elderly goat-problems

[20kidsonhill]

Smokey: You could also try adding some corn oil to her feed daily. Maybe a little more fat in her diet will help her. Black OIl Sunflower Seeds(BOss) is also a good way to add fat and healthy vitamins and minerals, but it has really gone up on price.

 

[elevan]

Smokey: You could also try adding some corn oil to her feed daily. Maybe a little more fat in her diet will help her. Black OIl Sunflower Seeds(BOss) is also a good way to add fat and healthy vitamins and minerals, but it has really gone up on price.

Or Flax Seed is a great source of Omega 3 which is great for coat / hair health.

 

[redtailgal]

x

 

[20kidsonhill]

Good idea 20kids.

I started giving my two boys a handful of BOSS in their feed. It really made thier coats look nice, and it did it quickly too. Their hooves seem nicer too, but that may be my imagination.

I get a 50lb sack of BOSS (13$) to feed my songbirds and just feed goats out of that. I do grow my own sunflowers and dry the head to keep cost down.

the last BOSS I purchased this summer was $17 for a 25lb bag. I would be jumping up and down if I found it for $13 for a 50lb bag.

 

[cmjust0]

Edited for Rule violations

 

[aggieterpkatie]

My friend had to put down her Aussie after he licked up ivermectin that was dribbled out of a horse's mouth.

 

[elevan]

I do not have a MAJOR problem, but I do have a 9 year old doe that is a pet. She is a Toggenburg, and just the last month or so, has very thinning hair on her back hips and neck. The neck I suspect is from rubbing on the feeder, but wonder if this could be from just plain old old age? She is exhibiting no other issues, eats fine, acts fine, normal weight that I can tell. she is just balding, no real bald patches, just over all, on her back, and where I mentioned. My goats have never had lice or mites, but the flies have been bad and they hate to be sprayed for bugs. I managed to get some spray on her today, but I can worm her if that might help with any parasites (lice or so) that she MIGHT have that I cannot see. What I own for wormers, Valbazen, Ivomec (injectable) and Ivomec Eprinex Pour-on.
I have searched in vain for anything about typical signs of old age in goats that they might exhibit and found nothing. I know the life span in books say 10-12 years normally.

In case we've forgotten...this was the original post. I decided to go back to the original post and see if I could be more helpful since the thread accidentally took a wrong turn.

Smoky73: Goats don't just go bald without reason...not like humans (although even when humans do there is reason if you care to investigate).

If you used the Pour on as a pour on then that could be the problem right there.

Rubbing on the fence and the feeders COULD be the problem. I have a goat who has a bare spot on her head from rubbing...top of her head (nowhere else).

Flies have indeed been very bad this year. All bugs, really, due to the exceptionally wet spring in most areas. (I know some of you are in a drought). They make a variety of sprays (both chemical and natural) and even have fly collars and ear tags available.

If it's lice, you'd find the bugs when checking. Mites can be a little harder but if you know the signs you can find them too.

Vitamin / Mineral deficiencies can cause hair loss.

Bacterial and yeast / fungal skin infections could be the culprit too.

Can you take a skin scraping to the vet? That could tell you mites or skin infection if that's the problem. Or a blood sample? That would help you identify a vitamin / mineral deficiency.

Personally I wouldn't attribute it to aging...especially because a 9 year old goat isn't considered old in my book.

eta: Can you post a picture of your goat? That could help us all see how bad the problem in your goat is.

 

[smoky73]

No I have not used anything on the goats at all so it is not from anything I have added.

The goats do have minerals, but when it rains, rarely, it gets wet so I washed out the containers for new tomorrow. We get very little rain usually, our climate humidity here in Northeastern Colorado is usually around 30-40%. So no damp bedding or anything. But you know the flies are bad no matter and the mosquitoes can be a pain as well.

I raise exhibition poultry so I know what lice look like and I can honestly say I have not seen anything like that out here on any of my birds or goats. Chickens get mites occasionally but they are WELL away from the goats.

I know about skin scrapings and that is something I cannot do. If it comes down (needs to get worse than this) to that I will have to call a vet out to do it. We had our dog skin scraped a while back and that is lengthy and painful as you have to get down to the raw flesh and make it bleed. It took a half a thing of dog biscuits to get the dog through the process.

I still think its an age thing or due to rubbing. And she is around 9-10 so according to the books, thats kind of elderly. She is a happy goat otherwise, eats good, no other health issues I could even comment on. As you will see, she is not completely balding, thinning in patches is more a correct statement.

Here are pics of my goats, 3 of which should be having babies this month. The one in question is the black one and before anyone comments that we can see her white skin through the black hair, its not, thats DE. I dusted her when I got home from work and did not read this till after the fact LOL. So sorry she looks a bit white. I tried to get a closer pic of her too though. The other goats are for comparison.

oh yeah, and edited to say that she is a toggenburg, big girl, around 150lb, as is the last white one.

 

[redtailgal]

z

 

[smoky73]

LOL, the thing in the background is the goat stantion? (SP?) (people use them for milking too)that my husband built so that we can trim hooves off the ground. Its too hard for us to wrestly the goat (me over the goat straddling) and him on the ground trying to trim a fiesty boer. They love to sit up on it during the day but its hell to pay if we NEED them up there haha.
That black headed one is pure muscle (probably about 175lb) and even my husband cannot wrestle her to the ground if she is after me with the feed bucket.(happened once) As you can see, they are all horned and the black headed one is the spot ones mother so she is very protective.