Goat & Sheep
Goats & Sheep
PPR in Goats and Sheep — The Plague With a Vaccine
Updated 26 Aug 2026 • By Falah Nutrition Desk, Animal Nutrition Advisor
PPR — goat plague — can empty a flock in weeks: fever, mouth sores, pneumonia and scouring together, spreading animal-to-animal like fire. The counterweight is one of veterinary science's good news stories: a highly effective vaccine, widely deployed through government programmes. Knowing the disease picture and keeping the flock vaccinated is essentially the whole defence.
Common Signs
- High fever with heavy dullness in goats/sheep — often several within days
- Discharge from eyes and nose becoming thick; crusting muzzles
- Sores and erosions in the mouth — drooling, painful eating
- Coughing pneumonia and foul diarrhoea as it advances
- Spreading through the flock, hitting young stock hardest
Possible Causes
- A morbillivirus of small ruminants — highly contagious animal-to-animal
- Markets, mixing, new purchases and shared grazing spreading it between flocks
- Unvaccinated flocks standing fully exposed
- Young animals and stressed, parasitised flocks suffering worst
- Cattle don't sicken from it — this is the goats-and-sheep plague specifically
What the Farmer Should Check
- Vaccination status — has the flock had PPR vaccine, and when? (Government drives run periodically; ask the animal husbandry office)
- New introductions: quarantine practised? Market animals mixed straight in?
- The combination picture: fever + mouth sores + discharge + scour in small ruminants
- How many affected and how fast — PPR moves in days
- Neighbouring flocks: any similar outbreak nearby?
Feed Guidance
Vaccinate — that is the sentence; the PPR vaccine gives strong, long protection and is the backbone of national eradication drives, often free through government campaigns: ask your veterinary doctor or the local animal husbandry office when it's available and get every animal covered, with new purchases vaccinated-and-quarantined before joining. During any suspected outbreak: isolate sick animals immediately, stop all flock movement and mixing, and report to the doctor at once — PPR is a notifiable, campaign-managed disease and reporting brings help. Nursing the sick is soft-feeding work: moist tender green, wet mashes, lukewarm water constantly, shade and dry bedding — mouth-sore animals starve at the exact moment they need strength, so softness IS the medicine you control. Recovered flocks rebuild on steady feed and minerals over the following month.
Relevant GOKA Products
When to Contact a Veterinary Doctor
Fever with mouth sores and scouring in goats or sheep — especially several animals — needs immediate veterinary reporting: for treatment support, outbreak control, and access to the vaccination response that protects the area\'s flocks.
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