Copper bolusing :)

[TheLoveOfGoats]

So im sure this has been posted many times on here but I ave a question about dosage of copper bolus.

I have ND goats to start with.... I heard to give 1cc per 50lbs?? Is this right? and is it the 12.5 calve capasure or the 25gm cattle capasure or are they the same and one is just bigger?? We are in a pretty deficient area for cooper, an I have noticed one of my doe's and one of the 4 month old doeling coat is turning a red color and has a rough coat. How often should you bolus? I know some have said they do it no matter what every 3 months and others say when they show signs of it. Well for me I dont want to over do it and I dont really want them showing signs lol

[dosthouhavemilk]

http://www.dairygoatinfo.com/index.php?board=6.0
The dose that is normally used is 1 gram of copper for every 22 pounds of goat. Typically every 6 months though it does depend on your specific situation.
The calf boluses contain 12.5 grams of copper and the cattle boluses contain 25 grams of copper. Most people resize those into smaller doses for their goats. Some use multiple small boluses. We order the cattle boluses and I resize them into a single smaller bolus that fits the white calf balling guns perfectly. Less struggle and work for me later when doing our fair sized herd.
I have used the same boluses (1/8 ounce) on a herd of MiniNubians but do not know whether they would be adviseable for NDs. Kim has seen the size I use and I know she uses the smaller capsules for her herd.

[TheLoveOfGoats]

Thank you. Now to weigh them all! Speaking of that, are the weight tapes pretty accurate??

[Alice In TX/MO]

There aren't weigh tapes for Nigerian Dwarf goats that I am aware of. I'd be holding goats and standing on the scale.

[francismilker]

Can a person just empty the large cattle boluses and mix them in with the goat's feed? That's what I was planning on doing but the copper I ordered is on backorder.

[bwanaswan]

I don't think the goats will ingest the bolus in a mixed feed to the prescribed amount. I am not an expert in this manner but I did see an interesting approach using marshmellows.
http://www.goatspots.com/copper.html

[colemangirly]

What I did that worked pretty well was made bolous peanut butter goat sandwiches. I spread peanut butter on one slice of bread pretty thick. Then I opened the bolous (goat sized already measured) and put the copper all over the peanut butter. Then I fold in half really well so they don't come apart.

Now I know that lots of people will say that they shouldn't chew them because they need to be a certain size. Well for starters, they don't really chew that much with all the peanut butter (which they LOVE) as much as they work them back with their tounges (funny to watch). Secondly, I can't see how the size matters cause when I opened them, they were all sorts of sizes to begin with.

Anyway, it was totally painless and the goats love their goat sandwiches.

Tadpole Acres

[dosthouhavemilk]

The point on the sizes is that due to the different lengths they dissolve over a varying period of time. If they were all the same length they would dissolve at the same time and the goat would not be covered for a longer period of time but could be overdosed.
For me, the single bolus is the simplest. My goats wouldn't be likely to eat anything with something new in it.
I can dose a group of 20 in less than half an hour by myself...that includes catching them and writing down how much I gave them. Including hard to catch goats. One bolus and maybe there are 1 or 2 that have to be done a second time since they didn't swallow.