So many skin issues!

[Flash-the-Goat]

We moved to NE Arkansas in July (2025) from AZ and are still acclimating/figuring out what the animals need here vs in the desert. We have a small herd of 7 NDs. We cell graze a 2.5 acre property, moving the herd approx 2x/mo. Their trailer is their "barn," where all of their mineral is, and that gets cleaned out daily (except now in the winter, we're letting them create a bedding pack with wood chips so it's nice and cozy in there).

Two of my boys (my 3yr old buck and 2yr old old wether) are showing signs of thinning hair on the bridges of their noses. No signs of injury/itching/irritation/bugs, it's just bare. One wether, Punch, has crazy dandruff. He was always dry and flakey, but since moving here, his snout, chin and eyes are sooo dry and white. I can keep that under control with vitE/Selenium paste + Sweetlix glowing goat hoof block, but how much of that is too much? Plus, Buckle (the buck) has bumps all over his ears, and Daffy (doe) is starting to show signs of that, too.

The herd is going through mineral like it's candy. Seriously, I've gone through more mineral in 6mo than I did in 2 years in AZ. We're in a low-selenium area, according to the USDA map, so I don't know if that's an issue. I took away the free choice mineral ( because they would empty their little feeder in 2 days and that's alarming. Do I give it back to them free choice? Find a different mineral? I've tried multiple, including Sweetlix meat maker, but found out that has too much copper for Nigies, so I switched to Sweetlix AP bucket, but they ate through that in a week. These guys weren't so expensive back in AZ, but this is getting nuts! Did we make a huge mistake???

I'll take pictures when it isn't dark outside.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Baymule]

Welcome to BYH. I have no idea what is going on with your goats. I have sheep. Usually when goats or sheep are low on mineral, they eat it like candy, but then level off, but yours are not leveling off. I dont know what is causing the bumpy ears either.

@rachels.haven
@Mini Horses
@frustratedearthmother

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hard to say. My experience is along the gulf coast of Texas - between Houston and Galveston so it may or may not apply to your area. My first guess would be a mineral deficiency of some kind - most likely copper and/or zinc. You said they are going through minerals pretty quickly and that makes sense if they are missing something. You might also look at other factors that would keep their mineral intake from being absorbed properly.

"Mineral antagonists in goats are substances like sulfur, molybdenum, iron, and high calcium that block the absorption or utilization of essential minerals such as copper, selenium, and zinc, often leading to secondary deficiencies even when minerals seem present in the diet or water. Key antagonistic pairs include Sulfur-Selenium, Molybdenum-Copper, and Calcium/Copper-Zinc, requiring balanced mineral supplements (often organic/chelated forms) to prevent issues like white muscle disease or copper toxicity."

I'm definitely not an expert and in your situation it might pay to speak with a local vet.

Have you checked them for external parasites? That wouldn't really account for their increased mineral intake, but it pays to cover all bases.

Good luck! Please let us know if you figure it out. We can all learn from each other.

 

[Mini Horses]

You don't say what they are being fed beyond pasture. This could be vastly different from their available feed from where you moved, including pasture or not. The change might be the reason for the "seeming" excess mineral intake. Feeding sweetlix may be being eaten because of the molasses....another brand of loose minerals might do better. Personally, I often use a cattle mineral that does NOT have urea in it.

I agree that a vet visit might be cost effective.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

You don't say what they are being fed beyond pasture. This could be vastly different from their available feed from where you moved, including pasture or not.

Good point!

 

[rachels.haven]

Sweetlix meat maker is fine for ND free choice. Do they also have free choice hay? Mine will sometimes eat mineral like food if they run out of hay and that is not good. They get desperate. Ruminants need to ruminate. They need to have hay. I know there's a trend in ND to not give free choice food and let them starve outside of twice a day or consider them good year round if they have access to pasture space but that is not a biologically appropriate one, goat physiology considered, and they are goats first and foremost before they are pets or showgoats. Grass dies and becomes nutritionally empty in the elements. The goats' complex system should not be forced to become empty too.

 

[Flash-the-Goat]

Wow, thanks for all the great replies! Here are some photos from a couple days ago. I forgot to take pics of their ears before slathering them in Vaseline, though. Everyone has fluffy tails, good feet and good poops.

I gave Punch a good dose of probiotic paste and his dandruff is much better after just a couple days!

I switched them back to MannaPro and so far they've almost emptied half of the first bag (4ish lbs!!), but they didn't go after it like the Sweetlix, so I think it was the molasses that they were after.

They haven't ever gotten hay free choice, but now in the winter they are. We bought a round bale of mixed grass, and they like it, but they don't go after it like they're starving. They were always free range in AZ, so ate a varied diet of grasses and shrubs, supplemented with alfalfa hay if they ever needed to stay in their pen. Our pasture is quite varied, and is TALL, but we don't have the spiny shrubbery that they liked in the desert. Little weirdos wanted the pokey, mean shrubs and not fluffy bermuda.

I'm going to do copper boluses in a day and am looking for a zinc supplement to add. Does anyone know if I should/shouldn't add selenium? Maybe I'll ask the vet about a BoSe scrip.

Pics show Vaselined ears, noses, tails and overall body condition (not comformation ).

Thanks again!!

 

[rachels.haven]

There's a good chance that's mites. Probios didn't do anything for it. Vaseline regularly did. You may need to treat more aggressively with something else to get rid of it entirely, but that's a good start.

Focus on getting and leaving them on hay and clean water and maybe a little goat grain for a few weeks. Then get them back on a GOOD mineral. Manna pro is mostly just expensive salt. They were eating the sweetlix loose mineral out of hunger and they may have all sorts of things going on after going to town on it for the wrong reasons. If they still have issues after a month of staying on hay, then I'd do copper and selenium, but you want the extra stuff to have a chance to leave their system first before boosting anything any farther and making anything worse.

Keep them on hay until the grass is at least taller than their knees, otherwise you'll get desperation eating habits again. Hay always available is not a bad idea either because live, nutritious forage is always more appealing than the dry boring stuff in the feeder (as long as it's nutritious! once it's mature or brown it's worse than the hay again).

 

[Flash-the-Goat]

Focus on getting and leaving them on hay and clean water and maybe a little goat grain for a few weeks. Then get them back on a GOOD mineral. Manna pro is mostly just expensive salt. They were eating the sweetlix loose mineral out of hunger and they may have all sorts of things going on after going to town on it for the wrong reasons.

That makes so much sense! In our cell pasturing, we probably didn't move them often enough! Omgosh, I feel so dumb. I'll remove the Manna pro and update in a couple weeks after they've had plenty of plain ol hay. Thankyouthankyouthankyou all so much!

 

[Finnie]

Looks like you got some great help! I hope you will stick around. We have a fun and supportive group here. I’m looking forward to seeing how your goats (and you) adjust to your new home.