# Deficiency? mites? lice? help!! *pictures*



## marliah (Apr 29, 2012)

I have been treating for lice since I found eggs on the kid, but I am suspecting something else with momma goat here, she looks WAY worse than anyone else and is losing her hair quickly, she went from a nice coat to this in about a week :/ Im leaning toward a deficiency but of what? copper? selenium? zinc? and how should I treat it if thats what it is? We live in a state where selenium levels are really low so I am suspecting that, but copper deficiency has some of the same symptoms too. Any advice? Is it common for goats in milk to have deficiencies? All the goats are getting the same feed, except she gets more grain and fruit/veggie peels being in milk and all. Not sure if it helps but we had a sheep get the same balding on their tail as she has, could there be any mineral deficiency correlation there?














Everyone else looks good don't they?











here in the sunlight you can see how thin all over her coat is 






Thanks in advance, I really want to get her healthy, also if you post cures can you let me know if its safe to drink the milk while I do them or not? I would prefer natural, but mostly I want to get her back in health.


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## ksalvagno (Apr 29, 2012)

If you don't do BoSe shots and copper bolusing, then she probably needs it. I wouldn't be surprised if she needs both. I would start with a shot of BoSe and a copper bolus then go from there.


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## marliah (Apr 29, 2012)

Are those things I can get at tsc? Should that be a yearly or twice a year routine?

Or is there something I can supplement here with to keep a deficiency from happening again?

Would this work in place of Bose? Anything like that I can do for copper? So I can get it done soon.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Goats-3480/2011/2/goat-losing-hair-1.htm


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## poorboys (Apr 29, 2012)

you need to get the bo-se from a vet, or a prescription to send in to valley vet, or other distrubuters. the copper bolus you can get from valley vet, or any similar livestock catalogs, from the internet, you usually have to buy for calves and then buy caspules, so you can break it down to the right amount for a goat. also you need to keep loose minerals out for them with copper in it. most people bolus 2x ayear, bo-se, I do whenever I see one looking off, also for mites and lice you can give them a shot of ivermetic 1% and you can get that at tsc


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## elevan (Apr 29, 2012)

marliah said:
			
		

> Are those things I can get at tsc? Should that be a yearly or twice a year routine?
> 
> Or is there something I can supplement here with to keep a deficiency from happening again?
> 
> ...


Bo-Se is the most effective solution.  That doesn't mean that you cannot crush up human vitamin tabs and give them though.  Your farm, your decision - you have to decide what is best for your farm and your animals.

For copper:  http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2607-copasure

As to how often...you need to know your area's level of deficiency.
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/averages/cu/usa.html (Copper map)
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geochem/doc/averages/se/usa.html (Selenium map)


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## marliah (Apr 29, 2012)

Thanks for the maps, looks like we are quite deficient in selenium, copper falls to the low middle. So I will try selenium first and see if that clears it up, from my reading it looks like in 7-10 days I should see new hair growth if that's the problem, if that doesn't address it I'll try copper.


Is pregnancy and milk production a drainer of these things too?


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## elevan (Apr 29, 2012)

Pregnancy and milk production can drain nutrients, yes.


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## Roll farms (Apr 29, 2012)

I'd give her 3-4 human zinc tablets crushed up in water, too.
I also like to give a couple vitamin E capsules after BoSe shots, it helps.

Copper / mineral maps don't tell the full story when looking at them....there are other factors that affect copper absorption.
Our copper levels here aren't terrible, but we have hard, HARD water.  Copper bonds to the iron in the water and interferes w/ absorption.  (I'm really, really simplifying that, but that's the 'nutshell' version).  We were also using molasses-based feeds, which is also high in iron.

Make sure the mineral you're using has copper sulfate or some other form of copper beside "oxide".  Copper oxide is the least easily absorbed.

Our vet insisted to me that I didn't "need" to give BoSe shots to our preggos, but the cases of weak-legged newborns dropped drastically after I started doing it.  So whether we're in a low selenium area or not, the shots helped our situation.

Copper overdose can mimic copper deficiency, so don't go too nuts bolusing them too often.  I may have made a goat go bald last year w/ too much copper / selenium.....
We did blood tests and her levels (after bolusing / BoSe shots) were high / toxic.

She didn't get bolused last fall or spring and she still has hair this year.


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## marliah (Apr 30, 2012)

Thank you all, I gave her the selenium mixture as well as some zinc, I'll let you all know how it turns out. Hopefully that was the culprit and she will be back to healthy and have a nice coat again soon.


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## memela (May 1, 2012)

Woa that sounds just like what one of my goats is doing. However I can't open your pics to see.


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