how to improve hair and skin?

[tavia]

I have an Alpine who had triplets in April. She seemed pretty stressed out from nursing all those guys. She lost weight, She got really bad dandruff, lost a bunch of hair (posibly lice) and her milk production went down. Well I treated her with everything I could think of. Probios, nutradrench, lice treatment, chemical & herbal wormers, BOSS, B vitamins, coppper"cookies" once a week....
A month later she is doing much better. Producing milk, back to her old figure, most of the dandruff gone, some hair is growing back. Her babies are gone now. My question is, what kinds of minerals and things effect hair growth?.. Is there anything I could give her to help her get her beautiful coat back?
Thanks, Tavia

[BlueHeronFarm]

The BOSS will help, vitamin E will help, too (just bust a capsule and squeeze over feed). As far as minerals - copper is good for coat. Not sure what else.

We have one like this - she's slowly coming back to "pretty" - but,, like you, we have thrown the book at her after worming- nutradrench, red cell, BOSS, Vit E...we brush her fairly often to get rid of the yukky dry hair - she looks much nicer for a while after that.

[Milk n' Honey]

We had some does get pretty nasty looking from lice. It is amazing how much loss of body condition lice can cause!! I couldn't believe it. I think a lot of it is just time. I can't stress how important free choice loose mineral is and it has to be just for goats....not a sheep/goat mineral. Because of the reason for her condition, I'd say she is still a bit anemic and she needs iron. Check her gums and eyelids....are the pale pink or whitish? You may need to supplement with red cell for a while. I do not know the doseage but maybe someone else will. My nubian doe got a bath with a scrub brush and she hated every minute of it!! LOL!! She had all that nasty dandruff. Then I used a slicker brush, for a dog, on her and that really cleaned her skin up. Everyone else had great suggestions. I hope she gets better!!

[Day-By-Day-Farm]

put a little bit of olivie oil on top of her grain..........not to much or it will give her the runs. Olivie oil should help make her coat nice and sleek; it also helps with dry skin

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Her babies are gone now.
....................................

Having does who can stay in excellent shape while nursing, or milking so you can breed them to kid, is a science. Your doe didn't have enough of something, usually nutrition during the dry period, to be able to nurse 3 kids, and if she is not at least 3 herself, grow herself...so she gets too thin, blows her hair coat etc...it's almost impossible to get condition on a doe while she is nursing kids or milking...so making sure she is in excellent shape before she kids is key.

What are you worming with? Is your hay good? Do you supplement alfalfa pellets if your hay is grass? Do you have a good loose mineral program? Giving copper sulfate daily in the form of cookies isn't really going to do much if you also don't have zinc, and selenium in them. Find yourself a good loose mineral, find the best hay, then just supplement any defficencies you have in your area with more copper (bolusing is better) giving Bo-se selenium injections, and grain for energy and fat. Adding everything to her diet now that the kids are weaned is fine, but it's what she has needed all along that will keep her from going down like this next nursing season. Vicki

[LMonty]

flax seed meal is great for coat condition

[tavia]

She is not anemic (eyelids are pink). She had Bo-Se shots twice a year. She has free choice minerals. I have used two kinds of pellet wormers for goats, and give her Hoeggers herbal wormer once a week. She is on regular hay (wont eat alfalfa pellets) and blue seal "caprine challenger" grain ( a quart twice daily while milking)
Anyone use kelp as a supplement?

[DQ]

if your wormer was labeled for goats it was either fenbendazole or pyrantel both of which are the least effective wormers, that doesnt' neccesarily mean they didn't work, its just that for many people they don't, depends on your particular worms resistence. I would worm her with something else, it will be off label but its pretty easy to find the doses. I personally go for ivermectin wormers made for horses. At least do a fecal to see if you need to. checking the eyelids only checks for anemia, pink eyelids is not an indicator of no worm infestation just no anemia caused from barber pole worms. she could be loaded with tape worms stealing her food (and your $) and not be anemic. I have had interesting experience with alfalfa pellets. at one feed store they are super hard, large, and shiny and my goats love them. At another they are smaller,crumblier looking and dull, my goats wouldn't touch them for a week, till they finally got hungry enough. maybe try a different brand of pellets.?? I give calf manna too and notice a real difference in their coat.

[Jim S.]

Hey DQ, I'm with you!!! I'd get that goat some ivermectin orally, and she'll perk up. Be sure to go 1 cc per 22 pounds weight, or even a little more. When in doubt, use a bit more. The margin of safety is unreal wide. Hit her again in about 10 to 15 days.

Cocci can drag them down, too.

Hmmm...I like that olive oil idea, Day by Day. I used to use just use plain ol veggie oil, it works good too. Cheap ways to do it. Since I started with whole cottonseed in winter, it slicks them up with no help.

[Sher]

I have found that pulled down .. dull coated goats..sometimes respond quite well and often very fast to "greens." Here..its a matter of turning them out on the good old green pasture grass and browse.

Alot of goats these days are pretty confined. We feed the best alfalfa we can find..yet pasture still puts the bloom on these girls.