Diseases of farm animals are not uncommon on private farmsteads, and they appear even in those farms where owners observe the norms and rules of keeping pets. Ailments have a different origin, but their symptoms often coincide. The article will focus on blood impurities in goat milk, possible causes and methods of eliminating this problem.

What disease does blood in goat's milk testify to?

There are many reasons for the appearance of bloody impurities in dairy products, but mastitis in goats or cows is the most common cause. To confirm the guesses, it is worth paying attention to the signs of this disease.

Concomitant symptoms of mastitis

Mastitis is a common pathology of the udder, which is characterized by the presence of an inflammatory process in the mammary gland.

There are four forms of its manifestation, based on which we can talk about the obvious symptoms of the disease:

1. Serous mastitis is characterized by excessively liquid milk, a decrease in the volume of milk yield, lethargy, apathy and high fever of the animal. The udder grows in size, often becomes scarlet and hot to the touch, the supraspinal lymph node increases in size.
2. Catarrhal mastitis (characteristic of the first days after childbirth): small clots are present in the milk, palpation of the nipples clearly palpates, and the udder itself becomes swollen, hot and painful, as indicated by the behavior of the animal during examination. The goat refuses food and does not move much, although the temperature is slightly increased.
3. Hemorrhagic mastitis. It is characterized by an acute form of development, in which the blood supply to the udder is disturbed, and multiple, but not heavy bleeding is noted. Skimmed milk has a reddish hue and clots in the form of flakes. The goat does not move much, more often lies with his head bowed and completely or partially refuses food. On the udder, signs of inflammation are clearly visible: it is swollen, painful and hot (over time, it changes color from bright red to burgundy).
4. Purulent mastitis. Accumulations of purulent masses are found in the milk, and the goat itself suffers from painful sensations that cause her to constantly take one of her legs to the side, thereby reducing contact with the udder. The animal is oppressed, and inflammation occupies a large part of the mammary glands, which makes them red, hot and very hard. Body temperature is elevated.

If in the first cases you can still get by with tips and folk remedies to eliminate the problem, then hemorrhagic and purulent mastitis will not give the owner time for inaction: the faster you show the goat to the veterinarian, the greater the chance of her salvation.

Of course, it is better not to drink milk with blood impurities and especially not to give children, because pathogens could get into it from an inflamed udder. Is it possible to drink such a product to pets? Each owner decides for himself, since there is no definite answer.

Did you know? Unlike other animals, the pupils of the goat’s eyes are not vertical, but horizontal and look like slits. This feature is important for animals, as it allows them to expand their horizons by 340 °, fixing in advance a possible danger.

Causes of the disease

The appearance of mastitis in goats is often a consequence of several factors at once:

1. Biological. Pathogenic microbes that enter the body along with the blood stream are carried throughout the body and enter the mammary gland, where they begin to multiply. Animals with reduced immunity and pathologies of the genital organs are defenseless even against a small number of bacteria, so to avoid a problem, they need to create almost sterile living conditions or increase the body's natural defenses.
2. Mechanical. They are explained by various injuries of the nipples and udders: scratches, cracks and abrasions that appear due to improper milking, violation of sanitary-hygienic standards of keeping or grazing in the overgrown area.
3. Temperature. These include hypothermia of the animal as a result of prolonged exposure to places with strong drafts, lying on a damp litter or concrete floor.

For effective treatment, any of the indicated causes of mastitis should be detected and eliminated in time, otherwise one cannot be sure that over time the goat will not get sick again.

Treatment

At the initial stages of the development of mastitis and in its course in a mild form, it is sometimes possible to do without the use of potent drugs, but with the slightest deterioration in the condition of the animal, you will have to resort to them. Consider the popular means used to combat the described disease in goats.

Medically

The drug regimen for the treatment of mastitis involves the use of analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drugs, presented in the form of ointments, injections, oral formulations or antiseptic aerosols.

The use of prolonged broad-spectrum antibiotics is recommended if:

• requires an optimal concentration of the active substance in the body and its long-term retention at a high level;
• it is necessary to guarantee the calm of the animal and its minimal injury;
• I want to avoid side effects from the use of drugs that can destroy the intestinal microflora and further develop dysbiosis;
• it is necessary to ensure the rapid removal of antibiotic residues from the body of the animal.

The drug Nitox meets all these requirements. In mild forms of mastitis, it is injected into the goat's body once (intramuscularly), at the rate of 1 ml of the composition per 10 kg of live weight. In severe or advanced cases, the injection may be repeated, but not earlier than after a day and a half.

