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Shedding: What's normal? What's not?

Posted by Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres on March 9, 2011 at 12:04am in Health

My oldest Dam is 4 years old and pregnant. She got a really pretty light undercoat (curly and wooly looking) this winter, and she's shedding that now. How much shedding is normal for winter coat loss, and how much might make you concerned there are other issues?

 

  1. She was wormed about 1+ months ago.
  2. She has access to minerals free choice.
  3. She has access to good hay and alfalfa free choice.
  4. She gets about 1/2 cup goat mix grains a day.

Her coat doesn't seem different other than she's got a thick winter coat that's shedding. My other goat doesn't seem to be shedding at all. She's still a furry ball of -1year old goat hair. She didn't get the wooly undercoat that my older goat got. (her previous owner says she always gets a curly wooly winter undercoat, so that's not different.)

 

I'm just trying to be sure I'm not missing something I should be catching...

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Replies

  • Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres March 9, 2011 at 10:30am
    She has a wonderful layer of it. There is a lady with a yarn shop in the town near me. I think next year, I'll plan to save it along with my LGD's fur and let her spin it!! :)
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle March 9, 2011 at 10:14am
    I used to know a lady who saved it. She'd comb them once they started losing it in big chunks. Don't know if she ever did anything with it. The cashmere is so short, I think you'd have to blend it with something else to spin it, but I really don't know. I do know that 100% cashmere coats always seem to be felted. The amount of cashmere that comes off a goat is measured in ounces, even though it looks like a lot.
  • Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres March 9, 2011 at 12:20am
    Thanks. That's what my head was telling me, but it's coming out by the handful!! lol No bald patches... just not lusciously thick anymore... lol

    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
    Sounds normal to me. They should lose ALL of their cashmere, so depending upon how much they had, they can start to look pretty moth-eaten if they start losing it in chunks, which many do. You just don't want to see bald patches of skin.
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle March 9, 2011 at 12:17am
    Sounds normal to me. They should lose ALL of their cashmere, so depending upon how much they had, they can start to look pretty moth-eaten if they start losing it in chunks, which many do. You just don't want to see bald patches of skin.
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