copper

[steff bugielski]

I have sheep in with my goats so minerals with copper is out. How do I get the goats the copper that they need without killing my sheep?
Steff

[Jen H]

I tried all sorts of sneaky things to get copper into the goats, and finally settled on bolusing them. I get the coppasure cattle boluses and break them down into goat-sized doses. I just get gelatin capsules from the health food store, but you can order them on line.

A bolus gun will save your fingers from being chewed on while you stuff the pill down the goat. I follow up the pill with a drench gun filled with koolaid to shoot the pill down and get the goat focused on the sweet stuff instead of spitting the pill out.

[DocM]

I use this site for my bolus information:

http://www.u-sayranch.com/goats/copper.html

There is a chart for scaling down the bolus amounts. You need to know your goat's weights - I use a tape. I also adjust the dosage for fast growing goats. The bolus treatment is supposed to be effective for about 5 months.

Instead of a bolus gun, which has never worked with my goats, I use a small dosing gun filled with liquid (I use gatorade, and my goats think they're getting a treat), the liquid helps to force the bolus down. The rubber tip that comes with the copasure caps fits on the end of my drench gun. Pop in the bolus, squirt it down the hatch. Okay, it's not quite that easy, but it usually works in two tries.

I bought a small electronic gram scale on amazon for less than $30. You need one accurate to .01 grams.

http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Pock...283856&sr=8-28

I also searched and found the best prices (easily beating the health food prices) on gel caps in all sized on amazon.