smelled a bit bucky! I would say that was a big NEGATIVE. We also had one doe that smelled like hay that had only bucklings, which is also a big resounding NEGATIVE result. Essentially, I have to say:

SORRY, FOLKS! The sniff test doesn't seem to work 100% of the time. In fact, the results were sketchy at best. Oh well... we are talking about goats after all. You didn't think they would make it THAT easy for us, did you? Guess we'll have keep playing the waiting game...

The Mighty Mite and More Milk Tests

They say 'Rome was not built in a day,' and neither was a dairy farm.

The junior herd

Well, no one said farm life was easy, and that certainly holds true when it comes to maintaining does and keeping their milk capacity where you want it to be. We're small, so we haven't had many does freshen this year--only seven, in fact. We've still had our fair share of the fun with those thus far. Sometimes I can't even imagine doing this on a large scale, but I guess if it was my only job, and I had some additional help, it might be a little easier.

So far this kidding season--

First, because of the long winter and plenty of time spent by does in the barn, where we deep pile our hay for extra warmth, we had an issue with mites. I've seen the critters before, but this year was the worst ever! This is a new barn and much larger than the other barn, so I have to say I was a bit surprised, but then again, this winter was colder than the norm with several bouts of ice and snow. I'm thinking this had something to do with it. I noticed some 'dandruff' and a bit of scaly skin in a few of the does, especially those who were pregnant, so I treated what I knew was mites and/or lice. I thought I'd had it all taken care of. I was wrong.

A few of the girls developed a few 'bumps' or papules with the mites--mainly a couple of the does I was milking, and this might have been demodectic mange. According to Justin Talley and Dave Sparks, D.V.M, these papules contain more mites, are often found on the face, neck, and axillary regions, along with the udder, and can infect other animals:

The goat follicle mite causes dermal papules and nodules [sic] and this resulting condition is known as demodectic mange in goats. These papules or nodules are caused by hair follicles or gland ducts becoming obstructed and producing these swellings, trapping the mites within these lesions. These continue to enlarge as the mites multiply, sometimes reaching several thousand mites per lesion... Nodules can rupture and exude mites [transmitting to the other animals]. "External Parasites"

Dairy and pregnant/nursing animals seem to be particularly susceptible to the mites. I deduce it is because kids are nursing, we clip the udders (possibly with infected clippers), and udders can be exposed to more skin irritants hand/machine milking. This type of mange isn't the only threat! Another form of infection, chorioptic mange, also has similar symptoms with "formation of raised pustules on the skin, crusting, hair loss, reddening of the skin and eventually ulceration. These signs are first seen on the lower limbs, scrotum, udder and between the thighs. Rubbing and scratching is common" (Hutchens "Enough to Make"). Staphylococcal dermatitis--a secondary bacterial infection, often follows the infestation due to scratching, etc.

Some sources, including some discussion boards, say to 'pop' the papules (whether 'mange' papules or staph infection) since some do contain a pus-like substance. However, after witnessing the results, I do not suggest doing this. From my own experience, I noticed that those that had papules that I 'popped' tended to develop a much worse infection than the others; the action seemed to spread the infection, so I stopped popping and only treated. When left alone, the lesions seemed to scab over and heal very fast.

I try to treat holistically when at all possible; if natural medicine is not working, I refuse to watch an animal suffer, and I will treat with antibiotics and other medications, if necessary. I used lime and DE on the barn along with manuka oil, tea tree oil, and garlic on everyone. I also treated some with lime sulphur dip, which was recommended at a 4X treatment over a month long period by Hutchens ("Enough to Make"). However, one treatment of lime dip in addition to the tea tree and manuka oil seemed to actually clear up the problem. I did clip hair on those showing evidence of major infestation. Everyone cleared up fine with these treatments EXCEPT two does who seemed to have an allergy, perhaps, to the treatments. They did not respond well to the oils, and both worsened with lime dip and had more break outs. One really had an 'itchy' result on her udder and stomach area with many papules. Worried that this was a resultant irritation from the treatment itself, I did go ahead and use some Pen-G [for secondary bacterial infection, which was a probability], Chlorhexidine scrub [to destroy bacteria, fungus, etc], and topical antibacterial cream on these two does; this had immediate results--within 3 - 4 days, so it is very probable that the resultant irritation was probably due to secondary bacterial infection--possibly staphylococcal dermatitis. Thankfully, the whole herd is doing well now and recovering from winter's latent wrath. I did want to share my research and results in hopes that anyone else who is struggling can find some solace and aid with the problem.

*NOTE: I did treat with injectable Ivermectin when results seemed 'slow.' It was completely ineffective, and it seems to be noted that it often is when dealing with specific mites. I saw no changes whatsoever --even in a week's time, which should have been more than long enough for mite die-off. The key for removal seems to be killing, repelling, disinfecting, and treating secondary infection.

The keys to treatment:
1) Clean the barn-- keep it dry and destroy all infected bedding (burning is best)
2) Treat sleeping premises (I used lime and DE)
3) Treat ALL animals  (see articles and choose your own method according to your herd management beliefs)

Milk Test Results so far 

No one ever explains (before you go on test) that all of those 'little things' that drop production in your animals don't mean a thing when you are on test. While heats, illnesses, etc, are noted in CAR codes on DHIR tests as abnormalities, this doesn't change the overall results. One illness or low milk day (for any reason--even the weather!) can be enough to knock your animal out of the running for their star even if they are an excellent milker the rest of the time.

Bella --With all of the issues with the mites, we've had production drop some. I've sold Bella's kid, and with my work load, secondary bacterial infection from the mites, and issues with my carpal tunnel, her production has fell from her whopping 6.6 lbs a day to about 1/2 that. She is 4-00 with production at 43 lbs of fat, 30 lbs of protein, and projected production of milk lbs = 812 at this point in lactation (77 days). This has began climbing again with her infection clearing up, so I hope this amount does go up. She 'should' earn her star.

Sunnee -- Sunnee is doing well on test. She will be 'close' simply because I've had a lot on my plate and haven't milked exactly on schedule a few times, throwing her weights off a bit. I will make another post later with her weights.

Palabra -- Palabra is for sale for $350. She is on target to earn her star. The only reason I have her for sale is because 1) I own her mom; 2) I am retaining her daughter; 3) I also have several half-sisters. 

Acorn -- for sale for $400. Acorn will probably not earn her star, BUT it is NOT her fault. It's her nieces fault, in addition to the mite issue, which reduced her production after the first test. Her numbers were going to be close, but then on the last test, Pistachio, her niece, escaped (you know the type--able to leap tall buildings in a single bound) from the pen on milk test morning and emptied her udder before the test! This ruined the morning test. She would have had over 3 lbs for the day, but instead only had about 1.5 for the whole day, partly because she likes to feed her kid, Karuka, through the fence. She's impossible to get a good milk weight on unless you have a very good way to separate her from anyone who wants to eat. :) 

Palisade -- Kidded on Mother's day, so she will be on the next test. She already has her milk stars. 2*D 5*M