Goat with dry skin

[Wild Wind Farm]

What can you tell me about giving coper to a goat that has dry skin? She is on free choice minerals and a good hay, no grain as she is fat. I give her zinc and that has made her dry skin go away in the past. None of the other goats have dry skin just her. What do you think?

 

[currycomb]

maybe add a little corn or wheat germ oil to her feed?

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

I've heard vitamin E oil in their grain, but as you aren't giving her grain, don't know how you would deliver it.

 

[cmjust0]

Pretty sure Durvet makes an injectable Vit. E.. Wouldn't doubt that other vet pharmaceutical companies do too...

Never used it, though I'm contemplating.. I'm beginning to believe there's not enough Vit. E in Bo-Se to compliment the Selenium, but that's a completely different thread in the making.

As for dry skin...no clue.

 

[helmstead]

We had the same issue. Tried supplemental zinc, no help. Started a regular BoSe program - helped some, not all (but did help several other issues). Finally broke down and began copper bolusing after talking with several area producers and VOILA, that was it. Also improved MANY other things...all of our goats looked completely different after the copper.

 

[ksalvagno]

When you say "bolus", what exactly does that mean?

 

[Roll farms]

You stuff these little copper rods into empty capsules and shove them down your goat's gullet.....they digest them over time and up their copper levels.

 

[ksalvagno]

Do you have to get those copper rods and capsules from your vet or can you order them from somewhere?

 

[cmjust0]

When you say "bolus", what exactly does that mean?

Bolus just means pill, basically.. I've found that nouns tend to become verbs in livestock-speak..

What you're looking for is the Copasure 12.5g calf bolus.. It's a 12.5g bolus containing thousands of little copper oxide wire particles (COWP).. The generally accepted dosage is 1g COWP/22lbs of goat..

We repackage ours into 000-sized capsules (you can get them at a healthfood store), and I've found that 4.5g -- the 100lb dosage -- fits tight in a single 000-sized capsule.

Copper oxide is so incredibly bio-un-available that there's a pretty wide margin of safety built in.. I know folks who cram the entire calf bolus down kids' necks as soon as they're physically big enough to accept it....50 or 60lbs, I think. I can't even imagine, because the calf bolus is literally about the size of my thumb and I'm 6'1"/260lb and "big boned".. It's a HUGE pill...

Point is, though...I personally think it's A LOT safer than most folks believe it to be. If the situation were such that you could say "copper is copper is copper," it might be different...but that's just not the case. Copper oxide and copper sulfate...vastly different things.

Side note...if you don't have a good bolus gun, I can't recomment this one highly enough. We have it and it's fricken AWESOME. A bit spendy, yeah, but what if a goat bites down hard on a $2 plastic one and cracks it in half...I don't wanna fish that out jagged-end first. Plus, since this one has a rubbery tube on the end, you don't have to worry about scraping their throat with the sharp edges of crappily molded chinese plastic junk. I'm also pretty well convinced that it's the last one I'll ever buy...stainless steel...well-built...probably could pass this thing down the family tree.

Just sayin.

 

[ThornyRidge]

I have held off on the copper bolusing myself due to what I fear will be a disaster.. geesh drenching with a liquid is a task in itself.. I cant imagine a capsule being launched down the throat.. I too have a couple that seem to get dry flaky skin and have supplemented with zinc picolinate with good results ( got it through my health food store) and I tricked them by eating those capsules by mixing it in their grain. voila.. I also use a mineral max ead paste.. supplementing a small amount of that frequently along with the loose minerals..A breeder mentioned to me that red and black goats seem to be more prone to copper issues for whatever reason and I believe this is true.. the two that I have that are affected are a red/white nigie buck and a red chamoisee doe.. plus I was wondering is there any other forms of copper supplements that people have tried (even in human form from health food store) and how/what dose administered? Oh I forgot I do throw in some black oil sunflower seeds .. might help a bit.. and I do notice my two with similar symptoms seem to be worse in winter..