Clinical skills 2 Exam 2 camelids/sheep/goats

In south america

• camelids are not fed mineral supplements, concentrates and are rarely given cured hay.

• They live on native grasses

Llama (Lama glama)

• largest of the new world camelids (up to 350lb)

• longer face and ears than alpacas, higher set tail, more level back than the alpaca.

• used historically for transport and meat.

Alpaca (Vicugna pacos)

• smaller than the llama (around 150lb)

• much more valuable wool.

• shorter noses and ears than the llama.

• lower set tail and its back is more arched

• bred for their wool

• also used for their meat.

female that has reproduced

• hembra, dam, mare

Male

• Macho, bull

Father

• sire

Castrated male

• gelding

Group of camelids

• herd

Young /baby

• Cria

Gestation and breeding

• females → induced ovulators

• gestation

  • llama = 335-360 days

  • alpaca = 325-345

• non-seasonal breeders in temperature climates with good condition (often where they are found in hobby farms)

Housing

• dont need much except in th emost extreme of conditions

• a 3 sided shelter usually provided as minimum

• can be housed with goats and sheep

• intact males should be housed individually

• appropriate ventilation

• dry

• safe access for caregivers

• secure gates and latches

• soft flooring - bedding or rubber matting

• ample space

• non-slip cushioned flooring

• protection form predation

Fencing

• fencing needs to be strong but dont need barbed wire fencing

• 1.2-1.5m high fences usually sufficient

• prehensile lips can open gates so double latches recommened

• 4-6 alpacas or 2-3 llamas per acre.

• indoor housing → 1 alpaca per 2.5m2 area

• llamas and alpacas tend to defecate in one area of pasture called a middern.

Diet

• Bulk feeders → evolved to survive on poor forage in harsh conditions

• slow gut passage time to allow for efficient extraction of nutrients

• eat deep rooted plants in natural environment so very mineral resistant/require a high mineral componenet to their diet.

• diet should consist of 75-90% long forage(long plant stems - hay , haylage, grass)

feeding

• supplements eg pelleted feed should not exceed >25% of total feed.

• feeding should be consistent in the amount and time each day.

  • sudden cahnges can cause GI problems

  • any changes should occur slowly over a 2 week minimum period.

• there should always be plenty of hay/pasture and water at all times → 24 hours per day.

• llamas and alpacas are not tolerant to these and can cause copper toxicity - liver necrosis.

Alpaca wool

• two types

  • Huacaya → soft, dense and sheep-like fibre (~90% alpacs)

  • suri → silky, pencil-like locks (~10% alpacas) dread like looking black one

• suri wool is better suited for woven good and fine clothing, whereas huacaya is better for knitting

• shorn once per year, usually in the spring

• the suri breed of alpaca was reserved for royalty during inca times.

Behaviour

• Can look at behavior based on neck, tial and ear position

• may spit - defence mechanism

• often very docile but may bite, charge, rear and chest butt or kick

  • usually cow-kick (to the side) or forwards

  • dont get too comfortable because can also kick straight back.

Aberrant behavior syndrome/Berserk llama syndrome

• not a true disease but the result of poor human interaction, lack of training, and inappropriate soxialization

• not common for bottle fed crias

Handling and restraint

• strong herd instinct

  • always handle camelids in groups of at least 2 individuals

  • if you want to isolate an individual, move all into a smaller space and then separate the desired individual

• mom and baby together

• resent head being handled

• basic restraint of lamoids involves one arm aorund the base of the neck and another holding the flank region on the opposite side.

Cush behavior

• animal sits in sternal recumbency. very classic of a llama or alpaca who doesnt want to be lead somewhere

  • dont attempt to pull on the halter when this happens

• best thing is to come back later if possible.

Spitting - defence mechanism

• pay attention to the body language

  • head pulled back

  • ears pinned back

  • nostrils flaring

  • gurgling or movement in the neck of stomach fluid coming back up / straightening of the neck.

Calming techniques for restraint

• Ear twitch - same as horse. dont bend the ear as can damage the cartilage.

• dental pad massage - place the finger in teh split of the upper lip and massage the dental pad where there are no upper teeth - relaxation technique.

• Tail massage - hold the base of the tail and rotate the tall in a circular motion

Haltering

• need to ensure the correct size halter.

• can collapse the nasal passages as the distal portion of their nose is cartilage and not bone.

• semi-obligate nasal breathers → so need to be aware of them being able to breathe.

Shearing

• in alpacas fore legs tied forward and hind legs backward

  • prevents struggling and rolling

  • shearer gets longest straight blows making the shearing process more efficient and faster.

