One of me Nigerian/pygmy mix doe is starting to go bald. She is under a bit of stress because we lost our pygmy doe due to enterotoxemia . We had to completely take all the grain away and now she is only getting hay and alfalfa cubes, along with a mollases lick and free choice minerals. I have noticed that she has started to eat the dirt and she has very dry skin. I can literally pull clumps of hair out and it takes the dry skin off with it. Her fur is course in areas, and she is due in May. I do realize that some of the shedding is because it is spring time, but I don't think she could be going completely bald because of that. I have heard of horomone changes in some does while they are pregnant and I have also been told that it could be a copper or calcium deficency, but we have put out minerals free choice so I don't understand how that could have happened?
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Also, I can't remember who... or what thread... but I think that someone on here had hair loss soon after dosing with copper... maybe that's it? Because I just dosed them all.
I haven't been so diligent about keeping loose minerals in their pen, so I'm fixing that. She's nearly bald in a few spots, and the hair near her skin is white... although she's a buckskin, and the way her fur comes in, it's white on the tips, and black at the roots. I don't know what that would look like as it grows... but this is DEF. hair loss. I am also feeding kelp again.
Our doe was low on copper and we gave her a different kind of minerals, along with extra alfalfa and some high copper pellets and her fur has started to grow back and her her skin is slowly getting less dry. Also did you dose for mange? That was one of the possibilities we were thinking of with our doe.
Today, I noticed that one of MY does is going bald... You can see her skin through her hair. No parasites. I just dosed for that. Just bolused the whole herd with COWP, and just dosed for selenium. All within a week or so ago? Maybe a bit longer on a few things, but all within two weeks for sure. They all get BOSS at night... I'm at a loss.
Rachel is right about the difference of minerals in different formulations from the same manufacturer. I bought the Sweetlix poured block, and the goats went through it really fast, and the I looked at the levels, and it about 1/4 or 1/5 of the amount of copper that the loose mineral did. And it's the same thing with feeds -- as I've mentioned on here before, Purina Goat Chow has twice as much copper as Purina Noble Goat. If your store can get the block, they should be able to get the loose minerals, although it might take a bit of time to get it. I've asked my store to get a Sweetlix cattle mineral for me, and they said that it could take a month or two to get it.
Amy, talk to your feed store... if they carry Sweetlix in a block, they might be able to order for you in loose. Silly as it sounds, loose minerals of the same brand in block contain different levels of mineral. My goats go through MUCH less loose Sweetlix than they did block.
Oh Sweetlix also comes in a pressed block-has protein and minerals in it. I used this years ago but like I said they would eat it down so fast. I also tried a Purina block as well. Where I live all they have is Sweetlik block and Purina goat minerals. Sounds like people dont really like the Purina mineral-I may need to order something else through the mail and give it a try.
Sweetlix is a brand name. What did six does finish in a week? That is crazy fast for a 25# bag of minerals, if that's what you're talking about, and would probably indicate some type of deficiency.
Amy Bell said:
I am using Purina goat mineral free choice. It also has zinc but I cant remember how much. Your right though-cant tell how much eat is consuming. Maybe I should try a sweet block also. The last time I did this 6 does were able to eat it all within a week, sure didnt last long!
I'm pretty sure that Sweetlix has more zinc than Manna Pro. I've looked it up a bunch of times and posted it on here in other threads. One of these days, someone should make a list comparing all of the minerals because this topics is discussed a lot!
Jenny Welch said:
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