Central Kentucky Small Ruminant Veterinary Services LLC

12/16/2025

Let's talk kidding and lambing supplies.

This can really easily become a super long list and everybody has their own way of doing things, so I've pictured just some of my essentials as a way to trigger thinking on other items. As I write this I keep thinking of good sub topics so we'll see what all this turns into in the next few weeks.

Really can be broken down into 3 big categories: stuff for the actual kidding event, newborn resuscitation and/or processing, and doe care.

I keep all my dystocia ("abnormal birth") stuff in a Milwaukee packout box and it is packed full. There are "toys" in there that if I'm pulling them out it's a really bad day for everybody, so we won't get into all those.

But for a dystocia everybody should have at MINIMUM these 4 things:
-Exam gloves. Small ruminants can carry several zoonotic diseases that may spread during the birthing process; with your own animals you've probably already been exposed to anything but it's better to be safe.
-OB sleeves. You'd be surprised how often you can end up shoulder deep in a small ruminant.
-L**e! Lots of l**e. Do not be stingy with the l**e. I like the l**e that comes in gallon jugs. Can then put it into smaller containers but you never want to run low on l**e.
-Head snare of some form. I like my Kellie's kid puller best but will occasionally use a different one.

Then we get into kid support. I have posted before about the newborn/calf recovery position and will probably do another post on that later. But some things we may want for new kids:
-Bulb syringe to clear nose
-Towels
-Tube feeding system and colostrum (frozen or replacer in case dam does not have enough)
-Needle or straw to stimulate breathing if needed
-Emergency and/or supportive medications in some cases (dopram, dexamethasone, epinephrine, etc - if your vet thinks these should be kept on hand)
-Clean place to set kid to work on such as puppy pads or feed bag
-Iodine dip or spray for navel (teat dip cups can work well), +/- umbilical clamp, +/- scissors

"Doe support" includes the period before kidding as we really have to watch some of these carrying multiples for signs of pregnancy toxemia. This list in itself could be super long but to start:
-Collar and/or tie to help hold doe still if you're solo
-Ketone strips and/or BHB blood meter (**make sure you have a NEW set of strips each year!**)
-Injectable calcium
-Medications for induction if warranted (another "work with your vet" thing, I use a lot of dexamethasone and Lutalyse in my herd)
-Oxytocin +/-, I think this one gets used too much sometimes but it does have its place especially after kidding/lambing
-Post kidding supplement of choice
-Banamine or meloxicam after placenta has passed

This is just a general list, certainly could expand upon all those components.
Oh and your veterinarian on speed dial should be on that list. 😉 I will often let my phone go to voicemail first, especially if a non client calls. But if somebody has already let me know they've got a big group due this week, or it's after hours and they've sent a text to me already letting me know they're about to check on one that's taking a little longer than normal, that puts them higher on my radar to allow a faster response.

What else is on your list? 🐐🐑

12/12/2025

Re posting this as we're about to get into some cold temps this weekend.
Get everybody bedded down!

11/24/2025

I mentioned in my last post the two does with enterotoxemia that I thought lost their pregnancies (one did, one did not).

Let's talk about entero.

Enterotoxemia is most commonly caused by bacteria Clostridium perfringens types C and D. Clostridial bacteria are commonly found in the rumen but an "overgrowth" is more likely to occur if other rumen microbes are thrown off. Change in pasture, too much feed one day, bad spot in a hay bale, noxious weeds, all can contribute to clostridial overgrowth.

Animals that have enterotoxemia will show signs of gastrointestinal discomfort such as a dull appearance, loss of appetite, and bruxism (grinding teeth). Classically they will have diarrhea that may start out with "cow pie" consistency but transition to liquid with mucus and/or blood. These animals can have all sorts of temperature variations but usually they have a below normal temperature by the time I see them. Cold mouth and tacky mucus membranes mean you're in big trouble with systemic toxins and dehydration.

The last doe I treated for this on my farm was not a friendly doe but I was able to walk up to her, her mouth was COLD, and her mucus membranes were "brick red" (think 1 on FAMACHA but a little more bright) indicating she was toxic.

💉 My treatment approach on these includes antibiotics, fluid therapy, NSAIDs (I like Banamine for an anti endotoxin effect as well), and supportive care such as B vitamins, probiotics, pepto bismol, and Mylanta. C&D antitoxin is seemingly forever backordered but if I have it, I will use it, too. It may seem like I'm throwing the kitchen sink at them but every drug has a very specific purpose in treating these animals.

