At Dyfed Farm Vets we provide a wide range of services for goats across the South West of Wales. We see goats from commercial herds to individual pet pygmy goats! We are happy to treat individual animals and provide a comprehensive health plan to help you get the most from your herd.
Goat health planning
We can provide you with a comprehensive health plan tailored to your needs, weather you are a first time owner needing guidance or a large herd looking to improve your productivity we can help. Health plans can include nutrition advice, routine vaccinations, details of routine husbandry procedures, parasite treatments and treatment advice.
Goat disbudding/dehorning
Disbudding of goat kids is best performed in the first two to seven days of life, as the horn buds can grow very quickly. In goats kids this must be performed by a vet and is done under a short general anaesthetic. The horn bud is then removed using a hot iron.
Adult goats can be dehorned if the horns are becoming a problem or are damaged. This is usually performed under sedation and local anaesthesia or a short general anaesthetic.
Both can be performed on farm or at the surgery.
Billy goat castration
Billy goats can be castrated if they are not going to be used for breeding or are going to be kept as pets. This prevents accidental matings, reduces aggression and can reduce the billy goat odour! This is performed surgically under local anaesthesia with or without sedation depending on the temperament of the billy.
Goat artificial insemination
Artificial insemination is used in goats to allow use of superior genetics without the need to buy an expensive billy or take the disease risk of introducing one into a closed herd. It also allows multiple nanny to be mated to the same billy at the same time condensing the kidding period.
We can use either fresh semen collected on the day from a billy or frozen semen which can be purchased from anywhere in the world and shipped to us.
The procedure is done laparoscopically (also known as keyhole surgery) under sedation usually at the surgery at Carmarthen, in partnership with one of our sister practices.
Please speak to one of the vets if you would like more information.