Copper Deficiency

[Nicholas Windsor]

I bought a bred doe about 3 weeks ago. I believe she is copper deficient. She has a tint of red in her black coat and I think she is anemic. She is bred and due the end of February. I have read on the internet that a tint of red in a black goats coat is a sign of copper deficiency. I am not sure if she is anemic because she is lacking copper or if it is because she just weaned her kids. I have read that does raising there kids can become anemic  because they put everything they have into raising their kids. I am concerned that if she is lacking copper that it will affect her kids I want the kids to come out with the best possible start at life. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do? I have heard of copper bolus but don't really know what it is, is it something I should consider doing?

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

My goat pen is pretty large... I've got probably 1/4 of an acre at this point. The grass is gone in that area. I have 5 does. Re: time for coat, etc. to get back, I have a doe that has been deficient since birth. I didn't realize it, because her coat was light when I got her. I had to heavily dose her with copper before her coat came back in, and it was darker than she had been for the first year of her life. Be aware that when you have a goat that is deficient, and you dose them, they may blow their coat. Two of mine did. The one that had been deficient for so long TOTALLY blew her coat. She nearly went bald. But it was easy to see that her coat was better once it did come back. It took her a good month before she finished blowing her coat, and her new coat was totally in.

[Nicholas Windsor]

What size of a pen do you think would be small enough to kill the grass for to does to live in?

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

When you pull down the eyelid, the inside should be bright pink to red. If it's pale pink or white, they're anemic.

If you have a small area, you can either confine them to a space small enough to kill the grass, and then it won't be a problem, or you can use a 16 X 16 pen made with livestock panels to move them every few days. If you can keep them from going back to the same grassy area for a couple months, you should be fine unless you live in an area that gets a lot of rain, which allows the larvae to survive longer. The barberpole worm uses grass to reinfect goats from eggs/larvae on pasture.

[Nicholas Windsor]

Thanks everyone! I am starting to understand it all a lot more. So here's what I am thinking, if  I get the copper that I showed you and break it up then I can put int in the smaller empty capsules and either feed it to them in the capsules(from my understanding this is a little harder because they don't like) or take it back out of the capsules and sprinkle it on their grain. . Should I give her to this just one time or do I need to give a few doses? How long till I should start notice that she is getting better( when will her coat go back to jet black and her fish tail grow back out )? Thanks again!!

[Margaret Langley]

I also redistributed into capsules like Deborah said and my preference for dosing is to mix it with a spoon of sweet oatmeal like the instant maple and brown sugar or regular oatmeal with molasses or syrup or something like that mixed into it. I make a bowl up and just put about a tablespoon in a small bowl add the cowp and they eat it right up then I mix up another spoonful for the next goat etc. they love it this way and it is very easy. I tried a couple of other ways but this works best for us. Most of them will eat it on feed but invariably a few always seem to be able to eat all the feed and leave the COWP in the bottom of the bowl. That's why we feed copper oatmeal treats!

[Melissa Johnson]

I use the digital kitchen scale I bought for soap making.
 
Nicholas Windsor said:

So there is not a dosage requirement? Sorry I have never dealt with copper bolus 

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

This is not approved by the FDA, but a lot of breeders dose at the rate of about 1 gram per 20 pounds. If you don't have a scale that will weigh such a small amount, you can redistribute the COWP into smaller capsules. A size 0 capsule holds about 2 grams, and a size 1 capsule holds about 1 gram. Yes, the smaller size number holds more, which seems backwards.

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

There are a couple ways to dose... sprinkling over grain is easiest, and that's what I do.

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

I know there has been talk of dosing here on the site, you could search for it, and see if you can find it here in the forums... but I just reduced the dosing on the bottle by weight, and now, I don't worry about being too precise, I just put a pinch on for each goat...

[Nicholas Windsor]

So there is not a dosage requirement? Sorry I have never dealt with copper bolus 

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

Yes, that's the COWP. (Copper Oxide Wire Particles) When you break open the bolus, it is literally wire bits. :) They "stick" inside the rumen and are absorbed over time. Copper Oxide absorbs differently than Copper Sulfide(sulfate?) (so I read) and there is very minimal if any chance of overdosing with Oxide from what I understand. Sulfide (or sulfate? I can't remember) is the kind of copper most commonly found in mineral blocks and feed.