Goat Diseases in Ghana: PPR and Common Illnesses

Why PPR is the first goat disease to learn

Ask a goat keeper which illness scares him most and the answer is often a disease he has never seen in his own pen. That is the trouble with peste des petits ruminants, usually shortened to PPR. It is a viral disease of goats and sheep, and when it reaches a flock with little or no immunity, it moves through the animals quickly and kills a large share of them.

PPR belongs to the same genus of viruses as rinderpest, the cattle disease that was declared eradicated in 2011. That history gives you a sense of how seriously the world takes the family of diseases PPR belongs to. Ghana's Veterinary Services Directorate works on PPR within the national animal health programme. Ask your district office what the current position is in your area, since campaigns and reporting rules change.

PPR does not infect people in normal contact, and it does not infect chickens. That matters on a compound that keeps poultry and goats together. For the goats, though, the picture is grim: an animal that catches PPR often has a short, miserable illness with a high chance of death.

Treat this article as a field guide, not a diagnosis. Many PPR signs look like pneumonia, worms or mouth infections, and only a vet can confirm the cause through sampling and laboratory tests. What the article gives you is the knowledge to notice early, separate the animal and make the call.

What PPR looks like in a Ghanaian pen

The first case in a pen is rarely the dramatic one. You will more often see a goat that stands apart from the others, with its head low, its ears drooping and no interest in the feeder. Within a day or two it may run a high temperature, have a thick discharge from the eyes and nose, and cough. Sores or erosions can appear on the inside of the lips and gums, and the goat may drool or find eating painful.

Diarrhoea often follows. It can be watery and foul-smelling, and it dries the animal out quickly, which is why a sick goat in the heat of the dry season can decline in a few days. Pregnant does may abort. Young kids are the most at risk, and a kid that is weak, shivering and scouring should be treated as a suspected PPR case until a vet says otherwise.

The table sets out the signs farmers report most often, what each may point to, and what to do first. It is a guide for the first hour, and the vet's diagnosis takes over from there.

How PPR moves from goat to goat

PPR travels in the breath, the eyes, the nose and the faeces of an infected animal. Anything that carries those secretions can carry the virus with it. On a small compound that means shared feeding troughs and drinkers, the same footwear and hands moving between pens, and the rope or stick you use to lead a goat. It also means the vehicle that brings goats to market, and the buyer who looks over the flock without washing his hands.

The most effective spreaders are animals that look almost well. A goat in the early days of infection may still eat, walk and bleat, and it is still shedding virus. That is why a flock can look healthy on Monday and lose three animals by Friday.

Movement is the other route. Animals bought at a market, moved between villages or brought back from a festive sale pass through crowds, pens and transport that have seen other goats. A goat bought in good health can carry the infection home before anyone notices. Keep the rule simple: do not bring a new goat into the flock without a vet's view of its health, and do not take your flock to a busy market while a case is active nearby.

The incubation period is usually a few days. That short window is why the first case often appears after a purchase, a visit or a market trip. When a farmer asks where a sick goat came from, the answer should come from the last two weeks of movements, not from memory alone.

Vaccination is the main defence, and how to get it

No treatment cures a goat once PPR has taken hold, and antibiotics do nothing against the virus itself. What works is prevention, and the main tool is vaccination. Field PPR vaccines are live, so they must be kept cool and used within the time the maker or your vet specifies. Once a vial has been mixed, it should not sit in the sun or be held over for later use.

In Ghana, PPR vaccination is usually organised through Veterinary Services, sometimes as a campaign that covers many villages in one period. Ask your district Veterinary Services office whether a campaign is planned for your area, whether the vaccine is supplied free or at a charge, and who will give the injection. Terms change from year to year, so check them directly rather than relying on what a neighbour paid last time.

Your vet will tell you when to start vaccinating young kids, when to give boosters and how to handle animals during the injection. Do not vaccinate a goat that is already sick. The vaccine will not help it, and the stress of handling can make things worse. Vaccinating the whole flock matters more than vaccinating a few favourites, because the animals you skip leave gaps the disease can move through.

A vaccine works best in a goat that is healthy and in reasonable condition. A goat in poor shape, heavy with worms or worn out by a long trip may respond less well, which is one more reason to keep body condition up through the dry season.

