Nubian milk question

Horns doesn't mean she's not pure Nubian.......Most goats grow horns, it's just common practice to disbud (burn off horn buds before horns can form) dairy goats. Not everyone does, but you'll see more disbudded dairy goats on average than disbudded meat goats.

Even if she is not showing copper deficientcy she still needs a good LOOSE mineral, not a mineral block. I use Right Now Onyx by Cargill, it's a cattle mineral, sold in 50lb bags. Goats can be copper deficent without the classic fish tail & a good mineral (not any labeled for sheep & goats) can go a long way in improving overall health. I ran out of my minerals & after just one week without them I could taste a difference in my milk (was not pleasant).

Good luck with your new goats & try not to get overwhelmed.......Goats do have a steep learning curve, but in time you'll get it all figured out. Don't hesitate to ask questions, we've all been in your shoes at one point

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Crystal
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She is likely lacking in copper as basically all goats are if they aren't being bolused.

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alright will the loose mineral be enough? Or should I go ahead and give them a supplement for the copper?

I choose to copper bolus. If you only have a few goats to do, you can buy premade boluses from members here....Cannon Farms & Southergurl both sell them cheap so I would send them a private message, tell them the weight on the goat you need to do & order a few extras in case you bust one or it gets chomped.

Copper bolusing is one of the best, cheapest things I've done for my herd.....Not only does it give slow release copper that last a couple months, it also helps with barber pole worms.

I bolus every 3-4 months & feed the loose mineral free choice.

Copper bolusing is the only extra supplementing of copper I would recommend as it's slow release & pretty darn hard to overdose them on.

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Best Wishes,
Crystal
http://noodlevilleadventures.blogspot.com

Keep up with Noodleville Goats on Facebook!
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My Nubians this year were born with horn buds and were disbudded. I have another Nubian that has hers still at 8 months, therefore will keep them :-) My older doe has none, my buck has his.

Alright well just a bit of an update. I havent gotten my hands on copper bolus yet. But I they have had a diet consisting of a good quality sweet feed, and horse quality hay. Also their water is well water. I milked her today and it still tasted salty.

I put this in my other post about my goats but wante to include a picture of the goat I am having issues with

Molasses is not good. Molasses feed can disrupt the bacteria in the rumen and make the milk taste funny. Not all goats react to it, but some do.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

ok so goats should be eating sweet feed? Good to know, we were only doing it because were told not to let the horse they are pastured with to eat the goat feed.

No. Goats should NOT be eating sweet feed.

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Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Yeah I meant to put not eating sweet feed. I'll be pulling them off of it tomorrow and getting some regular feed for them. Maybe that might fix her milk being salty

Don't change them over all at once. Wean them off it mixed with whatever you replace it with and feed less sweet feed and more new feed every day.

Do you know when the lighter doe is due to kid?

-Sonja

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Wingnut Farms
Nubian Dairy Goats
New Market, Alabama

we were told january.