Have a quick question.. We have 3 does 2 are under a year old and 1 is almost 2. The 2 youngest are sisters the older is not related. They all 3 are loosing hair on the top of their noses. My husband and I thought that they were just rubbing their noses raw on their metal feeder (homemade by the hubby) but we mentioned it to the breeder we got them all from and they said it may be a copper deficiency. We are giving them free access to loose mineral but have not done any other supplements. And if so where can we get copper to give them? We checked tractor supply and they do not have. I'm also wondering about the copper because I read somewhere they if they are low then a doe may not come into heat? And we have had a billy here for at least a month if not more and we have seen no action what so ever. Sadly the billy dies expectantly yesterday (any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well). He was fine Monday eating, drinking, came up to me, acting fine, but my husband came home yesterday and he was dead in his their little house under the feeder. He had some hay in his mouth (like he died while eating) and he had lost his bowels and it was runny but with some berries. The billy was our younger 2 father so I am concerned with something genetic. We wormed him 2 weeks ago because his eyelids were pale and either he or Susy Q (the older doe) had clumpy poop so we wormed them both since they were both lite. Could cooper deficiency kill a goat? I am very upset over his death, he was on loan from our friends, and I feel like I did something wrong or missed something. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Amanda
Replies
Yes, you can give copper oxide to a pregnant goat. Just be sure to use the correct amount. Copasure is sold in calf-sized boluses.
Rachel Crowley said:
Our two does were with a buck from Oct 1st to Oct 28th.
Three weeks after returning home one had a miscarriage. I heard this may be due
To copper deficiency. I don't want the same thing to happen to other.
Good point Deborah..
Dry does, bucks, and wethers don't need grain, but it isn't going to cause them to have a parasite overload. I'm trying to figure out what the vet might have meant. Perhaps you were overfeeding grain, which could cause a ruminant to have a variety of problems, and when their immune system is compromised, parasites will then overwhelm their system.
Parasites due to grain? I'd like to hear from others on the forum about that...I've never heard anywhere that grain could cause parasites... would be interesting to know someone else that had this experience.
That's a shame about your buck....that would be a terrible thing to experience.
We are only feeding them hay and they can forage. We don't give them grain (we got scared off of it because the vet told us that our doe that had parasites so bad was due to the grain) she wasn't getting grain where we got her then we were giving her grain and she got sick. And they have access to loose goat mineral and baking soda. When we goat the goats everyone was like goats are so easy they aren't hard to care for at all...well we must of gotten special needs goats cause nothing has been easy since we got them...lol...and I just feel terrible about the buck we just lost :(
Amanda, how and what are you feeding them?
When I teach classes, I just hold up the applicator and say, "You know what this is?" and all the ladies smile and chuckle. The good thing is that it's a soft plastic, and I've never had a goat bite one in half, although they sure have tried! I've heard some people say that goats can bite the dog pill thing in half, but I've never used one of those.
Amy Bell said:
There are multiple parts to the equation. I attended a conference once where the speaker said that you should do forage testing rather than soil testing because the goats eat the forage, not the soil, and just because it's in the soil doesn't mean it's going to be taken up by all the plants in the pasture.
And then just because goats are eating it doesn't mean that it will all be absorbed. If you have sulfur in your well water or if you feed alfalfa (which is high in molybdenum), your goats will need more copper because sulfur and molybdenum bind with copper and prevent absorption at some level. The best thing really is to watch the goats for signs of deficiency.
Also, when it comes to toxicity ... copper sulfate is the one that has been linked to toxicity, not copper oxide. I've read more than 15 studies on copper oxide with sheep and goats, and none of them had a single animal have a problem with toxicity, not even the sheep, which need about 1/4 as much copper as goats.
Just because copper exists in a food doesn't mean it is necessarily a good supplement. The level may be so low that it doesn't make much of a difference. I have never heard of goats getting copper toxicity from a natural food source -- unlike selenium, which can be in such a high concentration in forage in some areas that it can cause toxicity, but even that is extremely rare.
Trish said:
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