Help with feed question

[Southern by choice]

There is a really good vet that is mobile that practices along the TN/NC line. Are you close to there?

 

[babsbag]

I have a goat in my herd that freshend in Jan and she is more bones than meat, and she does this every year. Her coat looks like crap and no matter what I do she will stay this way until I dry her off. She gets the same feed and minerals as my other goats but she still looks horrible.

The calf manna may help, any extra calories may help. I have tried all kinds of show supplements with her but she is just a hard keeper. Another treat that may help is pumpkin seeds. Mine love BOSS when I mix it with their grain so you might try that. I also have fed beet pulp but with mixed reviews but honestly if it is out there I have probably tried it.

What helps with the coat is injectable minerals, but they are prescription and you may get injection site lumps, some do...some don't but it does help with coat condition. Kelp is another good one for coats. Do you have a loose goat mineral out for her?

Getting a fecal would be a good idea in case it is parasites.

 

[cteague]

Yes she has free chioice mineral babsbag. I am in East Tn Southern By Choice. Between Chattanooga and Knoxville.

 

[babsbag]

Another question...does she eat her minerals? Mine hate some brands and ignore them. For three years I thought that they didn't need minerals as they never ate them, then I switched brands and now they go through a bag a week. (40 goats).

 

[cteague]

I have a big dish i put the mineral in and when i dump it in all of them seem to eat it. Not sure if she is going back to it or not. But they are disappearing. I use the Manna Pro brand.

 

[Southern by choice]

You may be dealing with a cobalt issue.
@Ferguson K had some goats she brought in that really did look like they weren't gonna make it she did the cobalt and WOW! Amazing results.

Tagging her now maybe she can link right to the thread where it started.
Manna Pro does not have enough cobalt to make a difference.

We actually just ordered the loose powder cobalt from http://www.goatworld.com/store/ because we have a buck that just cannot gain weight.... he has zero parasites, eats great, has excepional genetics... just won't gain.... on the farm he came from they gave cobalt.

We just got our cobalt in and we will be documenting the progress. Check out k's thread!
You more than likely need to give copper bolus as well... this makes a big difference with parasites.

@Ferguson K - can you pull up where your thread starts on the goats you brought in and ended up doing the cobalt with?

 

[cteague]

You may be dealing with a cobalt issue.
@Ferguson K had some goats she brought in that really did look like they weren't gonna make it she did the cobalt and WOW! Amazing results.

Tagging her now maybe she can link right to the thread where it started.
Manna Pro does not have enough cobalt to make a difference.

We actually just ordered the loose powder cobalt from http://www.goatworld.com/store/ because we have a buck that just cannot gain weight.... he has zero parasites, eats great, has excepional genetics... just won't gain.... on the farm he came from they gave cobalt.

We just got our cobalt in and we will be documenting the progress. Check out k's thread!
You more than likely need to give copper bolus as well... this makes a big difference with parasites.

@Ferguson K - can you pull up where your thread starts on the goats you brought in and ended up doing the cobalt with?

Ok thank u. I will try to find a better mineral and do the copper

 

[Southern by choice]

Ok thank u. I will try to find a better mineral and do the copper

There are only 2 minerals that have decent amounts of copper but you really won't find adequate levels in any premixed goat mineral. Cobalt is very expensive and that is why it is only a trace amount added to pre mixes if any at all.
If the goats are wasting away despite the feed and forage etc... you could have Johnes. Johnes is a wasting disease. It is really starting to affect goats because people just don't want to test their animals.

http://johnes.org/

If these were my goats I would do the following

Run fecals on all goats
FAMACHA on all goats
Test for CAE and Johnes

After that a mineral analysis

 

[cteague]

CAE and Johnes would be a blood test correct?

 

[Southern by choice]

Yes. Although the fecal for Johnes is the best.
Honestly I would do the fecal- it has to go to the right lab though.
You can do a group sampling... iow if you have 10 goats take fecals from 5 and put in a bag and the same for theother 5.
It takes roughly 8-16 weeks to grow the culture... if it does grow then they will say Bag A showed positive... or whatever then you can isolate and do individual fecals. But that is costly so starting with the group is best. Johnes.org explains the specificity of each kind of test.

If you do serum Rollins lab in NC will do out of state customers for the following fees.
$3 for each CAE
$3 for each Johnes
These are both serum