A most important concern of responsible for goat expert producers is the introduction of diseases onto their property. Prevention is certainly the producer's desire, but realistically speaking, control and management are most probable to be goal. Disease can enter the producer's goat farm or ranch from many sources. Introducing new animals is the usual avenue but definitely not the only way that illness finds its way into the Goatherd management.
Most producers are aware that they should quarantine new animals brought from outside the ranch property to protect their goats and their farm goats from whatever diseases the new animals might be carrying. On the other hand, the reverse is just as true: newly introduced goats need to protect from organisms present on the ranch to which they have never had their immune systems previously exposed. Make out that these goats are on a new property in a changed atmosphere and often in a much different climate from which they had been previously adapted for living.
Arrange a pen and shelter sized to accommodate the producer's anticipated needs and locate it away from pens and pastures where healthy animal regularly kept. The pen should be large enough to provide space for proper exercise and should have at least a three-sided shelter with roof to protect the new goats and kid goats from bad weather. Nearby but not within this pen/shelter area, there should be several smaller gated pens and sheds where sick and/or contagious animals can confine for observation and treatment. Put a shallow plastic cat-litter pan and a gallon of bleach outside each pen and require persons entering and exiting to wet the soles of their shoes in the bleach. The producer and all other persons handling these goats and farm goats should consider using disposable gloves.
New and/or ill goats should keep in right parts of these "sick pens." Goats new to the goat farm or the ranch should quarantined for a minimum of four weeks, during which time they should be deformed, vaccinated, and otherwise examined, based upon the producer's herd management practices. If blood testing for exact diseases is part of the program, do it while the goats are in quarantine. If the tests return positive and the new goats are already running with the main herd, exposure to disease has probably already occurred.
Offering breeding services on the ranch is a way for infectivity. Many decisions must make and agreements place into writing before the first goat arrives on the servicing ranch. Participating in goat dealer or goat seller shows is a difficult situation with regard to disease. At the very minimum, sick goats and ill people should not attend shows and should not agree to participate. If they are, leave immediately; do not even unload your animals. The health of your goats is much more essential than a forfeited entry fee or a winning ribbon. Visitors, relatives, children, pets, and even the producer can effortlessly bring to the ranch infectious bacteria, viruses, and other organisms without ever realizing it. With a shallow plastic cat-litter pan and a bottle of bleach, the producer should have all visitors step through the solution. This is the very minimum protective action that goat farmers should take. If the producer knows that visitors or goat dealers have had direct access to goats from outside the ranch, then those folks should asked to change clothes and shoes before they enter your property. A visit by kids to the 4H hangar is a good source of contamination -- a truth that probably never crosses peoples' minds.