• llamas can be sheared stnading, holding the base of the ears as gentle restraint

Lamoid body condition score

• scale 1-9

• four main sites:

  • mid back

  • last few ribs

  • chest

camelids - Dentition

• Prehensile and split upper lip

• there are 6 fighting teeth or tusks 2 on the top gum and 1 on the bottome on each side of the mouth

• eruption times of permanent teeth:

  • central incisors I1: 2 to 2.5 years

  • middle incisors I2: 3 to 3.5 years

  • corner incisors I3: 4 to 6 years

  • tusks: 2-2.5 years

Feet trimming

• camelids bear weight on both P2 and P3

  • compared with most large animal species weight bear on P3

• no navicular bone

• claw covers the distal phalanx and is not weight bearing but used for propusion and traction.

• the digital cushion supports P2 and P3

Camelids - Abdomen

• Stomach → transit slower through C1 → proloned fermentation → greater plant cell wall degradation.

• consequence of this → reduced feed intake compared to other ruminants.

• have glandular saccules in C1 and glandular cells in C2 in comparison to the papillae of normal ruminants.

• C3 - has two distinct regions

  • cranial protion is lined with many folds of glandular epithelium → highly absorptive.

  • the caudal 20% is secretes hydrochloric acid and proteases and is the true stomach portion of camelids

• the caudal border of the liver is fimbrinated / rough which is considered normal.

  • dont have gallbladder.

Camelid physical exam parameters

• temp - 99.5-101.5

• heart rate - 60-90

• respiratory rate - 10-30

• feces - pellated, use dung pile

• urine - clear, pale yellow to amber

Camelids - thoracic / abdominal auscultation

Camelids Vaccinations

• all vaccine use in camelids is considered off label

  vet recommend:

• Clostridium perfringens type C and D vaccine

• tetanus

• rabies

initial vaccination at 3 months with a booster 30 days after, followed by annual boosters.

other vaccines:

• west nile virus

• EEE and WEE

• lepstospirosis

• equine herpesvirus 1

Giving injections to camelids

subQ

• shoulder area

IM

• infront of armpit

• behind the flank in leg m.

Jugular Venipuncture

• 1st site: cranial portion of the neck at the level of the mandible

• skin very thick, need a longer needle, good restraint. more superficial and not as close to the carotid artery.

• Jugular vein - not as superficial compared to other farmed species. needle 1.5inch

• jugular vein runs medial to the ventral projections of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebra and lateral to the trachea.

• experienced handler is important- keep the head slightly raised and turned away from the injection site.

• right jugular is recommended because if this does happen a haematoma is less likely to compress the oesophagus.

Camelid Haematology

• have a lower MCV (mean cell volume)

• RBC count is higher

• cells contain more haemoglobin than in cattle

• have on average a higher leukcocyte count than rumiannts with neutrophils being the most numerous.

• more resistant to anemia

• have an elliptical shape → makes them much more resistant to changes in blood osmolality.

• RBCs have comparetively high haemoglobin concentration → theorised to increase the ability of the cell to carry oxygen while the small size and flattened shape provide increased membrane surface for oxygen exchange (higher surface/volume ratio)

Small Ruminants Taxonomy

• Sheep

  • Ovis aries

  • Ovine

• order: Artiodactyla

  • Even-toed ungulates

• Multi-purpose:

  • wool, meat and milk

Small ruminants Taxonomy

• Goats

  • Capra hircus

  • Caprine

• order: Artiodactyla

  • Even-toed ungulates

• multi-purpos:

  • meat, milk and fiber

Sheep

• Tails point down

• have wool or hair

• spiral horns

• many are naturally polled - male and females

• Gregarious - strong flocking instinct

• scent glands on face and interdigitally

• Grazers

Goats

• Tail point up

  • born wiht short, upright tails

• hair or fibre

• most are naturally horned

  • polling usually artificial

  • natural polling gene closely related to sex deterimination gene

• horns weep backward

• beards and wattles are common

• scent glands behind horns and on neck

• browser

sheep terminology

• adult female

  • Ewe

• Adult male

  • Ram

• Castrated male

  • wether

• young

  • lamb

• group

  • flock

• meat

  • lamb/ Hogget / mutton

Goat terminology

• adult female

  • Doe / Nanny

• adult male

  • buck / billy

• castrated male

  • wether

• young

  • kid

• group

  • herd

• meat

  • Cabrito / Capretto / Chevon

Shearing

• The act of clipping the whole fleece from the sheep

• flece weight = 7-15 lbs

Crimp

• The natural wave formation seen in wool

• the closer the crimp the finer the wool (crimp per inch)

Crutching

• The act of clipping the area around the ewe’s perineum and udder prior to lambing

Mulesing

• Cutting off flesh/skin at 6-12 weeks old, from the perineum of Merino sheep to reduce the incidence of fly strike

• Inherently painful and controversial; illegal in some countries (NZ, Argentina, forbidden in EU. legal in US and Australia)

• should be used as a last resort.

