Description: One or both front legs have knees that bend inward. It looks identical to "hyper-extended knees." They often hold one front leg up and straight back, especially when they first get up. These goats had nice straight legs at birth and the deformity didn't happen until about 1-2 years old (or sometimes older) when they start limping. It also seems to affect their shoulders and front end. They have an obvious limp, but it does not prevent them from running or breeding does. (Video available.)
Inheritance: I have talked to a few different breeders and veterinarians about the cause of front-leg lameness. This may be caused by a mineral imbalance. It probably also has a genetic component. Interestingly, I have not had daughters go lame, even when both parents are affected.
It is interesting to note that Eagle Scout's littermate brother, who was retained by his breeder, did not go lame. That breeder thought diet had a major impact on front leg lameness. She started to see lameness issues after one of her grain companies reduced Vitamin E in their grain mix. She added it back into their feed in the form of powdered Vitamin E and didn't see it again. It should also be noted that Eagle Scout's brother lives back east where the type of readily available hay is very different. Her bucks are primarily fed grass hay with a supplemental grain mix. Our bucks are fed nearly straight alfalfa without grain and at the time Eagle Scout and ES Niolo went lame, our well water also had calcium in it.
I talked to a standard-size goat veterinarian and breeder who said he thought the lameness had to do with too much calcium in the diet that was not balanced by enough phosphorus. Alfalfa hay is high in calcium and does not have much phosphorus. He had seen some success in reversing it using injectable phosphorus if treated right as the lameness appeared.
I had another goat veterinarian breeder (Nigerian Dwarf) tell me that what I was seeing was not hyper-extended knees which is a strongly genetic problem. She felt that I was more likely to be seeing a mineral imbalance because it happened so rarely in my herd.
I had an appraiser with a lot of experience tell me that this front leg lameness seems to be more common in Nigerian Dwarfs and that he had seen a herd where it was very obviously genetic. With that in mind, and because he knew Eagle Scout was the sire of Niolo and D'Ambert, he severely marked down front leg scores and GA on all 3 bucks and coded them with "bowed front legs" because there was not a code for hyper-extended knees. He said he thought D'Ambert was starting to go lame. That was in 2019 and D'Ambert is still not lame.
I try to always freshen does as yearlings because it seems to affect dry yearling does and bucks who are on a straight alfalfa diet. If you do not plan to freshen your doelings as yearlings, I recommend switching them to a grass diet. Daisy was a doe who first freshened as a two year old in our herd and went lame soon after freshening. She always had straight alfalfa available to her as a dry yearling.
What I can say is that I have had some goats go lame (Eagle Scout and Niolo) while other goats (Jude and Barbeillon) in the same pen eating the same feed do not go lame. I have also had one full brother go lame while the other brother did not (Niolo vs. D'Ambert.) So there is probably a genetic component, but thankfully I have not seen it very often.
It is interesting to note that Eagle Scout's littermate brother, who was retained by his breeder, did not go lame. That breeder thought diet had a major impact on front leg lameness. She started to see lameness issues after one of her grain companies reduced Vitamin E in their grain mix. She added it back into their feed in the form of powdered Vitamin E and didn't see it again. It should also be noted that Eagle Scout's brother lives back east where the type of readily available hay is very different. Her bucks are primarily fed grass hay with a supplemental grain mix. Our bucks are fed nearly straight alfalfa without grain and at the time Eagle Scout and ES Niolo went lame, our well water also had calcium in it.
I talked to a standard-size goat veterinarian and breeder who said he thought the lameness had to do with too much calcium in the diet that was not balanced by enough phosphorus. Alfalfa hay is high in calcium and does not have much phosphorus. He had seen some success in reversing it using injectable phosphorus if treated right as the lameness appeared.
I had another goat veterinarian breeder (Nigerian Dwarf) tell me that what I was seeing was not hyper-extended knees which is a strongly genetic problem. She felt that I was more likely to be seeing a mineral imbalance because it happened so rarely in my herd.
I had an appraiser with a lot of experience tell me that this front leg lameness seems to be more common in Nigerian Dwarfs and that he had seen a herd where it was very obviously genetic. With that in mind, and because he knew Eagle Scout was the sire of Niolo and D'Ambert, he severely marked down front leg scores and GA on all 3 bucks and coded them with "bowed front legs" because there was not a code for hyper-extended knees. He said he thought D'Ambert was starting to go lame. That was in 2019 and D'Ambert is still not lame.
I try to always freshen does as yearlings because it seems to affect dry yearling does and bucks who are on a straight alfalfa diet. If you do not plan to freshen your doelings as yearlings, I recommend switching them to a grass diet. Daisy was a doe who first freshened as a two year old in our herd and went lame soon after freshening. She always had straight alfalfa available to her as a dry yearling.
What I can say is that I have had some goats go lame (Eagle Scout and Niolo) while other goats (Jude and Barbeillon) in the same pen eating the same feed do not go lame. I have also had one full brother go lame while the other brother did not (Niolo vs. D'Ambert.) So there is probably a genetic component, but thankfully I have not seen it very often.
Affected does: Daisy
Affected bucks: Eagle Scout, ES Niolo, BB Zieger, GL Bleu
Affected bucks: Eagle Scout, ES Niolo, BB Zieger, GL Bleu