Most disease outbreaks on Indian goat farms are not caused by rare pathogens — they’re caused by a missed or delayed vaccination window. This calendar lays out a practical, India-adapted vaccination and deworming schedule you can pin up in your shed and actually follow.
Core Vaccination Schedule
- PPR (Peste des Petits Ruminants): once yearly, ideally before monsoon — the single highest-priority vaccine for Indian goat herds.
- Enterotoxemia (ET / overeating disease): twice yearly, and again for kids at 3 and 6 weeks of age.
- Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD): as per local veterinary department cycle, typically every 6 months in endemic zones.
- Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (H.S.): once yearly, before monsoon in high-risk regions.
- Goat Pox: once yearly, particularly for herds in colder northern regions.
Deworming Calendar
Deworm kids first at 3–4 weeks, then every 3 months for adults — shortened to every 6–8 weeks during and just after monsoon, when parasite load peaks. Rotate deworming products by chemical class roughly once a year to slow resistance build-up, and always deworm new animals before mixing them into the existing herd.
Monthly Routine Health Checks
- Body condition scoring — feel the spine and ribs monthly; don’t rely on eyeballing coat condition alone.
- Hoof inspection and trimming — every 6–8 weeks, more often in wet conditions.
- FAMACHA eyelid check (anaemia screening for parasite load) — monthly during high-risk seasons.
- Udder and reproductive check for breeding does — monthly, more frequent near kidding.
How to Use This Calendar
Print it, pin it near the feeding area, and mark off each date as you complete it. A herd that never misses PPR and enterotoxemia windows avoids the two disease categories responsible for the majority of preventable losses on Indian goat farms.