Shep Breeds: Dairy

• “New” industry

• primarily East Friesian breed

  • white

  • polled

  • rat tail

  • heat intolerant

  • highest milk production

    • (400-500 lb/ewe/year over 180 day lactation)

Sheep breeds: Dual purpose

• Advantages

  • meat conformation is superior compared to wool breeds.

  • Improved herding instincts compared to meat breeds.

  • Good “all- rounders”

• limitations

  • lack genetic strengths to be outstanding in high-level meat or fleece production.

• Polypay

• Corriedale

• Gulf Coast Native

Sheep Breeds: Long Wool Breeds

• Advantages

  • Heavy fleeces, long fibers:

    • used for hand-knit crafts

    • protect from harsh climates and wet weather

  • footrot resistant

• limitations

  • coarse fleeces of lower value

  • not adapted to hot, dry climtes

  • slow to mature to market weight

• Leicester

• Lincoln

• Cotswold

Sheep Breeds: Meat/Market Breeds

• Black face = meat breed

• Advantages:

  • outstanding meat conformation

  • high avg. daily gains to reach market maturity early

• Limitations

  • Lower quality fleece, dark fiber contamination

  • lack strong herding instinct

• Suffolk

• Hampshire

• Dorper

Sheep Breeds: Fine Wool Breeds

• Advantages:

  • Rugged, adaptable to variations in climate

  • high quality wool used in making high-end clothing

  • easy to handle

• Limitations:

  • subject to fly strike due to wrinkles and skin folds

  • Lack meat-type conformation

• Merino

• Rambouillet

Boer goat

• meat breed

• originated in south africa

• cross btw Kalahari Red and Savannah

• most popular meat breed in US

• low maintenance breed

• good kidding rate

  • 3 kiddings ever 2-years

  • do well with out of season breeding

• Great performance

  • rate of gain

  • carcass quality

Kiko

• New Zealand breed

• Developed through cross-breeding native animals with improved breeds.

• Hardy, parasite resistant

• Good rates of gain and carcass characteristics

Angora

• Goat fiber

• Produce mohair

• 5.3 lbs / shearing

• shear q 6 months

Cashmere

• fiber goat breed

• >60 goat breeds

• produce cashmere

• 2.5 lb / shearing

• Shear or brushed q 12 months

Saanen

• Dairy breed

• Swiss breed

• white coat, very little pigmentation

• high milk producers

• sensitive to excessive sunlight / heat

Lamancha

• Dairy breed

• Tiny ears

• American breed

• Distinctive ears

• Hardy breed

Angulo-Nubian

• Diary Breed

• English breed

• Ctf goats 🐐

• highest % butterfat

• large variety of color

• Roman nose and long ears

Dairy Animals

• Both goats and sheep are easily trained to milking routine

• small emulsified fat globules, soft curd

• Sheep:

  • 180-210 days lactation (6-7 months)

  • 4-7 lb milk/day

• Goats:

  • average 284 days lactation (10 months)

  • 6-8 lb milk/day

Nachi

• Dancing goats of Pakistan

Damascus goat

• Worlds ugliest goat

Colorado

• is the leading lamb state

Predator control

• Est 65% of mortality loss due to predators

• common predators - dogs, coyotes, foxes, bobcats etc (dep on area)

• prey animals

• fencing (dependent on predator)

• livestock guardians

  • Dogs

  • donkeys

  • Llamas

  • Ostrich/Emu

Reproductive management

• puberty

  • sheep - 5-8 months

  • goat - 4-8 months

• age first breeding

  • sheep - 8-10 months

  • goats - 8- 10 months

• estrous cycle

  • sheep - 16-17 days (seasonally polyestrous)

  • goat - 18-23 days (seasonally polyestrous)

• estrous

  • sheep - 36 hours

  • goat - 12-24 hours

• gestation period

  • sheep 148 days (5 months)

  • goat - 150 days (5 months)

• average birth weight

  • single - 8-13 lbs

  • twins - 7-10 lbs

Bucks and Rams reprouctive management

• Bucks in rut have a strong odor

  • pheromones (sebasceous scent gland at base of horn)

  • urinate on front limbs and face

  • may be more aggressive / difficult to handle when in rut

• Rams have breeding flush

  • preorbital scent gland and inguinal glands

• rule of thumb: 3 males / 100 females

• leave male in with females for 1-1.5 oestrus cycles

• flehmen response

• greatest libido and fertility observed in the fall and spring

• seasonal breeders:

