Hi. I'm asking this for both my Mum and myself. I'm in a small town, and the livestock vet really isn't a goat vet.....great with cattle and horses, not so much with goats and sheep.
We have a very small herd, 1 alpine doe, 1 saanen doe and both their offspring by a Lamancha buck (one doe, and one wether who is mine)....they are really just spoiled pets, but I've noticed some coat problems, particularly with mine. It's like their winter coats don't shed out, even with brushing it stays long, patchy and coarse; and the saanen doe is losing weight even with free-feeding.
The alpine doe has a fairly sleek coat, but even hers is a bit coarser than it has been. (and I have checked for lice, that's a no)
I've been reading a lot about copper and selenium needing to be supplemented, but I'm a bit lost as to what I should be asking for at the vets... (presuming that's where I get it?) Should I get them mineral salt, a supplement?
Also, we have spring water and it has a ton of calcium in it....I saw that could make a difference.
They should always have a mineral mix available so they can get as much as they want.
Your feed store should be able to get goat minerals for you that will supply most of their needs. Sometimes even with minerals they will need extra copper.
Goats will benefit from a quality LOOSE mineral reasonably high in copper. I like Sweetlix goat mineral brand but al good low salt high copper cattle mineral will work just fine.
I'm of the opinion that hair coat issues are greatly overinterpreted. This time of year is a great time for goats to look fuzzy and scraggly. Some of my alpines if I don't clip them STAY that way. But if you look near the roots or if you clip them, you reveal beautiful shiny hair coats near the root where the hair has yet to be damaged by UV light or mechanical damage when they itch themselves on fencing or just normal daily activities which damage hair.
IF your area is selenium deficient, then supplementation is necessary. Here in Michigan I use the loose mineral as well as give BoSe 1 month pre-breeding and 1 month pre-kidding. We also copper bolus around the same time, plus or minus an additiona treatment during lactation should a doe become loaded with parasites and need dewormed. Copper bolusing also has a more useful purpose than making pretty haircoats in it's role as a parasite prevention and reproductive support.
Thank you so much!
I wouldn't worry as much about the coats if it wasn't a new development, for the first few years there was no issue with coat or condition. My boy shed out great when he was a yearling, partially last year, and not at all this year....the sanaan doe & her daughter have always shed to be nice and shiny but they haven't this year either. (and the weight loss bothers me) I have treated all four for intestinal parasites, but I'll try the loose mineral supplement and see if it makes a difference. Thank you for the help!
And I'm not sure about selenium in my area, I'm in the BC interior....I'll try to find some information about that and supplement if I need to.
http://windsorsalt.com/products/tm-hi-boot-salt/
Dreamer, I am in Ontario and this was the best I could get my feed store to order. They tried the goat minerals but for some reason their supplier could not get them in. Even though your vet isn't familiar with goats could you enquire about bringing in droppings for them to do a worm check?
I use to get "Golden Blend" from Hoeggers Supply Company. Since this store has apparently gone out of business I'll be looking for some type of quality "loose" minerals myself. My area is NOT deficient in copper yet is is selenium. I suspect the local Tractor Supply will have a quality loose-type mineral for dairy goats; and that is where I'm going to look first.
If you have goats that look scraggly this time of year, it is because they need something. Which was the case with ours when we fed bad mineral that was full of molasses and short on mineral. Molasses has iron in it, iron binds with other minerals, so regardless what it says on the bag, if it says molasses, you can throw the rest of the analysis out the window. Moisture plays a big role, too, if a mineral has a moist feel to it, it means that all of those minerals have had a chance to react with each other, which means that the analysis on the bag has no impact on available nutrition.
I usually get a bag of loose mineral from the local feed store. I check out the labels and get the one with the highest copper content, usually in parts per million (ppm). Right now they're on a high-mag(nesium) mineral and they really like it. Really for beef performance and its kinda $$, but they like it and my Nubian has a super shiny coat right now. She's black and glistens in the sunshine.
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