Why do my goats have shaggy hair??

desertshi · #1 03/14/09, 02:11 PM

I have been looking at pictures of mamas and their new babies for the past month or so. Alot of the places where you all are located are COLD and should still have snow, or at least snow and then melt again! So why is it that I live in a hot climate where it has been getting to 80 in the day on some days and not below 60 on others, and my goats are SHAGGY looking!!?? I don't understand! Are they lacking something??? Or do I just have hairy girls?? lol. Last July when I bought them they weren't even as slicked off as some of the goat pics I have seen on here! Someone help me please!? lol

LaManchaPaul · #2 03/14/09, 02:20 PM

Could you post a few pictures?

Do you provide free-choice loose minerals?

Paul

Alice In TX/MO · #3 03/14/09, 02:37 PM

Show goats are clipped.

Minelson · #4 03/14/09, 03:14 PM

Are they shaggy year round? Shedding happens with length of day and an inner clock. That's why they start getting a winter coat before it even starts to get cold. Mine look horrible right now. Shaggy, dull, muddy, dirty. It's because of the time of year...my horses are even worse.

catdance62 · #5 03/14/09, 03:24 PM

sometimes when they are shedding their winter under-coat they look kinds shaggy. Mine do right now, but I try to brush them to get the loose hair out of their coat.

desertshi · #6 03/14/09, 06:49 PM

Can't post a pic...camera is AWOL! lol But they were not AS shaggy when I got them in july. But, they were shaggier than the girls that I have seen on here!! Do ya'll clip your goats when there is snow outside??? BRRRR! lol. Mine have looked shaggy all winter, but it never snows here, is up to 80 in the day (except today!! 65 deg.) I just wish they were slicked off and cute like they should be! lol I have a mineral block....ya I know they aren't as good as the loose, but they don't sell loose here. I am working with what I have and hope to soon go across the border and get some loose soon. Could that be causing shaggyness?? Any other ideas?

Minelson · #7 03/14/09, 06:56 PM

If they are not getting enough minerals (copper) their coats won't look that good. I also feed Black Oil Sunflower Seeds and that keeps them nice in shiney

but not now! Now they look like crap with their undercoat coming out. Mine had real thick coats with temps getting to 20 below this winter. I'm not brushing them out until we are sure of no more sub zero temps. It was just 4 below with 30 below windchill the other night. Today it got up to 50.

LaManchaPaul · #8 03/14/09, 07:00 PM

My Ava was shaggy when I bought her and copper deficient. Though I didn't know it until this forum. Then, I began loose-high-copper minerals and now she is shiney and lost all of the long ruddy-looking hair on her flanks. Her tail still looks a little fishy, but she is now not so shaggy-looking anymore.
Paul

Minelson · #9 03/14/09, 07:02 PM

I just added a couple of pics...http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...57#post3682557
On Gretta (the brown pygmy) the lighter, real dull parts of her coat is the undercoat "fuzz" coming up and out..

AnnaS · #10 03/14/09, 08:05 PM

The Swiss breeds and many native breeds will naturally have longer hair. My Toggenburgs will grow a three to five inch coat in the winter, and it can look clumpy and shaggy. I clip them down when the weather gets hotter, so they have a coat more like a horse's than a Golden Retriever's.

From what I've seen, Nubians and Boers don't get longer coats that other breeds do. I guess in their warmer climate there was no benefit for long fur.

chamoisee · #11 03/14/09, 10:03 PM

They probably have spanish goat blood in them, spanish goats have a lot more cashmere than our dairy breeds do.

DairyGoatSlave · #12 03/14/09, 10:34 PM

my lamanchas are not too hairy however i do have one girl that is an absolut fuzzball, not sure why i belive that its just the way she is, so who know maybe they like thier hair

desertshi · #13 03/15/09, 01:46 PM

I think that it might be a mixture of things. I know that the farm where I got them wasn't giving them ANY minerals. People seem to think around here that they don't need it. I invite them to come to my house and see my animals chowing down on the block!! LOL. I definantly need to get the loose minerals for the goats. My sheep and goats are on the same block right now because they only sell one kind here. I know it doesn't have toxic levels of copper for the sheep...but that means that the goats aren't getting what they need either! Still, I know it's better than nothing at all for now until I can make the trip to get a bag of loose minerals.
I also wonder if they just might be crossed with who-knows-what kinda goats that have longer hair...but they do kinda look like balding golden retrievers right now! lol. They have almost like a ridgeback of 2-3 in. hair and then are shaggy everywhere else. And also something else I noted, it feels yucky!! Not soft or anything, really coarse and kinda dirty feeling.
What loose minerals do ya'll feed?? I need something from a store that I can go to. I will be getting it in El Paso, so I am sure there is an assortment of chain stores there.

Minelson · #14 03/15/09, 02:33 PM

I would suggest you make some phone calls before you head out for minerals...a lot of the time they need to be special ordered. Or the store is out of stock. Are you going to be able to keep the goat minerals away from the sheep? Because goat minerals have too much copper for sheep. I use MasterGain 12-6 Breeder that I get from grain elevator. It has 3000 ppm copper.

Backfourty,MI. · #15 03/15/09, 03:26 PM

You should be able to find loose mineral with a high copper content in it for cattle. Most of the time you won't find one with the copper goats need, labeled for goats.

Minelson, I don't think your goats look shaggy.
Mine have thick coats still from winter but are starting to loose there under-coats. My Buck is the only one I think usually always looks what I call "shaggy".