Crunchy Goat Hairs

[Baymule]

Her real name is June...

Perhaps I should change it. It fits her personality I'm afraid.

Who else would have a goat named Crunchy Goat?

 

[ragdollcatlady]

If you can get a cobalt block, it might help. I figured out we had an issue with one of my milking boers a few years ago and once I treated the herd with boluses and put out a block, I don't have to bolus the majority of the herd. One of my other girls though, her pedigree goes back to a common goat a few generations back, seems to have a higher need for cobalt. Her coat has a harder time getting sleek and shiny, the cobalt bolus helps when it is really rough. It says you can do it once a year in breeding stock, so I keep that in mind for her, but for everyone else, they generally seem to get enough from their loose minerals plus the blocks. I haven't used the bolus for nigerians and wouldn't necessarily recommend the bolus as it is huge and likely more than your little goat needs, but the block, she can take what she wants. I had to pay $30 for the block and shipping when I needed it, but the following year, TSC was able to special order them for me and they were only $8 or so.

 

[Ridgetop]

The color is less of an issue since you are giving sufficient copper. Some kids fade as they age. Her orange color is not an unusual color. The description of her coat is unusual. If you have a clipper, you could use a coarse blade and shave her - NOT TO THE SKIN, but enough to remove the "crunchy ends of the cot. Then see if her new cot grows in smooth, or "crunchy" and stiff. She may just have this type of coat. Then it will be up to you to decide if you like her enough to overlook the coat, or decide to cull her out of your breeding program. If you are planning to show, you will have to shave all your goats before the show anyway. The crinkly hair will not be as obvious then. If you have papers and her pedigree, you can do some research to see if this is a throwback trait she has inherited. If she is not a purebred goat, the buck may have had this crinkly hair. Or this may be the reason the breeder is culling the mama and crinkly daughter out of the herd. Disease testing is for diseases, not natural physical flaws.

Your choice on keeping or culling.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

The color is less of an issue since you are giving sufficient copper. Some kids fade as they age. Her orange color is not an unusual color. The description of her coat is unusual. If you have a clipper, you could use a coarse blade and shave her - NOT TO THE SKIN, but enough to remove the "crunchy ends of the cot. Then see if her new cot grows in smooth, or "crunchy" and stiff. She may just have this type of coat. Then it will be up to you to decide if you like her enough to overlook the coat, or decide to cull her out of your breeding program. If you are planning to show, you will have to shave all your goats before the show anyway. The crinkly hair will not be as obvious then. If you have papers and her pedigree, you can do some research to see if this is a throwback trait she has inherited. If she is not a purebred goat, the buck may have had this crinkly hair. Or this may be the reason the breeder is culling the mama and crinkly daughter out of the herd. Disease testing is for diseases, not natural physical flaws.

Your choice on keeping or culling.

We didn't get her from a breeder, got her from neighbor who has decided to give up on dairy goats. We got half her herd for super cheap. Crunchy was not born yet when neighbor bought Mama, so no one knew about her hair lol. Mama was a FF.
Everyone is supposed to be purebred, and from breeders, but who really knows unless I look it up. Neighbor still has my papers, just because life happened and they weren't registered yet.


The shaving seems like a novel idea! I presume I can just use a good old Wahl people trimmer with a guard on it?

 

[Ridgetop]

Yes, you can do that. Or you can get a small Oster clippers with removal blades. You can put different size blades on to leave different lengths of hair. When my Wahl people hair clipper broke, I used my small goat clippers on my boys to cut their hair! LOL I never bothered to replace the people clipper.

FYI: I do suggest that you get the papers on your goats ASAP. Papers have a way of getting lost, and without them you cannot register their kids or transfer the adults into your name. Whether you are going to keep the goats just for household milk, plan to have your children do 4-H, or do anything else with them, without papers the value of your goats and their offspring decreases. If the mamas are registered, and were bred to a registered buck, you can obtain the appropriate Applications for Registration from ADGA to register the kids. Then have the previous owners sign off on them as the breeder and you can register the kids to yourselves. The original registration papers on the mamas must be signed off by the previous owners for you to transfer the adult goats to your names. The previous owners of the mama goats is technically the breeder of the kids so they have to sign off on your Applications for Registration. Hopefully they were also the owners of the sire and can sign off on the Certificate of Stud Service. If not, and they too the mamas to a stud hopefully that owner will be willing to give you a Stud Certificate in order to register the kids. They probably will.

People often think it doesn't matter if the animals are registered, but you will find it easier to sell kids if they are registered. Also if your children ever want to do 4-H with them, they must be registered to be shown at the Fair or any other shows, even just for showmanship. Try to get the papers ASAP from your neighbors before they misplace them or toss them out.