Hair loss on base of ears, bridge of nose, back of legs

[Taylor Cameron]

Hi there! I am new to this group and so happy to be here! I live in rainy Bellingham, WA and have two wethers - Mr. Brown & Al - that are about 11 months old. I am a first time goat owner who has experienced my fair share of goat complexities over this past year, and this forum and the Thrifty Homesteader site have been so helpful in finding answers to my goats' issues.

Over the past couple weeks, I've noticed that Mr. Brown is losing hair on the bridge of his nose, the base of his ears, around his eyes, and on the backs of his front legs. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by the hairless patches - he is scratching a bit but not any more than normal. His coat is also coarse and slightly oily (his coat has always been much coarser than Al's, who has the softest shiniest coat). He is acting totally normal and appears to be in good spirits otherwise. 

Mr. Brown and Al have 24/7 free access to grass hay, MannaPro minerals (which I am replacing with SweetLix Meat Maker this week - just waiting for it to be delivered), and fresh water (we have well water with a chlorine treatment system). Up until about 3 or 4 months ago, they were getting 0.5 cup each of Purina Goat Grower 16 DQ .0015, which I then replaced with the Standlee Timothy Grass pellets to transition them off of the grain. They LOVE the grass pellets and get about 0.5-0.75 cups each every morning. Most days, they get a very small handful of black oil sunflower seeds as a "treat" and I've recently added free choice icelandic kelp to their diet, which they love and gobble up quickly.

They are on Molly's Herbal Worm Formula as a preventative. Both goats have had several bouts of scours and Al had a mysterious, persistent cough that lasted months - ever since adding Molly's Herbal's their scours have been perfectly normal and Al's cough finally went away. Hooray! 

I am curious if anyone can provide insight into Mr. Brown's hair loss. Zinc deficiency? Copper? Mites? 

Thanks in advance!

Taylor

[Leslie Honcoop]

Taylor! I live in Lynden WA and could not find a source for Sweet Lix Meat Maker. Where did you find it? I’m having similar issues with one of my wethers and need to supplement copper. Will be following this discussion.
— Leslie

[Taylor Cameron]

Hi neighbor! I got SweetLix online from Jeffers Pet. It definitely wasn’t cheap with shipping costs, but it was the best deal I could find.
Let me know if the copper helps your wether’s coat issues!
Taylor