Ok so I've had my girls about a month now, and they are rubbing bald patches on their shoulders and flanks, and their coats seem to be thinner all around. They were a little chunky when I got them so I haven't had them on grain, I just feed them grass hay and free choice salt, baking soda and the sweetlix meat goat minerals. They have lost weight and I'm starting to think one of the does is getting too thin, so what should I give her to supplement? Should I do grain or alfalfa or BOSS? Are they missing something that is causing the hair loss? I don't see any lice or mites, no fish tails or faded coats....what else should I be looking for? They are current on vaccines and worming.
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A few of our girls had a similar issues with loosing hair in patchy areas vet gave us a oral medication for worms , caused by to much moisture in the soil in their barn yard area, and a topical medication applied with a syringe (no needle) from sholder to tail.
now all is well,.
If you would like the names of the meds to discuss with your vet, don't hesitate to ask.
You don't have to bathe them before clipping, but your clipper blades will stay sharp longer if you bathe them first. So, if you don't have an extra blade, you should probably bathe first. Dirty hair can dull clipper blades fast!
My goats are not huge fans of hay pellets, but you can try that. They should have green stuff available to eat most of the time.
Ok do i need to wash them before clipping? Their hay is free choice and they were getting out of their pen so they are temporarily in one of my small horse stalls/pen so they have already eaten everything out of there. I'm working on making them a movable pen with those panels from the feed store. In the meantime they do get lots of weeds and thinned veggies from the garden and blackberries that we are clearing to pick thru in their pen. Should I supplement with alfalfa pellets or something in the meantime?
My favorite organic method of getting rid of lice in the summer is to clip off all the hair using a #10 blade on dog clippers. With no hair in which to hide, the lice are gone. If they are sucking lice, they can cause anemia and weight loss, so if it's lice, the underweight doe might be fine once the lice are gone. However, just to be sure ... is the hay free choice, and do they have pasture available?
Ok I will check them again. How do you treat it? Dusting? Should they be wormed again if they were just done a month ago? What about adding weight on the one doe? Should I do grain or something else? They are both dry and I am planning to breed them this winter.
I don't know how old you are, so please don't get offended, but I can't see lice without my reading glasses, so ... have you looked for crawling dandruff with reading glasses if you normally need them? I know some people look with a magnifying glass. You have to look for at least 10 seconds or longer sometimes unless they have a super heavy infestation. And you need to look in multiple places. They are usually around the neck and shoulder area though.
Mites cannot be seen with the naked eye. A vet would have to do a skin scraping.
Scratching to cause baldness really sounds like some kind of parasite.
Replies
paul speat
A few of our girls had a similar issues with loosing hair in patchy areas vet gave us a oral medication for worms , caused by to much moisture in the soil in their barn yard area, and a topical medication applied with a syringe (no needle) from sholder to tail.
now all is well,.
If you would like the names of the meds to discuss with your vet, don't hesitate to ask.
lots of good luck
paul spear/victor Wilson
HillSpringsFarm
You don't have to bathe them before clipping, but your clipper blades will stay sharp longer if you bathe them first. So, if you don't have an extra blade, you should probably bathe first. Dirty hair can dull clipper blades fast!
My goats are not huge fans of hay pellets, but you can try that. They should have green stuff available to eat most of the time.
My favorite organic method of getting rid of lice in the summer is to clip off all the hair using a #10 blade on dog clippers. With no hair in which to hide, the lice are gone. If they are sucking lice, they can cause anemia and weight loss, so if it's lice, the underweight doe might be fine once the lice are gone. However, just to be sure ... is the hay free choice, and do they have pasture available?
I don't know how old you are, so please don't get offended, but I can't see lice without my reading glasses, so ... have you looked for crawling dandruff with reading glasses if you normally need them? I know some people look with a magnifying glass. You have to look for at least 10 seconds or longer sometimes unless they have a super heavy infestation. And you need to look in multiple places. They are usually around the neck and shoulder area though.
Mites cannot be seen with the naked eye. A vet would have to do a skin scraping.
Scratching to cause baldness really sounds like some kind of parasite.