Our poultry vaccination schedule shows how a routine can be written down and kept on the wall. The same discipline works for goats: a dated list, a named person and a space to note any reaction. You can see the poultry version in the poultry vaccination schedule guide.

The goat illnesses you will meet before PPR does

Most goat keepers in Ghana see worms, coughs, lameness and sore mouths long before they see a PPR outbreak. Learning those first makes you faster at spotting the case that really matters. These are the usual suspects.

• Worms, especially barber's pole worm. Haemonchus contortus thrives in warm, wet weather and feeds on blood in the stomach. Pale gums, a soft swelling under the jaw (bottle jaw) and weight loss in an animal that is still eating are the classic signs.
• Pneumonia. Fever, cough, nasal discharge and fast breathing. Damp housing, draughts at night and the sharp cold of the harmattan all raise the risk.
• Coccidiosis in kids. Scouring, sometimes with blood, a hunched kid and a dull coat. Wet pens and overcrowding help it along.
• Orf, or contagious ecthyma. Scabby, crusty lesions around the lips, nose and mouth. It spreads by contact and can infect people, so wear gloves and wash after handling affected animals.
• Foot rot. Lameness and a bad smell from the hoof, most common in the wet season on muddy ground.
• Bloat. A swollen left side after a goat gorges on lush, wet or legume-heavy feed. It can kill quickly, so call a vet at once.
• Mastitis. A hot, hard or swollen udder in a doe, with changed milk or a kid that refuses to suckle.

Pregnancy toxaemia is also worth knowing. A heavily pregnant doe on poor feed, or one carrying twins or triplets, can go weak and stagger in the last weeks of pregnancy. Your vet or extension officer can show you how to feed to prevent it.

Worms, the FAMACHA check and why calendar dosing fails

Worms are the illness that most often costs goat keepers money without anyone noticing. A goat with a heavy worm burden keeps eating and still loses weight, grows slowly, goes anaemic and sometimes dies, and the rainy season is when the pasture is fullest of larvae.

Many vets and extension officers teach the FAMACHA system, a colour chart that compares the inside of the lower eyelid with five grades from red to white. A pale eyelid suggests anaemia, which in goats often points to barber's pole worm. You can do the check yourself, record the score and tell the vet which animals need attention. The chart helps you choose which goats to look at first. It does not tell you which product to use, and that remains the vet's job.

The reason to avoid calendar dosing is resistance. Worm populations can become resistant to the drugs used against them, and treating every animal on a fixed date, whether it needs it or not, speeds that up. Ask your vet to test your flock and say which animals to treat and which to leave alone. Move the goats between pasture areas so the worms cannot build up on the same ground.

One habit pays off quickly. Weigh each kid and doe every few weeks, and write the figures down. Falling weight in a goat that is still eating well is often the first sign of worms, long before the eyelids change colour.

The first hour when a goat goes off its feed

When a goat stops eating and stands apart, you have a short window. Use it to work through a set of steps that help the vet and protect the rest of the flock. None of these steps replaces a vet visit.

1. Move the sick animal into a separate pen that the others cannot touch, with its own water and feed.
2. Take its temperature and note the reading, the time and the animal's tag or marking. Goats normally run warmer than people, so your vet will give you the range to compare against.
3. Look over the rest of the flock for the same signs and count the animals that are off their feed.
4. Stop buying, selling, moving and lending animals until the vet has seen the case.
5. Wear gloves for any discharge, wash your hands and boots after the sick pen, and have one person look after that pen so the virus does not travel on other clothes.
6. Call your nearest vet or district Veterinary Services office. Describe the signs, the number of animals affected and where the goats came from in the last month.
7. Write everything down, including feed changes, new animals and visitors.

Carcasses are a risk in themselves. Do not drag a dead goat past the other pens, and do not sell or butcher an animal that died of an unknown cause. Ask the vet how to dispose of the body. That is usually deep burial well away from water sources, or whatever Veterinary Services directs.

Biosecurity lessons from the poultry side

A chick house teaches infection control faster than any textbook. A day-old chick has almost no defences, so a hatchery learns quickly that a visitor's dirty boots, a crate that was not washed or a delivery vehicle that came from another farm can undo weeks of careful work. The same thinking applies to goats, because the habits that protect chicks also protect kids.

