Causes of hair loss in goats and methods of treatment, methods of prevention

Owners of farm animals, including goats, are faced with the fact that pets have problems with their hair. If the animal is healthy, then twice a year it has a molting process. Not everyone is prepared for a domestic goat's hair loss outside of the natural coat-change season. In some cases, this can be a sign of a serious and unpleasant contagious disease.

Molting period

Molting in goats can be both seasonal and age-related. In the first case, all adult animals molt, and in the second, the kids change their wool.

Seasonal molt

Normally, wool changes happen twice a year - in spring and autumn. Seasonal shedding is a normal process; during this period, the entire coat changes to a new one. In late winter, early spring, when not only the temperature rises, but also the length of daylight hours, the spring molt sets in. Its beginning depends on the region, climate and weather conditions. In most areas with a temperate climate, it begins in the second half of March, early April. In warm areas with mild winters, spring moulting in goats can also begin in late February.

Autumn molt can begin in September. It passes quite unnoticed. Summer thin hair falls out and is replaced by thick, dense winter hair.

Age molting

Newborn kids are covered with baby hair. When they are six months old, they begin to change their coat. This molt is called juvenile.

Diseases of goats leading to hair loss

Sometimes the animal loses hair regardless of the season. In this case, it can be assumed that the cause is a skin infectious or non-infectious disease, internal or external parasites, organ pathologies caused by them, errors in feeding and maintenance.

Non-infectious

The goat loses hair and even bald in the following cases:

1. Permanent molt. This is due to the loss of hairs that have become obsolete. The process is not associated with either the season or the age of the animal. No treatment required.
2. Stressful situation. A change of place and a sharp change in conditions of detention, spontaneous abortion can cause hair loss. It is enough to identify the cause of stress and take measures to eliminate it.
3. Lack of vitamins. With a lack of vitamin A, groups B, C, E, not only hair falls out, but also the skin peels off.Low-value products such as cake, old hay, straw are eliminated from the diet, and complete feed is added.

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For non-infectious causes of hair loss, no special treatment is required; it is enough to take measures to eliminate the factors that caused the problem.

Infectious

If the animal's fur gets wet, it takes on an unkempt appearance, the hair creeps in, areas of bare skin are clearly visible, then an infectious infection can be assumed. The most common of these is trichophytosis. It is caused by pathogenic fungi.

Pets are worried about itching, they comb sore spots, bubbles appear on the skin. When they burst, the wool gets wet and sticks together, and brown crusts appear. Other pathogenic organisms are added to the main pathogen, and deep skin lesions develop.

Sick goats are isolated. They are treated with special vaccines and salicylic ointments, "Yam". In advanced cases, goats are slaughtered, the carcasses are disposed of.

Invasions

Invasion, or parasite infestation of animals, can also lead to the fact that the wool intensively climbs. Most often, goats suffer from lice, lice, itchy mites:

1. Lice cause sifunculatosis disease. Animals itch strongly, wounds appear on the skin, hair falls out. Goats lose weight, and young animals in advanced cases may die. Adult lice are visible with the naked eye. They are treated with insecticidal preparations such as "Entomazan-S".
2. The lice beetles annoy goats no less than lice. Wool when affected by these parasites looks tousled, matted. Goats are worried about severe itching. Disease outbreaks are observed during the cold season. Injections of "Ivermectin" and its analogues help well.
3. Itchy mites - These parasites are the cause of itchy scabies in goats. In places of lesion, the skin becomes gray, scales appear on it, and the hair falls out. In advanced cases, blood oozes from the diseased skin through the crusts. It is treated by spraying with a liquid creoline emulsion.

Important! External treatments with sprays, emulsions, powdery agents against parasites are carried out at least twice, with an interval of 8-9 days.

The danger of infection with external parasites is that they are carriers of various diseases and helminths. To eliminate internal parasites, kids from three months and adult animals are given "Alben" or "Albendazole" twice a year. Goats are given medicine for helminthic infestations a month after giving birth or a month before they go hunting. Treatment is carried out according to the instructions for the drugs.

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Feeding errors

Animal hair is one of the indicators of their grooming and health. If the goat is bald on both sides, then, most likely, it is fed according to the residual principle. Her diet is based on poor hay, straw dust and other low-quality feed.

An improperly formulated diet can cause not only hair loss, but also blurred vision, skin ulcers, and thyroid problems.

The diet of animals must include:

• quality hay;
• compound feed;
• corn;
• vegetables and juicy tubers.

Salt is a must for goats. A good result is the inclusion of a complex supplement "Felucene" in the diet.

Poisoning

If the goat sheds suddenly, without visible prerequisites, then the cause may be poisoning. In case of acute poisoning, the animal often dies in the first hours after ingestion of poisonous herbs or chemicals.

However, when the poison enters the body regularly, but in small quantities, the poisoning becomes chronic and is accompanied by symptoms:

• hair loss in shreds;
• peeling of the skin;
• spontaneous abortion;
• lethargic behavior;
• poor appetite;
• decreased productivity.

For the treatment of chronic poisoning, it is necessary to identify and eliminate its source, to provide the animal with high-quality feed and clean water.

Prevention measures

Not all goat owners know what to do to prevent hair loss in pets. Above all, extreme crowding of animals must be avoided. In the room for goats, one head should have from 2.5 to 4.0 square meters. m area. The room should not be excessively damp. The optimum moisture content is 60%.

For the prevention of infection with internal and external parasites, animals must be given antiparasitic drugs. A good result is given by dusting the wool with wood ash.

During seasonal molting, the process can be accelerated and facilitated by regular brushing of the animals. One of the most reliable preventive measures is high-quality and complete feeding. Vitamin supplements and premixes must be included in the diet.