⚠️ Polioencephalomalacia ("polio") is a very common sequelae to enterotoxemia and can even come at the same time. The "good" microbes 🦠 in the rumen are responsible for thiamine production. Clostridial species produce thiaminases- enzymes that break down thiamine. Thiamine is a necessary cofactor for energy metabolism in the brain. 🧠 So putting all those pieces together, when something throws off rumen microbes, you're going to have a thiamine deficiency of some magnitude that if severe enough will cause the neurological signs (blindness, seizures) we associate with polio. Any time I am treating a sick goat I am making sure they are getting plenty of B vitamins. (Also keep in mind, thiamine is B1- so these cases should be treated with straight 500 mg/ml thiamine, or higher doses of B complex, save your B12 for another time.)

Even though no vaccine is perfect, it is important to vaccinate with CD&T or a similar vaccine depending on your individual herd needs. It is unfortunately really common for herds to not vaccinate because they've never had an issue, or don't think the vaccine is effective. However right now without antitoxin available, this is a very risky decision. I have seen producers lose large groups of young animals that probably could have been saved had they been vaccinated. And personally I don't know of any vets recommending to not vaccinate at all. I prefer to vaccinate my adult dairy goat herd once pre breeding and again 4-6 weeks pre kidding, but most can get away with annually. Kids are vaccinated at 3-4 weeks old with another booster 3-4 weeks after that.

As we're winding down on breeding season and prepping for winter, it's a good time to reflect on herd health protocols including vaccines. CD&T vaccine is the main one I recommend across all small ruminant herds! It's easy to get nearly any brand from various places but I usually recommend ordering directly from an online pharmacy, veterinarian, or a TRUSTWORTHY feed store where you know it's been handled properly. 🌡️

11/22/2025

The key to a successful calving season is getting help to heifers and cows in a timely fashion. I created this infographic to educate clients on the importance of assisting deliveries within 2 hours. Feel free to share it on your practice social media!

11/17/2025

I have a fair number of "do as I say, not as I do" moments as a vet who also owns goats.

Last month I had a couple breakthrough cases of enterotoxemia (that's a conversation for another day). Both does were supposed to be early pregnancy, not yet confirmed but hadn't come back into heat. Both does came back into heat a few days after the illness- not surprising because they were very sick. Ultrasound tonight on what was supposed to be about a 30 day check from those dates. One doe (Daylily) was definitely at 30 days. The other (Dotty) gave me a surprise - I said "oh WOW" when I put the probe on. 😂 (Hint, this is not a 30 day pregnancy!)

When I re bred Dotty, I erased her original breeding date and wrote only the new breeding date. Daylily I wrote the new date but also did the "smart" thing and made a comment on the cell with the original breeding date and the circumstances of the new date. Fortunately I was able to go to a previous version of my Google Sheet and find the correct date for calculating Dotty's due date. Ultrasound and a "guess" were going to get me in the ballpark but I really like actual due dates for being able to manage late gestation does, especially should the need arise to induce.

No pregnancy diagnostic system is perfect but advantage of ultrasound vs blood test- a blood test would've probably correctly diagnosed her as pregnant, but I wouldn't have known she was 70 days. A blood test isn't going to tell me my first freshener doe that was just junior GCH at NAILE and settled to her lap AI is likely carrying triplets and I need to keep an eye on her for preg tox in a couple months. I'll use ultrasound and blood tests together if I'm not sure of something, and there are certainly times where both can be challenging (I really prefer to scan in that 45-60 day window - much beyond that and it's hard to count, then at a certain point skeletal development and fetal size makes it tricky to see much.)

All this to say it's good to be familiar with the various pregnancy diagnostic options- and regardless of what system you're using, keep good, thorough records!

11/14/2025

Dewormer resistance is HERE, it has been here but it is increasingly obvious every year.
We have to utilize other strategies to control parasites so we deworm as little as possible, while using our chemical dewormers in a way that is smart.

A Tufts University study has found that the sheep and goat dewormer fenbendazole failed in 87% of cases—signaling rising parasite resistance and the need for improved management 👉 https://loom.ly/fEQSCG0.

11/11/2025

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10/24/2025

Little pro tip for those that show a lot.
This summer I went through and put most of my currently owned goats into a spreadsheet. It's a work in progress (want to eventually get show wins in there to make it easier to keep track of "legs" in ADGA land). This is the master list, from which I can then copy individual animals over to other smaller sheets as needed, such as for individual shows.
Once in the spreadsheet it takes me about the same amount of time to do a health certificate for 30 animals as it does for 1 animal because I can just upload the CSV.
At exam animals are checked for health and to verify ID but having a spreadsheet with info makes it very fast to just upload the info since I don't have staff. 😊
And as an exhibitor myself I'm not scrambling last minute to get my animals typed in, they're already in one spot.

(Also please appreciate there really aren't that many goats on the master list 😆🫣)

09/07/2025

Yesterday was a LONG time in the making!

