What causes goats to lose hair?
Goats normally shed a small amount of hair as it is replaced, but if large areas of hair loss appear, or if the hair falls out easily, or too much hair is lost, it is abnormal hair loss. When this happens, you need to check promptly to see whether it is caused by disease, external parasites, or a skin condition. Finally, it may also be a food problem. Let's look below at what to do once the cause is found.
1. Causes of hair loss
The first cause is metabolic disorder, with imbalanced nutrition of the hair papillae and a lack of vitamins and the like; sometimes iodine deficiency can also cause hair loss symptoms. It may be a skin disease caused by skin parasites, such as sarcoptic mange. Hair loss occurs during the recovery process of some infectious diseases. Some bacterial infections and poisoning can also indirectly cause hair loss. A lack of trace elements can also cause hair loss.
2. Cleaning and hygiene
Often keep the goats on open pasture so the flock can move around and build up resistance. They need to be brushed often, and the wool cleaned and the goats' skin kept clean. If there is hair loss, you can wash the hairless area each time to promote skin metabolism. Finally, feed concentrate regularly. If there is a skin condition, apply iodine tincture to disinfect, then apply the corresponding medication. If conditions allow, a medicated bath can be given, which helps them recover faster.
3. Medication treatment
For hair loss caused by ringworm, apply iodine tincture, and after it dries use antibiotic ointment, applied twice a day. For parasites, use ivermectin, injected as an injection for deworming. For primary hair loss, use a solution made of 10 grams of ichthammol, 50 milliliters of alcohol, and 100 milliliters of distilled water and apply it. For sarcoptic mange, wash the affected area with 0.1% potassium permanganate water, then use "Jundudi" diluted with water at a ratio of 1 to 100. Inject "Kechongxing" at 0.4 milliliters per 20 jin of body weight. For hair loss caused by Staphylococcus, besides treating external parasites, give "Afuding" orally and use "Jinling" goat bath liquid for a medicated bath.
4. Effects of the symptoms
The effect of the hair loss symptom is that the goats do not easily put on fat, and in winter they easily lose condition. If the wool is to be sold, it directly affects wool quality and yield. Some skin diseases affect the goats' health and make them thin. Poor growth and development, easy to spread, inconvenient to manage, and it increases the work of the caretakers. Losing the protection of hair, they easily die from getting soaked in the rain, and easily freeze to death in winter.
Hair loss in goats, although it does not directly affect economic value, is bad for the goats' health. It is best to use various medications to apply, wash, and give medicated baths. Inject dewormers. Treat promptly.