Milk fever (hypocalcaemia) is a common metabolic disorder in dairy goats around kidding. Welfare-focused prevention and rapid treatment significantly reduce suffering.
Milk fever in dairy goats is a welfare emergency requiring rapid recognition and treatment. The initial signs — muscle weakness, shaking, and difficulty rising — progress rapidly to recumbency and coma. Does in milk fever experience significant discomfort from muscle weakness and metabolic derangement. Without treatment, the condition is fatal within 24-48 hours, making rapid owner recognition and response welfare-critical.
The bloat that frequently accompanies milk fever in recumbent does adds a further welfare dimension. Gas accumulation in the rumen of a recumbent animal that cannot eructate causes painful abdominal distension and impairs breathing. Positioning recumbent does in sternal recumbency (sitting up) rather than on their sides reduces bloat risk while awaiting veterinary treatment.
Milk fever prevention is achievable through dietary management. Reducing dietary calcium in the 3-4 weeks before kidding stimulates parathyroid hormone activation and prepares calcium mobilization mechanisms. Oral calcium supplementation at kidding and post-kidding provides additional support. Magnesium provision is also important — hypomagnesaemia impairs calcium homeostasis and increases milk fever risk.