Copper (Copasure) Bolus for goats

[ragdollcatlady]

I also have the selenium gel....but it wasn't enough. I had a hunch that I really needed the selenium injection. When my babies were born deficient I was devastated.

The way I did it was to rush the babies in to the vet...they are in Fresno, an hour away. I let them know that I was bringing in mom and babies. I paid for exams on all of them (mom was $35, and babies were like $14) so they would document that the twins were in excellent shape except for the selenium deficiency and mom was fine. They were very confused that I was willing to pay for a healthy animal to be inspected but I did it to build the relationship, and so they would know that my animals are well cared for and that I know what I am doing. Then I talked with them about the care and health of my animals and pointed out that, when the doc had come out to my place 6 months before, she gave everyone a clean bill of health...no issues. But the whole herd is clearly selenium deficient as evident by the babies in front of us. So could I please get some BoSe for everyone and I promise to bring in anyone that is ill or not well in any other way. I came home with a whole bottle of BoSe and the instructions to give it 2x a year as needed.

Vets in California aren't supposed to give prescriptions for animals they haven't personally inspected. It makes sense. If they don't see the animal and just take my word for it, I could tell them the wrong thing and they might prescribe what I ask, then I could sue for negligence/malpractice Maybe if they looked at my animal they would have known it was something else and on and on and on....... So since they saw Reese and the babies, the scrip was for them and we are all good. Also having inspected my whole herd 6 months before, they had actually seen the other animals in question even if they didn't have personal files on each of them. Besides you don't usually see much in Selenium deficiency.

 

[TGreenhut]

We give a whole bolus twice a year. Have been for many years. We use a calf balling gun and it's been very easy.
It's very hard to overdose a goat with Copasure. The copper in it breaks down so slowly. Earlier this year we accidently dosed a 100# doe twice within a one month period with a whole bolus each time and she never missed a beat. I just laugh when people insist you will overdose a goat if you give more then 1gr/22#.
Now if you overdose copper sulfate you will kill a goat.

Donna

Wow. Thanks so much letting me know this. I was definitely nervous about overdosing but now I feel a lot better. Do you give one bolus to younger goats or do you break it up?

 

[TGreenhut]

I also have the selenium gel....but it wasn't enough. I had a hunch that I really needed the selenium injection. When my babies were born deficient I was devastated.

The way I did it was to rush the babies in to the vet...they are in Fresno, an hour away. I let them know that I was bringing in mom and babies. I paid for exams on all of them (mom was $35, and babies were like $14) so they would document that the twins were in excellent shape except for the selenium deficiency and mom was fine. They were very confused that I was willing to pay for a healthy animal to be inspected but I did it to build the relationship, and so they would know that my animals are well cared for and that I know what I am doing. Then I talked with them about the care and health of my animals and pointed out that, when the doc had come out to my place 6 months before, she gave everyone a clean bill of health...no issues. But the whole herd is clearly selenium deficient as evident by the babies in front of us. So could I please get some BoSe for everyone and I promise to bring in anyone that is ill or not well in any other way. I came home with a whole bottle of BoSe and the instructions to give it 2x a year as needed.

Vets in California aren't supposed to give prescriptions for animals they haven't personally inspected. It makes sense. If they don't see the animal and just take my word for it, I could tell them the wrong thing and they might prescribe what I ask, then I could sue for negligence/malpractice Maybe if they looked at my animal they would have known it was something else and on and on and on....... So since they saw Reese and the babies, the scrip was for them and we are all good. Also having inspected my whole herd 6 months before, they had actually seen the other animals in question even if they didn't have personal files on each of them. Besides you don't usually see much in Selenium deficiency.

Good to know. I called my 4H leader and she gave me the phone number of a vet that gives her BoSe. So I'm going to call them up to see if I can arrange anything.

 

[Renegade]

We give a whole bolus twice a year. Have been for many years. We use a calf balling gun and it's been very easy.
It's very hard to overdose a goat with Copasure. The copper in it breaks down so slowly. Earlier this year we accidently dosed a 100# doe twice within a one month period with a whole bolus each time and she never missed a beat. I just laugh when people insist you will overdose a goat if you give more then 1gr/22#.
Now if you overdose copper sulfate you will kill a goat.

Donna

Wow. Thanks so much letting me know this. I was definitely nervous about overdosing but now I feel a lot better. Do you give one bolus to younger goats or do you break it up?

We give one 12.5gr bolus to everything 50# and over. Around here they usually get that big by the time they reach 3 months old.

Donna

 

[TGreenhut]

We give a whole bolus twice a year. Have been for many years. We use a calf balling gun and it's been very easy.
It's very hard to overdose a goat with Copasure. The copper in it breaks down so slowly. Earlier this year we accidently dosed a 100# doe twice within a one month period with a whole bolus each time and she never missed a beat. I just laugh when people insist you will overdose a goat if you give more then 1gr/22#.
Now if you overdose copper sulfate you will kill a goat.

Donna

Wow. Thanks so much letting me know this. I was definitely nervous about overdosing but now I feel a lot better. Do you give one bolus to younger goats or do you break it up?

We give one 12.5gr bolus to everything 50# and over. Around here they usually get that big by the time they reach 3 months old.

Donna

Thanks