copper/ minerals/vitamins

[buzyb34]

I am finding it hard where I live in northern Canada to find minerals. I have thought about getting a bag of pennies and hanging it in their water. Kinda like "colidial silver idea" . Now I know this sounds really dumb but I am trying to think outside the box.

has anyone ever given people vitamins to there goats?

BTW I'm a newbie can you tell. I love this forum and also the BYC one.

 

[Mea]

Not sure about hanging a bag of pennies in the water... Most coins ( at least here in the US) have other metals in them that might not be so good for goats. Not certain about Canadian coins.

If Your feed store doesn;t carry goat minerals... can they order them for You ?? Also try Google-ing what You need. Don't know about US companies shipping to Canada... but maybe there are suppliers up there as well. I get our Coprasur tho online ordering. ( that's a copper supplement.)

Good luck.

 

[buzyb34]

Thank you

Shipping the mineral to Canada from the States is outrageously expensive. what about giving them people vitamins?

 

[glenolam]

Welcome!

You should PM lupinfarm or patandchickens, who are also located in Canada. They might have some info for you. Good luck!

 

[jodief100]

Can you find cattle mineral? Some formulas of cattle mineral will work for goats. Avoid the medicated ones.

 

[Hykue]

Where in Canada are you? I just bought goat mineral mix from Champion feeds in Alberta. They also have a goat dairy ration. They have locations in Barrhead, Westlock, and Grande Prairie. I have looked a little bit into other rations, but not so much minerals. I found some ration in eastern Canada (Shur-gain). Masterfeeds also makes a goat ration (but not a mineral as far as I could tell), and I think they're pretty much Canada-wide.

I suspect that goats would need a different mix of minerals and vitamins than we do, although I am by no means a nutritionist. We just have such different digestive systems that it seems likely our needs are different. So I would say a multivitamin is a no-go. On the other hand, I suppose it is possible that individual vitamin pills (one for calcium, one for vitamin E, etc) might work, but I don't think you can get a copper supplement for people. I think you'd be better off finding a mineral for other livestock that has about the same composition as a goat mineral. Not that that's necessarily simple, I did look at my local feed store, and found that I was too easily confused by the differences to tell which one might work. So I made a stop in Westlock on a recent trip to Alberta.

If you're not comfortable getting a mineral made for other stock, I would suggest calling every feed store within traveling distance and asking if they have minerals specifically for goats. Some of them will say yes, but mean "Sheep and Goat", which of course doesn't work because it has no copper. Be a pest, make sure it's not "Sheep and Goat", and make the trip. At least, that's what I decided to do. Keep in mind, I'm not an experienced goat owner. In fact, I'm not a goat owner at all, and won't be until Sunday. But I did just go through this same issue.

I'm not sure current pennies contain much copper at all, I've cut through them and they're just coated with that copper-colored stuff, the inside is something else. Apparently it's 4.5% copper, and the rest steel and nickel, according to some random person elsewhere on the internet. But a piece of copper pipe might possibly work? I wouldn't be too confident, personally, but I'm a pretty play-it-safe kind of a gal.