Start with a disinfectant tray or a bucket of disinfectant at the pen gate, and make every visitor use it. Keep a separate pair of boots and overalls for the goat pen, and do not wear them into the poultry house. Use separate scoops and buckets for each animal group. Clean and dry troughs between batches, and remove droppings rather than piling them near the gate.

The poultry guides on quarantine and cleaning apply directly to a goat pen. Read the quarantine guide for new birds and the poultry biosecurity guide, then adapt the steps to goats and sheep. The principles stay the same when the animal changes.

Buying goats without bringing PPR home

A goat bought from a trusted neighbour in a quiet season carries little risk. A goat bought at a crowded market during a festive peak, from a seller you have never met, is a different proposition. Before you pay, ask where the animal was kept, whether it has been vaccinated, whether any animal from the same pen has died and whether the seller has moved other goats in the last few weeks.

Look at the animal itself. Check for discharge from the eyes and nose, a dry or dull coat, sores around the mouth and any soiling around the tail. Listen to its breathing. A goat that breathes hard or coughs when it is moved is not one to bring home.

Once it is home, keep it apart for several weeks, or for whatever period your vet advises, before it joins the flock. Watch its temperature, appetite and dung, and call the vet if anything changes. Quarantine is inconvenient, but it costs far less than a flock that has to be cleared.

Chickens do not catch PPR, but people and vehicles can carry it

This is worth stating plainly for a compound that keeps both birds and goats. PPR is a disease of sheep and goats. Chickens do not catch it, so a sick goat is not a reason to cull or move the birds for PPR's sake alone.

The risk is the human and mechanical route. A person who has worked in a goat pen and then walks into the poultry house can carry infected material on boots or hands. A vehicle that has carried goats to market and then carries chicks, feed or eggs is another route. Poultry have their own list of diseases to worry about, so the practical rule is to keep the goat side clean before anyone walks into the poultry house. For the feed and housing side of sharing a compound, see the chickens and goats guide.

Festive markets are where PPR travels

Eid al-Adha and the Christmas season bring goats and sheep from many villages into a few markets in a short time. Animals are penned together, loaded onto the same trucks and driven home to different compounds. For a disease that spreads by contact, that is an ideal route.

If you plan to sell into a festive market, plan the health check before the animals leave the compound, not after. Ask the vet for a health note if your buyers want one, and transport animals in clean, dry conditions. Keep a record of each sale, the buyer's location and the animals' origin, so you can trace a problem if one shows up. The guide to fattening goats for festive markets sets out the full timeline.

The same caution applies when you buy for the festival. A cheap animal bought at the last minute from a crowd you cannot trace is one of the easiest ways for a healthy compound to pick up a serious disease just before the feast. Poultry buyers face the same peak, and the festive planning guide for poultry shows how to count back from the sale day.

Records and reporting: what your vet will ask first

A vet who gets a call about a sick flock needs three things fast: how many animals are affected, what the signs are, and what has changed recently. A notebook answers all three. Keep a page for each animal or group, with dates of births, deaths, vaccinations, illnesses and treatments, the name of whoever gave each treatment, and purchases or sales with the source or buyer.

When you report a suspected case, the vet or district officer may ask for samples, may ask you to restrict movements and may explain what support applies. Check the current rules with Veterinary Services, because reporting duties and support arrangements change. What you control is the quality of your information and how quickly you pass it on. The poultry record-keeping guide is a useful model if you have never kept a book before.

Where goat health fits a mixed farm

Plenty of poultry keepers run more than one kind of animal, and the goats are often the part of the farm that gets the least attention until something goes wrong. Give them the same planning you give the poultry house: a health calendar, a record book, a vet on speed dial and a clean line between the pens.

If you are still deciding between goats and sheep, two sibling guides on this site may help. The beginner's guide to sheep farming in Ghana covers housing and feed for the other small ruminant, and the Djallonké sheep guide explains the local breed in detail.

Halaal Farms is a day-old chicks hatchery, so we do not sell goats or the medicines that go with them. If birds are where your mixed farm starts, the day-old chicks page lists what we hatch and import, and the order form is the quickest way to place an order. For questions about birds or batch timing, WhatsApp +233 24 915 1503.

Questions farmers ask