Treating Hoof Rot on Annie, The Nubian Goat

We started noticing that Annie, our Nubian dairy goat was limping.  After closer inspection, we could smell a powerful stench.  Yep, you guessed it, foot rot.  Foot rot is a condition that goats and cows get between their hooves.  It is caused by bacteria and high temperatures and humidity causes the skin between the hooves to crack and then the bacteria infect the foot.  Moist, warm conditions make a perfect environment for the bacteria to grow and that is exactly what we have.  Hoof rot makes the animal feel really bad.  They stop walking and spend a lot of time sitting down because their feet hurt.  Therefore they don't eat and become skinny and sickly.

Annie exhibited all of these symptoms and ALL of her feet were infected.  Tricia was very concerned about her.  We quarantined her in the barn as we didn't want her out walking in the ankle deep mud.  Tricia brought clippers out to the barn and began clipping privet and other browse from the woods in back to feed her.  At first she wasn't eating very much.  We drenched her with a molasses/water solution to get her rumen active.  Then we mixed up a 10% solution of copper sulfate with water along with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and gave her foot baths for 10-15 minutes a night.  The ACV is supposed to increase absorption.

There is likely a much easier way to give the foot baths, but we normally choose the most difficult way, unfortunately.  Tricia mixed up the copper sulfate solution with apple cider vinegar and poured it into a yogurt container.  Then we put her in the goat stanchion and hobbled her legs to the side with a lead rope. 

• Yes, she kicked a lot and carried on, but we dunked her feet in the cup of copper sulfate solution and held her feet submerged in the solution for between 10 - 15 minutes.  Opportunistic mosquitoes swarmed and bit us menacingly as we held her feed down with both hands.  Unable to swat the mosquitoes, we resorted to blowing them off of each other as sweat trickled down our noses.  Each night we repeated the process, but on different feet.  All this for a smelly goat.  You've GOAT to be kidding me, right?

Each night we would trudge out to the barn and repeat the process and we'd sprinkle lime down on the floor of the barn.  Over the course of 3-4 days, we're seeing great results!  Annie's feet don't have a foul odor any longer, she's no longer limping and she's begun eating again with great vigor and is even being bossy again to Oreo, our La Mancha goat.  Thank God Annie is back to her normal self again.

Molasses for Dairy Cows (And People too)

We’ve found that adding molasses to our dairy cows’ rations has been beneficial to their health.  Molasses is a by-product of making sugar and aside from being sweet and sticky, it is chock-full of minerals.  Molasses gives our cows quick energy, but also provides a high content of calcium.  Dairy cows need lots of calcium.  The sticky black stuff also has sodium, potassium, magnesium and sulfur, along with trace minerals like manganese, iron, zinc, and copper.

Molasses gives “sweet feed” that sticky consistency and that wonderful aroma that fills the feed room and reminds me (along with the aroma of Calf Manna) of experiences showing livestock as a young boy in 4-H.  Specific benefits of using molasses for dairy cattle include: improves digestion of hay, helps maintain conditioning, and increases milk production. 

As a result, especially in the fall/winter months, we pour molasses in the troughs for the cows to quickly lick.  The only problem is when it is cold, it is very slow to pour and requires some patience.  There is truth to the lyrics in Jimmy Buffett’s song, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”:

“The sun is hot and that old clock

Is moving slow, and so am I.

Work day passes like molasses

In wintertime, but it’s July.”

Molasses is made by squeezing the sugar cane juice out of the crushed sugar cane.  Then the sugar is extracted from the juice.  Molasses is what’s left.  The juice is spun in a centrifuge and boiled and the syrup that remains is light molasses.  It is processed again to remove more.  The syrup is more concentrated and darker.  Finally, it is processed a third time, resulting in blackstrap molasses.  This is the thickest and darkest of all – loaded with minerals.

But hey, molasses isn’t only good for cattle, it is good for people, too.  Benjamin and I wanted to surprise Tricia and make some cinnamon chocolate chip bars yesterday and the recipe called for brown sugar.  Well guess what?  We were out of brown sugar.  No problem.  We made our own.  It’s very simple.  It requires molasses and we always have molasses.  To make light brown sugar you mix one cup sugar with 1 Tablespoon of molasses.  To make dark brown sugar, you mix one cup sugar with 2 Tablespoons molasses.  Here goes:

1 Tablespoon of Molasses

We’re making light brown sugar, so here is 1 Tablespoon molasses on top of 1 cup raw sugar:

Poured on top

Just pour it on top and work it together with a fork:

Benjamin did the honors, working it all together with a fork.  First it is kind of lumpy…

A little more fork action and it starts coming together 

But with a little work it all comes together:

And finally, the finished product, fluffy, sweet brown sugar!

Light Brown Sugar

We added the light brown sugar to the cinnamon chocolate chip bars and they turned out great!  You never have to buy brown sugar as long as you have some molasses in the pantry.