I read that I red raspberry leaves help with healthy pregnancies so I started giving my does a pot of red raspberry tea in their water bucket but stopped after I read that red raspberry leaves are high in selenium and although my area is basically selenium defficient, they're getting free-choice minerals that include selenium (12 MB/lb) so what should I do? I don't want them to get selenium poisoning so I'm wondering if there is a certain recommended dosage for the red raspberry leaves that's safe with the selenium in the minerals?
Views: 1779
You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!
Ok, thank you SO much for your advice. I really wanted them to be able to have the red raspberry leaves but after I read that they are so-called "high in selenium" I got kind of frustrated. But you cleared that up for me! And thank you for your suggestion about when and how much to give them. That helps a lot.
I'm assuming you read something that simply said they are "high in selenium" -- if so, that means nothing. Some people read that a nutrient exists in a food or herb and then translate that as "high," which it isn't. I looked online and could not find a single source that included selenium on a nutrient list for red raspberry leaves -- other than people who simply wrote that it existed. But on labels that give exact percentages or quantitites of nutrients, selenium wasn't listed on any of those. In fact, I only found one label that listed any nutrients -- Vitamin C -- and said that two capsules contained 5% of the USRDA for humans, which is not much. I found that the amount of selenium in raspberries is so low that it is less than 1% of the RDA for humans, but someone could say that raspberries have selenium in them. I have found that many people who sell herbs will say that an herb is "high" in something yet have no idea what the actual numbers are, which is sad.
The big thing about selenium in any plant is that it is totally dependent upon the selenium in the soil, so if something is grown in a selenium-deficient area, the plant will not have much selenium. If the plant grows in an area with high selenium, then it could become toxic, even if it's just grass. And this is actually the case with many nutrients -- if your pasture is deficient then whatever grows there will be deficient. So, the amount of selenium in red raspberry leaves will vary based upon where it was grown, but I can't imagine it being high enough to cause toxicity.
One of the things I learned at the ADGA conference is that the federal cap on the level of selenium put in feeds is probably not high enough for many parts of the country, so odds of selenium toxicity are far less than odds of selenium deficiency in most places.
Personally, I give my does a large pinch (probably two tablespoons) of red raspberry leaves on top of their grain for the last week or so of pregnancy. During labor, I let them eat as much as they want, which can be up to a cup at a time, although some completely ignore it. After they give birth, I continue giving them a large pinch on their grain for a couple of weeks. I don't like mixing herbs into anything because I'm one of those who thinks that they know what they need, and they'll eat what they need if they have options. But if you mix it with something else, that messes up the whole concept because they could be wanting whatever it is mixed into. Personally I wouldn't mix it into their water unless they had another water source available that they could drink if they didn't really want the red raspberry.
Replies
Ok, thank you SO much for your advice. I really wanted them to be able to have the red raspberry leaves but after I read that they are so-called "high in selenium" I got kind of frustrated. But you cleared that up for me! And thank you for your suggestion about when and how much to give them. That helps a lot.
I'm assuming you read something that simply said they are "high in selenium" -- if so, that means nothing. Some people read that a nutrient exists in a food or herb and then translate that as "high," which it isn't. I looked online and could not find a single source that included selenium on a nutrient list for red raspberry leaves -- other than people who simply wrote that it existed. But on labels that give exact percentages or quantitites of nutrients, selenium wasn't listed on any of those. In fact, I only found one label that listed any nutrients -- Vitamin C -- and said that two capsules contained 5% of the USRDA for humans, which is not much. I found that the amount of selenium in raspberries is so low that it is less than 1% of the RDA for humans, but someone could say that raspberries have selenium in them. I have found that many people who sell herbs will say that an herb is "high" in something yet have no idea what the actual numbers are, which is sad.
The big thing about selenium in any plant is that it is totally dependent upon the selenium in the soil, so if something is grown in a selenium-deficient area, the plant will not have much selenium. If the plant grows in an area with high selenium, then it could become toxic, even if it's just grass. And this is actually the case with many nutrients -- if your pasture is deficient then whatever grows there will be deficient. So, the amount of selenium in red raspberry leaves will vary based upon where it was grown, but I can't imagine it being high enough to cause toxicity.
One of the things I learned at the ADGA conference is that the federal cap on the level of selenium put in feeds is probably not high enough for many parts of the country, so odds of selenium toxicity are far less than odds of selenium deficiency in most places.
Personally, I give my does a large pinch (probably two tablespoons) of red raspberry leaves on top of their grain for the last week or so of pregnancy. During labor, I let them eat as much as they want, which can be up to a cup at a time, although some completely ignore it. After they give birth, I continue giving them a large pinch on their grain for a couple of weeks. I don't like mixing herbs into anything because I'm one of those who thinks that they know what they need, and they'll eat what they need if they have options. But if you mix it with something else, that messes up the whole concept because they could be wanting whatever it is mixed into. Personally I wouldn't mix it into their water unless they had another water source available that they could drink if they didn't really want the red raspberry.