I have always been intrigued by advanced reproductive procedures to include AI and embryo transfer. Not enough to only do repro as I would miss everyday medicine too much, but I do think those tools are a necessary part of a competitive breeding program. I've gotten pretty decent at transcervical AI in my own herd but timing is so critical that I really don't prefer it in client animals, plus there is the occasional animal that is just not a good transcervical AI candidate that might do well with laparoscopic AI.

Been wanting to get this off the ground for a while but ya know, the whole time and money thing- when you have one you don't necessarily have the other, and I've been prioritizing pouring into other areas of the practice.

Got a lot of kinks worked out by end of day and identified some areas to improve efficiency for the future. With that said I am opening up some dates for a limited number of animals each session the rest of the year, starting with 10/11 and 11/15.

*****

Some things to note:
1. I can travel to the farm, but there is an additional $200 setup fee in addition to the regular farm call and the per animal fee. On-farm services can be scheduled individually and not necessarily limited to the dates I will release soon; those dates will be hosted in Harrodsburg with no farm call fee and no setup fee.
2. Per animal fee $50 ea, no drugs included (outside of sedation), protocol provided.
-Drugs can be included for additional cost (synchronization and/or post procedure drugs such as Banamine and antibiotics).
-If upon sedation and exam the animal is a "no go" for whatever reason, 50% of the fee will still apply.
3. Current max of 15-20 animals per day (currently only have 1 cart and just can't move them through that quickly).
4. Deposit due of $100 per farm at signup to hold your spot. If attendance changes for whatever reason, deposit may be partially or fully refunded at my discretion. (Family emergency or goats not coming into heat beforehand vs you just didn't feel like coming anymore - I am pretty easy going but I don't want to limit signups, then have people change their minds.)
5. Above fees and info subject to change; however once you have a deposit down, it is for the prices and policies that were in place when you put that deposit down.

To reserve your spot, please check out my new storefront on the website:
https://www.kygoatvet.com/store
Click "add to cart" under Lap AI signup and enter the indicated info.

08/26/2025

Family first, always.
They might come with me sometimes and we will have to get creative to keep everybody safe. My clients so far have been nothing but supportive in this. 🙌

While on the subject though, a gentle reminder to please keep non-emergency communication to business hours when possible. (Not been too bad lately and this isn't aimed at anybody in particular, I've been wanting to post this for awhile).

What nobody but me and my family can see is when that phone goes off after hours:
-I might be juggling a toddler having a meltdown and nursing a hungry baby while keeping whatever is on the stove from burning
-I could be out on an actual emergency already and the phone going off makes me wonder what insanity I'll have to go deal with next
-Every time my toddler hears the phone ring she yells "Oh NO!" 🤣 And while funny I'm not sure if that's because that's my default reaction after hours, or if she knows there's a decent chance I'll have to leave.

Someday I hope to have some sort of screening set up to triage what can be handled later vs what is truly emergent, and/or a small consultation fee for established clients needing phone support but not necessarily a farm call. Non-client emergencies are a lower priority, and likely to be asked to haul in or wait.

There's a saying, "charge them until you like them." I can't charge a high enough emergency fee to *want* to leave my farm & family. It's a labor of love, a much needed one as more practices trend away from large animal emergencies. One I am glad I can still provide because I have been there, needing a vet at all the inconvenient hours as a producer. But we have to take some steps to keep this sustainable as the practice grows. 🐐🐑🦙

08/19/2025

Today's episode of dumb ways goats try to die (don't worry he walked off fine although I threatened to kill him anyways)

Got home to find my older Ober buck Beau wandering around loose by the house. He's big but not one to cause trouble so my first thought was if you're out, something bad has happened. The other Obers came to greet me when I put him back. Time to walk the fence and find the Boer.

When I saw him in that position motionless my first thought was great, it's just barely too late in the morning to get the dead truck out today, it's gonna be hot, that's a lot of meat, I wonder how long ago he died and if I can still salvage something 😂 (you've got to have a dark sense of humor in this field). When he heard me get closer he started talking to me. His head was buried in the brush from struggling and his foot was cold. But he wasn't bloated and mostly had given up struggling. Was able to locate some wire cutters and find a good spot to cut the vertical wire that had gotten wrapped around a toe. After a few steps he isn't limping. Now to watch if blood supply took too much of a hit or if he really does get off totally lucky.

Freaking goats, about as bad as horses. 🤦‍♀️
"How" and "why" are two questions that generally go unanswered daily.
This is also why I'm a big advocate for getting bucks collected. This guy probably won't be as he's just a commercial to make some crossbreds for me when the dairy goat market sucks like it has this year. But it's an inexpensive insurance policy.

06/05/2025

🎉 Big Announcement! 🎉

We’re so excited to share some news with you!

You asked—and we listened.
We’ll now be adding goats to our buying days!

Stay tuned for more details—we can’t wait to serve you in this new way!