The Importance of B Vitamins for Goats

In this post, I'd like to talk about the importance of B Vitamins for goats. What B Vitamins to supplement and how to give your goat B Vitamins.

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I am not a veterinarian, this is only an example of what we do with our animals. Please consult your vet before making any health decisions with your animals.

Why does your goat need B Vitamins?

When your goat is healthy and its rumen (or stomach) is balanced, beneficial bacteria in the rumen make all the B vitamins that a goat needs. For the rumen to be balanced, the pH of the rumen should be around 6.5 on the pH scale. When a goat overeats or eats the wrong type of food, the rumen becomes too acidic and the vitamin B-producing bacteria die. If the bacteria die, they can't make B vitamins for the goat and the goat becomes deficient.

This might not sound like a big deal, but in the goat world, a vitamin B deficiency can be very serious and even deadly.

The two important B vitamins for goats are B1 (Thiamine) and B12 (Cobalamin).

I highly encourage you to check out my post The Goat Digestive Tract to learn how the rumen functions, how bacteria are produced, and how the pH levels of the rumen are important.

Goat digestive tract anatomy drawing illustration

I also encourage you to read my post, Baking Soda for Goats where I show how the rumen can be balanced with the use of inexpensive baking soda.

Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) for goats

B12 is responsible for the production of red blood cells. If you have a goat with a high parasite load, especially blood-sucking worms like barber pole worms, your goat can become anemic. B12 helps increase the production of red blood cells and prevents anemia. B-12 is also good for the immune system and helps your goat overcome any illnesses.

Vitamin B12 is responsible for:

red blood cell production

muscle development

extracts energy from food

eyesight

stimulate appetite

maximizes oxygen production

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) in goats

If there's a major change to your goat's diet, if stress levels are increased, if there is a high occurrence of the protozoa coccidiosis (which causes diarrhea), or a high worm load your goat can become Thiamine deficient. Whenever the goat's digestive system is unwell Thiamine levels can go down. B1 is responsible for the metabolism of carbohydrates and also responsible for brain function. When a goat is B1 deficient, it will show signs of neurological distress such as stumbling, lack of balance, glazed eyes, weaving, and loss of muscle control. These are signs of goat polio.

Goat polio

Polio in humans is caused by a virus, but in goats, it is caused by a Thiamine deficiency. The two diseases are not related. Goat polio can occur any time the goat is suffering from digestive upset. Upset can be caused by rapid changes in diet, overeating, eating the wrong types of foods, lack of water, antibiotic use, stress, high parasite load, or coccidiosis. Any time the bacteria in the rumen is compromised and unable to make Thiamine.

Goat polio can be fatal and can take a goat down within 1-2 days. You will usually see neurological signs like stumbling, weaving, loss of muscle control, eye issues like unfocused or glazed eyes, or blindness. The goat can begin convulsions and will usually die if not treated within 1 to 2 days.

Luckily the treatment is quite simple.

Fortified B Complex for goats

Whenever our goats are suffering from digestive issues, I always turn to Vitamin B Complex first. It can help stabilize a goat while you find the cause of distress and are able to treat the underlying issue.

We use a Fortified Injectable B Complex for our goats. It's water soluble which means it's very hard to overdose. Any excess B vitamin that your goat does not use, will get flushed out in the urine. So it's safe to give it any time your goat is having health issues.

It's important to find a brand that reads "Fortified" this simply means that the levels of vitamin B are high enough that it will effectively treat a deficiency.

Fortified Vitamin B Complex dosage for goats

The dosage for Vitamin B Complex is 4 1/2 ml per 100 pounds.

Check out my post 5 Ways to Weigh a Goat to get an accurate weight on your goat.

Our doe Penelope weighs 140 lbs so she would receive 6.3 ml or cc of Vitamin B. Check the bottle label for recommendations.

4.5 ml (Vitamin B) x 1.40 (goat weight) = 6.3 ml

For a B12 deficiency, you can give 1 dose per day until the symptoms are gone.

For a B1 every 6-12 hours then 24 hours after symptoms are gone.

How to give a subcutaneous injection of Vitamin B Complex

Materials:

Vitamin B Complex (link)

alcohol swab

20 gauge needle

12 mm (cc) syringe

"Sharps" container

animal shears (optional)

For Vitamin B injections we are using a 20 gauge (size of the needle) by 1" (length of the needle) needle and a 12 mm (cc) syringe. You could use a shorter needle length, but this is all our local farm store had. We have large goats so they will need a larger syringe to hold all the solution in one injection. If both your needles and your syringe say "Luer Lock Tip" that means that the needles and syringes will screw together and work with each other. We were able to find these 12 ml syringe and needle combinations (below).

Remove the safety cap from the needle.

Pull the syringe back a bit more than the dose you need.

Pierce through the rubber seal and inject the air into the bottle, this will help pressurize the bottle and the vitamin liquid will come out more easily.

Draw the liquid out drawing a little more than you need.

Tap the syringe with the needle still inserted to get the bubbles to the top. Then press the vitamin liquid back into the bottle until you are level with the correct dosage.

Remove the needle and place the cap on until you're ready to inject the goat.

Where to inject

You can give a subcutaneous injection anywhere where you can pull up a pinch of skin. Subcutaneous means under the skin, not into the muscle (intramuscular). We gave Penelope her injection on her shoulder. You can also shave the area where you plan to inject so that you can see more clearly.

Clean the area with an alcohol swab.

Pinch up an area of the skin creating a triangle shape or a tented area (shown in blue). Inject the needle into the hollow triangle area into the skin (shown in red) Compress the syringe.

How to give a goat a subcutaneous injection

Remove the needle, and replace the safety cap. Immediately remove the capped needle and place it in a "Sharps" container. To learn more about the correct way to dispose of used needles please click here.