Does Holistic Really Work?

A couple of weeks ago I went out to the goat shed in the morning to let the animals out and found one of our kids had developed log poop. If you aren’t aware, goat poop is supposed to be little round pellets, so log poop is very concerning.

I make it a practice to keep an awareness of the most common issues that can pop up in the animals I own by following accounts online where people ask about said animals and get holistic feedback on how to support their sick animals. I do this so that when a problem arises, my brain will provide me with answers instead of panic.

And so, when I saw that Huckleberry, our buckling kid, had an issue, my brain started thinking over the past couple of days, looking for clues as to the cause. Several things came to mind: The weather had been erratic which can cause a worm bloom. I took him into the tack room 2 days prior to trim his hooves and he’d licked up the grain dust that remained in the milk stand bucket from when I’d milked his mom that morning, and the following day he broke into the tack room after I was done milking his mom and licked up more grain dust. He was banded a couple weeks prior which would be stressful to his body and could cause a worm bloom.

After coming up with these clues, I took his temperature, looked under his eyelids (color of the lower eyelid can indicate potential anemia due to parasite overload), checked his band for any signs of infection or other complications. Everything was normal and looked good.

So I was looking at two possibilities: Parasites or an upset tummy from an unfamiliar food. Luckily, as far as holistic remedies go, the solution was the same for both problems.

I went inside and made up a batch of Tummy Tamer from one of the holistic groups I’m in. I didn’t have all the herbs recommended, but I had most of them. This was a mix of cayenne, cinnamon, garlic powder, and mullein mixed with molasses.

I rolled this mixture into little balls that equaled about 1/3 of a teaspoon each and began giving him 3 of those a day. After two days his log poop had turned to liquid. Not good.

It’s easy to say holistic methods work when everyone is healthy, but for me, when someone gets sick and I don’t get the results I’m expecting when I expect them, doubt begins to creep in. I inevitably turn to the internet and look at the conventional treatment options and where and how I can get my hands on them “just in case”.

I am certain this is because I have not been using holistic methods for very long, and for the most part, everyone has stayed healthy since I started using them as a preventive measure. So, I haven’t been tested very much as far as needing to treat any illnesses. And I forget that all the work I’ve put in to prevent illness is a sure sign that it does work.

Anyway, I also posted my case in one of the goat groups to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. Several options were mentioned that I hadn’t thought about: Activated charcoal, baking soda, and probiotics were among the top suggestions. “Duh, of course. I should have remembered those.” I thought to myself and considered canceling the order I’d made for the conventional stuff.

I regrouped, made a new batch of herbal medicine that included the three herbal blends I use in the herbal balls I give my goats once a day to prevent worms. All of them are from the company Fir Meadow. GI Soother, Herbiotics, and DWA. I also added a bunch of crushed garlic, essential oils (oregano, thyme, lemon, lemongrass, digize, and thieves.) A healthy squirt of Probios probiotics, a little bit of baking soda, and molasses which contains trace minerals, but also because goats love molasses which makes their medicine a “treat”.

After mixing this all up, I made more little balls about 1/3 -1/2 teaspoon in size and upped the dosage to 4 times a day for Huckleberry and once a day for everyone else.

Within 24 hours Huck’s poop was back to log poop. Very encouraging. Especially since the weather had dipped and I was worried about his backside being constantly wet and gross in the cold. After 48 hours those log poops were getting more firm. At 72 hours, I could see distinct pellets, but they were still all stuck together. 4 days after I made the new batch of herbal medicine, his poop was mostly back to normal. At this point I took him down to 2 herbal balls a day until everything was totally normal – which was 2 more days – and finally, I went back to 1 day and there has been no reoccurrence.

Here’s the thing about holistic: Holistic is about preventing disease and sickness not waiting until you’re sick before you treat. It’s about a good diet, a good environment, good genetics, and knowing what can crop up when stuff happens that is out of your control, like weather changes and goats breaking into feed they aren’t supposed to have.

It’s about supporting bodies before any sickness shows up so that the body is ready to fight off that sickness and then adding extra support to help the body fight off the sickness.

It’s not like western medicine where you only take it once symptoms show up.

In my experience, if you aren’t using holistic practices every single day, and then try going holistic when you or your animals are sick, it will take much longer to see results. Whereas, if you implement holistic practices into your everyday life, your body won’t have to fight so hard to expel sickness because it will already be prepared to do so.

I have been in the process of detoxing my own life for many years because of my sensitive skin and frequent eczema rashes when I was younger. I began using holistic methods with my animals when we started the ranch because of the lack of livestock vets in our area. I needed a way to ensure I was doing everything I could for my animals to keep them healthy so that, hopefully, a vet wouldn’t be needed except on the rare emergency occasion.

So, does holistic work? Yes. 1000 times yes. Do I now have a bottle of Corrid sitting on my shelf that I will probably never use? Also, yes. But it’s also a bottle I have on hand in case a neighbor who doesn’t use holistic methods finds themselves in an emergency parasite situation and needs something fast.

Sometimes switching to holistic practices can seem overwhelming. For animals it’s easier because it comes down to what you feed them for the most part. With animals it’s best not to add too much at once. You want to incorporate one thing at a time and see how it affects them over the course of a couple weeks. So if you’re looking to incorporate holistic practices, start with their feed. Is it nutritionally dense? Can you add things to their diet to add nutrients? What do you see that could be indicators that a change is needed? Rough coat, missing patches of fur, inflammation, itchiness? These are all signs that the body is out of sync in someway and can all help you figure out where to start your research. If your animals are young or don’t show any of these signs, then you’re in a good place to figure out how to keep them from developing these issues.

And remember, holistic is more about preventing illness than treating illness, although it can do both.