# My wether suddenly has curly hair!  Mineral deficiency??



## dianneS (Jun 20, 2010)

My one wether has a longer coat than my other goats.  All of a sudden the ends of his hairs are curling!  I don't understand why?

Could it be a copper deficiency?  I keep two types of mineral blocks available to the goats all the time.  Do I need to feed loose minerals or is his hair just frizzing due to the humidity?


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## DonnaBelle (Jun 20, 2010)

This is a new one on me, hopefully someone has an answer to this question.

DonnaBelle


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## lilhill (Jun 20, 2010)

Some goats have longer hair or "skirts" and may have some waves due to the high humidity or genetics.  Don't know what breed or mix of wether you have.  

Personally, I don't like feeding minerals blocks to goats.  They just can't get enough of what they need by licking them and can break their teeth.  We use SweetLix loose goat minerals, free choice.


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## Chirpy (Jun 20, 2010)

Yes, use loose minerals not the blocks.

If you can post a picture of your boy it might help people determine if there is a deficiency or just.. his look.


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## cmjust0 (Jun 21, 2010)

Different people will tell you different things about a curly coat, and they may all be true...or not.  Humidity, mineral deficiency, internal parasites, external parasites, dry skin, genetic disposition....lots of different things you'll run across as supposed causes.

Firstly, get some loose mineral out there.  If it's a mineral deficiency, that'll help.  Not quickly, mind you, but it will help.

Check him for external parasites...lice...or, just go ahead and treat him with a product called CyLence and tell yourself it's to help with the flies anyway. 

Do a fecal for internal parasites, or at least check his eyelids to be sure they're nice and pink.  If they're pale pink or whitish, he needs to be dewormed.  

Add a little bit of black oil sunflower seed to his diet..  Don't overdo it, as they contain a lot of phosphorus and very little calcium, and can throw the balance of a goat ration off..  Might not hurt to add a little alfalfa pellet to offset the phosphorus, especially since he's a wether.  1:1 by weight is probably good.

It could be a genetic disposition, I suppose..  Usually, though -- in my experience, anyway -- genetic disposition won't cause them to curl only on the ends.  Wavy or shaggy looking?  Sure...but an otherwise slick-coated goatie that starts curling (like 'ringlets') on the ends of the hairs is usually something else.

Humidity?  That's almost certainly playing a role..  Goats that have 'ringlet' curls tend to get MUCH worse when it's super humid..  That's not to say that the humidity is the cause, though...the humidity's probably just adding a little extra oomph to the curl to make it more noticeable.

That's all just my $.02.  I've got a couple of ringlet-ed goats right now, on account -- in one way or another -- of being recently freshened..  Pregnancy and lactation is hard on goats, as the babies tend to suck them dry of everything they have.  Mineral is an issue with these gals I'm sure, though they've had access to high quality loose mineral throughout their pregnancy...  I think I had a little low-level external parasite situation going on, too..  Plus, we're right at that time of year when the internal parasites are kicking their own egg production and resulting infestations into high gear..  

I switched to a little 'stronger' mineral formula, treated for external parasites with CyLence, we're using some BOSS (sunflower seeds) in the feed, and everybody was dewormed twice on a 10-day interval after kidding..  They're improving...slowly.  Ringlets have all but disappeared on two does' sides, and are only along their toplines now..  The hair on their sides is blacker, slicker, and is actually starting to *shine* again..  A nice _blue-black_ shine; not a 'red-black' shine.   

The first doe to freshen is almost just wavy now, which may just be her genetics..  The most recent freshener was probably in the worst shape on her way out of pregnancy in terms of coat and condition....ROUGH AS A COB....and her babies are only 2wks old.  Too early to tell what it's gonna take to get her back.

It's a long road.  :/


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## freemotion (Jun 21, 2010)

cm, what is a "stronger" mineral formula?  I will try ordering some if you can give me specifics.  I am not impressed with what I can get around here.  Not enough goats here in suburbia, no demand for goat stuff.  My girls gobble the minerals and are still red, my 7 week old doeling was born blue-black and is now red-black.


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## cmjust0 (Jun 21, 2010)

I'm not entirely sure I'm even supposed to have what I have.  

The mineral I use was developed specifically for this area by the goat experts at two local universities..  They developed two formulas:  A 'grazing doe on pasture' formula, and a 'doe in late gestation' formula..  The late gestation formula contains about twice all the minerals and vitamins as the grazing doe, except for calcium and phosphorus..  They're both pretty high in each formula.

Here's the thing, though...the 'stronger' formula isn't disappearing as quickly as the other.  The grazing doe was formulated at 750ppm copper (I can already hear people screaming THAT'S NOT ENOUGH!!!) but was designed for about 1oz/day intake..  The new stuff is either 1400 or 1500ppm of copper, but I'm thinking it's designed for 0.5oz/day intake...sooooo, it's really pretty much the same thing.  

BUT...my thinking was that it would be easier for a deficient animal to eat, say, 1oz of the 'stronger' mineral than 2oz of the weaker stuff.  I think that's why it's actually labeled differently, too..

Could be totally wrong, though....we're still in the 'throw it against the wall' stage, and haven't yet seen what's gonna stick.  


Something I've heard of is a mineral product from Cargill called "Right Now - Onyx"..  Apparently it's pretty high-powered stuff; copper's like 2500ppm.  No idea what the target consumption rate would be, though, or how well they'd eat it.  Might be something that people think _must be_ awesome on account of the high levels of everything, but that doesn't get consumed at a very high rate...no idea.

Might be worth checking into, though.


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