I heard that where I live their is a Selenium deficiency. I heard this from someone that has horses. I was just wondering if the commercial mineral I buy is enough, they seem to be healthy, I just wanted to make sure. Can I just do it as a supplement (the first week of every month), or buy a mineral block, with selenium in it, or do I just not have to worry about it. I cant remember how much selenium is in the mineral I buy.
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See how your goats do after you add the selenium. If they are having lots of babies and producing lots of milk and are healthy, then they're fine.
Okay thanks, I will definitely get some selenium and baking soda. Do I need the kelp?
Baking soda is like Tums or Rolaids for them, so if they get an upset rumen, they can self medicate. It is super cheap at <$1 per box and can save a goat's life because they can get to it whenever they need it. Kelp is just a natural food that's high in micro-nutrients, and especially iodine. The selenium through Caprine Supply isn't anywhere close to $100, and if you only have a few goats, it will last a very long time.
I don't want to have to spend too much on selenium, if I can avoid it. I saw a pail for $100, I feel like that's a little excesive, but I don't know too much about prices. I will check out Caprine Supply. What does the baking soda and the kelp do for them? I have buckets and a feeder with two parts in it. This is my FFA project, I'm still in high school, so I'm new at this. I've only been doing this for 2 years. Thank you!
Wow! That's pretty low -- Sweetlix is 50 ppm. Also, Purina has a high salt content. Last time I looked it was something like 40%, which means the goats are not consuming that much of the mineral. (Sweetlix is only 10%.) I also get selenium from Caprine Supply and leave it out free choice in a dish next to the Sweetlix. I have two of the black mineral feeders pictured in the right sidebar of this page. One dish has Sweetlix, one has selenium, one has kelp, and one has baking soda.
The minetal I use is the Purina got mineral, and the selenium part is 25 ppm.
I feed my goats black oil sunflower seed in addition to their loose minerals, and I get minerals with the highest selenium content I can.