After the introduction of the drug, milk from a sick goat is unsuitable for consumption for a week, and meat will have to be abandoned for three weeks.

Important! In one place on the animal’s body, no more than 5 ml of the drug is injected.

If there is no waiting time, and a positive result from treatment is needed as quickly as possible, then instead of Nitox, you can use other medicinal formulations, which include:

1. "Doreen." Like the previous drug, it is introduced into the body of a goat by intramuscular injection, at the rate of 1 mg per 1 kg of live weight. The course of treatment is 3-7 days, 1 time per day.
2. Ceftriaxone. The normal dosage for a goat will be no more than 30-40 mg of the drug per 1 kg of live weight per day (one bottle). The composition is pre-diluted with a mixture of "Lidocaine" and saline (2 ml each), after which it is injected into the body of the animal by injection. The course of treatment is 5 days. The danger of using this agent is the development of dysbiosis, which is why it is recommended that the goat be given agents that suppress the activity of harmful fungal organisms.
3. "Nystatin" is an effective antifungal agent that will help to avoid their development due to the use of the above drugs. If the purchased drug has the form of tablets, then it must be introduced into the uterine cavity of the goat, 1 tablet twice in a row, with an interval of two days. The powder is diluted in water and soldered to a sick individual at the rate of 10 thousand units / kg of weight.

If treatment with injections does not lead to the expected result, you can use the introduction of drugs intracisternally, for example with the help of "Mastisan." Before using the drug, the contents of the vial must be warmed up to + 36 ... + 39 ° C and, shaking until a homogeneous suspension appears, dial into a syringe.

After the medicine is inside, the needle must be removed and the plastic nose of the instrument inserted into the opening of the milking channel to release 5-10 ml of the drug into it. At the end of the procedure, do a light massage of the nipple from the affected part of the udder.

In severe cases, additional administration of the drug in the same amount will be required, but again the animal can be treated this way no earlier than in a day.

The foreign drug Tetra-Delta, supplied in the form of a suspension, is characterized by similar properties and method of use. As in the first case, before using the contents of the syringe, the goat needs to be milked and cleaned the surface of the nipple, after which you can gently insert the tip of the syringe into the nipple and release its contents inside.

In addition to antimicrobial action, the drug also has a small anesthetic effect.

While treatment is being carried out, the animal is provided with complete rest and is temporarily not taken out to pasture, while at the same time preventing any other contact with farm animals. Milk products are removed from the diet of goat-infected goats, giving the animal only hay from herbs or cereals.

Regular milking of a goat will also be useful, which will help free the udder from pathological secretions. As additional methods of combating mastitis, immunostimulating and homeopathic medicines are used, but always after consultation with a veterinarian.

Did you know? In stressful situations, limbs fail in goats. Some believe that they lose consciousness at the same time, but in reality the problem lies only in temporary paralysis of the legs.

Folk remedies

Some owners prefer to use only folk remedies to combat mastitis in farm animals.

The main advantage of all homemade ointments, decoctions and infusions is their naturalness, due to which meat and milk from diseased individuals can be eaten in a shorter period of time after treatment.

Consider several well-known recipes for such formulations:

1. Ointment from calendula and plantain. Both fresh plants are crushed using a blender or coffee grinder, then the juice is squeezed out of the resulting slurry and mixed with petroleum jelly. As soon as the ointment is infused, for several hours it can already lubricate the affected areas of the udder of the animal 2-3 times a day.
2. Ointment with camomile and calendula. A decoction of the plants is mixed with a small amount of pork fat and, after thorough mixing, insist in the refrigerator for 2-4 days. The finished product is used in the same way as the previous version.
3. Dill broth. 20 tablespoons of dill seeds are bred in 50 liters of hot water and after three hours of infusion they solder a goat half a bucket a day. Such a tool is suitable for daily use for a week, but only at the initial stages of the development of the problem.
4. Infusion of erva woolly and lingonberry leaves. Dried and crushed raw materials are mixed in equal proportions, after which 3 tbsp. tablespoons of this mixture pour 1 liter of water and insist in a dark place for a day. The animal can be fed 2 glasses of infusion twice a day. The next day, you will have to prepare a new portion, as the average course of treatment is 1 week.

Important! Many farmers consider dill broth a very undesirable treatment for mastitis, because in addition to its positive properties, it has one significant minus - excessive relaxation of the stomach, which often causes severe diarrhea.

In addition to the indicated treatments, you can use warming compresses or wrap the udder of the goat with a warm wool scarf.