  • rams > bucks

Ewes and Does reproductive management

• Maintain BCS between 2.5/5 - 3.5/5

• Flushing

  • females with low BCS can be flushed with additional energy for the 2-3 weeks leading up to breeding

  • improves condition

  • encourages superovulation

• Ram effect / Buck effect

  • placing a male with females is a strong stimulus to induce estrous in 6-7 days a simple way to heat sync females

  • females must have had not contact with a male for the preceding 1-3 months for this to be effective

• marking harness / raddling:

  • placed to males to monitor breeding program

  • used to identify “problem” males and females - repeat breeders

nutritional considerations

• adults at maintenance will eat 1.8 - 2.4 % BW DMI/day

• omasum larger in sheep vs goats

• Copper

  • sheep are very sensitive

  • goats need copper to maintain health/immunity

  • cant feed the same diet and expect both species to do well

• Pregnancy toxemia (ketosis)

  • ewes/does with mulitple fetuses more susceptible (higher energy requirments)

• obstructive urolithiasis

  • seen most often in wethers on high concentrate feed

  • to prevent balance calcium to phosphorus ratio in the diet

individual handling

• stanchion and yoke stand

remove a single animal from the herd

• select animal

• grasp above the hock

• pull animal back toward you

• grasp under the chin and lift head

Gambrel restrainer

• suitable for shorter periods of restraint

• alternative to light sedation

• not suitable for painful procedures

• works better in sheep > goats (goats vocalized

Sitting / Rumping a sheep

• Sheep only

  1. Restrain animal with hand under jaw, standing on side of sheep

  2. one hand: turn animals head to its flank

  3. other hand: push down on hip at the same time

  4. grasp forelimbs and pull them upward

  5. sheeps back leans against your legs

  6. Animal rests on its hips, not directly on its dock

individual restraint: what to avoid

• DO NOT catch or restraint by grabbing the fleece/skin/haird

• DO NOT drag the animal by a horn, tail or ear

Body condition score - sheep

• Backbone, short ribs, eye muscle

• sheep deposit fat subcutaneously

body condition score goats

• same as sheep

• goats first deposit fat intra-abdominally

• thus we add 0.5 to the BCS score for goats on a 5 point scale

Famacha

• Anaemia scoring system using ocular conjunctiva (ventral)

• indication of level of anaemia

• score of 1 (pink) - 5(pale)

• used as representation of blood sucking parasite burden in particular Haemonchus contortus (barber pole worm)

• purpose: targeted deworming

technique

1. head adequately restrained

2. Cover eye with upper eyelid, pushing down gently on the globe (eyelashes will curl up)

3. pull down lower eyelid to expose ventral conjuctiva

4. compare to FAMACHA card.

TPRR (vital signs)

• temp - 101.5 - 103.5

• pulse - 70-80 bpm

• respiration - 15-30 bpm

• rumination - 1-2 contractions per minute

• MM/CRT - pink / <2s

Physical Examination

• thorax:

  • cardiac auscultation (heart rate)

  • pulmonary ausculatation (repiratory rate)

• Abdomen:

  • rumen auscultation, percusission, succussion

  • Ballottement - pregnancy check

• lymph nodes:

  • palpable - submandibular, prescapular and prefemoral

• limbs

• udder/testes

• temperature

Parenteral drug adminisration

• Subcutaneous injection (SQ)

  • behind the elbow

• Intramuscular injection (IM)

  • neck muscle

  • alt semiten/semimem

• Intravascular injection (IV)

  • jugular vein

• ALWAYS ASPIRATE

Orogastric tube

• administer oral medication

• oral rehydration

• colostrum administration

  1. measure tube to last rib and mark

  2. direct tube to left oropharynx

  3. allow animla to swallow and pass tube

  4. ALWAYS CHECK

  5. blow - hear bubbles in rumen

  6. listen - if air movment with respiration vs smell rumen, hear bubbles

  7. test with a little water first - no coughing can proceed and administer

  8. when done, KINK the tube prior to removal

  9. remove smoothly

goat preventative medicine

• very few products are registered for use in goats: Extra-label use

• goat metabolism is higher than sheep and react differently to certain carriers in medication

Core vaccination (CDT)

• Clostridium perfringens type C and D

• Clostridium tetani

Vaccination schedule

• lambs and kids

  • 4 weeks

  • 8 weeks

  • annually

• Breeding animals

  • 6 weeks prior to breeding season

  • 4-6 weeks prior to lambing / kidding