Copper Deficiency - Is Loose Mineral Enough?

[Our7Wonders]

I'm not very good at cramming things down my goats throat - they get frustrated, I get frustrated and I end up wasting several doses of copasure.

So here is my super easy way of giving it to them:

I open a capsule and eyeball the dose. For my girls, that works out to be half a copasure capsule each. I pour some molassess into a bowl, dump the copasure onto the molasses. With a glass of warm water I take it out to the goats - pour a little of the water on the molasses/copasure pile and let the goatie slurp it up. The rods will sink to the bottom, so I pour a little more water - and continue until they've slurped it all up. I bring the bottle of molasses with me too, because they may not get each little rod before I run out of the molasses water mixture. Neither of my girls made any attempt to chew the little rods - they went right down with the mix. And because I use a bowl I can easily see whether there are any little rods left.

Anyway, that's my easy, peasy way that works for me.

Good luck!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

perf! sounds great!

i have one goatie who loves to 'drive' stuff form one of those large barrel syringes. wonder if i could suck up the rods into it?

i have a feeling its gonna take a couple tries but we'll get 'er done.

hi Hobby Farms!

 

[20kidsonhill]

Someone on here mixes it with yogurt and gives it that way.

 

[whetzelmomma]

Are you against bolusing that actual ACT? Because if that's all you're trying to avoid, I suggest following the instructions here: http://www.goatspots.com/copper.html

I give bolus this way, in addition to my minerals. I've been reading that the copper in most mineral supplements is copper sulfide, and sulfer can inhibit the absorption of other minerals, and can also have risks of overdosing copper. Copper OXIDE however (the kind in copasure) is safer, and non inhibiting.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

This explains why I waited so long for my order of copasure to come in. It was back ordered for ever. I'll try the marshmallow method on the girls this weekend.

Should the kids also be treated?

 

[Ariel301]

It seems like a LOT of people are seeing some severe mineral deficiencies this year, more so than I've heard of before. My herd was doing pretty good until this winter, and they all started to look awful because I couldn't get good hay for about six months and was feeding cow-quality grass hay. I started my goats on Purina Goat Mineral about a month ago, both free choice in their pen, and a quarter ounce top dressed on each milking doe's feed twice a day. It's way more than the bag said to feed them, but I'm already seeing a drastic difference, even my doe that has been chronically thin for years has picked up 10 pounds since I started them on it. I had previously drenched them twice with copper sulfate and seen no results.

So, for my herd, the loose mineral seems to be enough (as long as it's a good one--the loose one I was using before didn't cut it.) I am absolutely convinced part of the problem (if not all of it) is that our hay and grain is becoming less nutritious (just like our vegetables and fruits are doing) because the soil they are grown in is getting very depleted and not fed the things it needs, not to mention all the chemicals sprayed on it, and genetically modified grains. Modified soy and corn have both been shown in the laboratory to cause fertility issues and high cancer rates in rats, so it's no wonder we're starting to see some serious problems with our livestock which are eating that same garbage. :/