Additional reasons

Mastitis is indeed a common cause of blood impurities in milk, but it is far from the only one. Therefore, before deciding what to do with this disease, it is worthwhile to exclude other factors that contribute to the appearance of the problem.

Stagnation

This problem is more typical for goats, which are issued by inexperienced milkmaids, each time leaving a small amount of milk in the udder.

Over time, stagnant processes become the cause of mastitis, and in order to prevent this, it is necessary to observe the rules of milking, as well as to exclude errors in the preparation of the diet and in the organization of animal welfare conditions.

In addition, stagnant processes can be explained by the accumulation of intercellular fluid, which is also characteristic of goats kept in violation of sanitary standards. In both cases, you can try to solve the problem by regularly massaging the udder and eliminating adverse environmental factors.

Content Violation

A dirty and too humid room that contains goats will not benefit any of them. It is worth paying attention to the presence of litter on the floor, especially if the floor is concrete. Prolonged lying on such a surface leads to hypothermia and the appearance of swelling of the udder.

Because of this, the milk begins to stagnate and, squeezing the parenchyma, injures it. If the pathogenic microflora joins the damage, then blood will appear from the “molten” walls of the capillaries, staining the expressed milk in pink.

Wrong milking

Lack of experience in the milkmaid and the lack of basic hygiene habits often lead to the appearance of cracks and abrasions on the nipples. Through them, pathogenic microflora enters the udder, causing first udder edema, and then the development of mastitis.

In places of severe inflammation, capillaries are damaged, from where blood appears. In addition, a few drops of blood can fall into a bucket of milk immediately after injury.

Wrong diet

Proper digestion of the goat is the key to its well-being, so the owner should take a responsible approach to the choice of products for the diet of the animal.

Excessive consumption of vegetables or insufficiently dried herbs disrupts the digestive system, and antioxidants, which are secreted by rapidly multiplying microbes inside, irritate the tissues of the udder over time.

Corrupted clover hay is a source of anticoagulants, the action of which increases the porosity of capillaries and provokes their cracking and further staining of milk in pink.

With severe drought, it is not worth driving the goats to a burnt pasture, because if they find greenery, then most likely they will be only drought-resistant poisonous plants. For example, the appearance of pink milk leads to the use of animal buttercup, milkweed, bedstraw. At the same time, for kids this milk will be safe.

The use of food pre-infected with pathogenic fungi in damp storage rooms, which results from improper storage, also leads to similar undesirable consequences.

Injuries

Any abrasion, scratch, injection or bruise can result in an inflammatory process inside the udder, which in turn provokes mastitis. A goat can get injured in a pasture, in a cramped and uncomfortable barn, or simply entangled in the chain to which it is tied.

Other pets, including relatives of the victim, may also cause injuries. If at that moment the udder was full of milk, then some of its stagnation is possible, especially if a hematoma or swelling has formed at the site of the shock or bruise.

Through open wound surfaces (scratches and abrasions) harmful bacteria often enter the mammary glands.

Important! Before grazing goats, carefully examine the chosen territory: it is desirable that there are no sharp stones or objects, rose hips, or other spiny plants on it.

Preventative measures

It is possible to prevent the formation of blood impurities in milk by observing the following preventive measures:

• the bedding in the barn should be changed as soon as it becomes wet or heavily contaminated;
• the temperature in the room should not fall below +6 ° C, so in particularly harsh winters you will have to use heating devices;
• the ventilation system should provide a sufficient supply of fresh air, but exclude the appearance of the slightest drafts (it is better to ventilate the room in the absence of animals);
• when milking, be sure to completely express all the milk, preventing its stagnation in the mammary glands;
• do not ignore the hygienic requirements for the milking process: before decanting, you should wash your nipples with warm water, then wipe them dry with a clean towel (only without severe rubbing of the skin);
• after milking, it is useful to treat the udder with petroleum jelly so that the skin on it does not dry and does not crack;
• the goat should be launched no later than two months before the appearance of the kids.

Separately, it is worth noting the need for a full and balanced diet of animals, but this is a prevention not only of mastitis or other problems with udder of the goat, but also the key to its overall well-being.

Blood in milk does not always indicate the presence of serious problems with the animal’s health at a particular point in time, but it is likely that in the near future the situation will change for the worse.

Even knowing how to treat mastitis or quickly eliminate the consequences of injuries, it is better not to bring the matter to use this knowledge, which will help compliance with preventive recommendations and regular inspection of the goat.