[Goatmamma]

Hi there, I am the owner (servant!) for two pygymy wethers that I keep as pets in Aberdeeshire. I have had them from kids are they are five years old. I wondered if anyone had advice about possible copper deficiency? One of my goats is brown and white while the other is largely white with dark brown patches/legs.
The brown goat was a dark chocolate colour when we got him but as time wore on he has grown a long bushy coat (much longer than the white one), in a faded/sunbleached colour. I also noticed that the dark legs of my white goat are copper tinged in places. Both of them have fish tail (bald tips to their tails). The dark goat goes bald around his eyes in the summer.
They both seem to need delousing regularly (I use Ivermectin pour on) and the white one has itchy patches on his belly that he rubs on anything he can reach until he goes bald.
I did get a blood test from the vet but they said it was inconclusive, although they thought they might be slightly defficient in zinc.
I have considered a copper bolus but I'm worried about copper toxicity too.
Apart from this they are in good health, and pretty perky.
It seems like most issues around goats, it bothers me more than it bothers them!
Any thoughts much appreciated.

[clydesdaleclopper]

Hi Goatmamma    Do you feed them a mineral supplement? My girls get either Caprivite or Dennis Brinicombe Goat Balancer plus they have a red Rockies lick that they can help themselves to. Even if they are getting plenty of copper in their diet uptake can be inhibited by Molybdenum and the levels of this rise in waterlogged soil. My fields are certainly pretty boggy right now so that might be an issue. Are you a member of Grampian Goat Club?

[Goatmamma]

HI there, thanks so much for replying. I'm not a member of the Grampian Goat Club, I wasn't sure it still existed, would you recommend joining? My boys have a rockies red and rockies yellow lick, which they use a lot. I used to give them Caprivite but swapped to Sequim to see if that made a difference (it didn't). They used to have Allan & Page Pygmy goat feed, but after talking to East Coat Viners they recommended that I use First Stage Calf Pellets. Their coats did improve after making the swap. They have a handful each morning and night along with some carrot and maybe apple or pear (or whatever fruit is reduced in Tesco!).
Our field is pretty boggy in parts too.
Have you ever given copper supplements (apart from the mineral lick)?
Lovely to chat to another goat person, 
Cheryl

[devonlady]

Hello, Goatmamma and welcome to the forum. You'll find much good advice on here from the goaty folk.

[Goatmamma]

Hi there Devon Lady, nice to hear from you. I wish I had discovered the forum earlier, might have saved some sleepless nights! As a novice in the goat world good advice is invaluable. I suppose I'm a bit of a fraud as they are really pets and I can't pretend to be a smallholder, but I'm always keen to find out more about how I might make the most of the 6 acres we have.
Certainly when it comes to my goats there is no business sense/economics in the equation! 

[clydesdaleclopper]

Hi Goatmamma it is worth joining the Grampian Goat Club. They have a meeting this Thursday evening in Inverurie [member=39484]Talana[/member] should be able to give more detail on what the talks will be about.


I've never given a copper supplement but I believe [member=26799]fsmnutter[/member] gives her goats copper boluses. It might be worth asking your vet to give you a drench for them as you can then avoid buying a large quantity.

[Talana]

Hi, Aberdeenshire is notorious for being deficent in copper /cobalt and other minerals. Some parts have high levels of molywhatsit as clydesdaleclopper said. our last place was worse than our current place for minerals (only moved 4 miles) I used to drench he goats monthly with copper/cobalt drench plus rockies, we had really high levels of moly.
Grampian Goat Club has a meeting Thursday night at Gairoch Bowling Centre meeting room, Inverurie,7.30pm 9.30pm approx. No speaker yet Agnes working on it. But may be informal goaty chat/ open forum, unfortunately I will unlikely be able to go as lambing but depends on how things go may get a chance to pop over. We have a few pygmy goat members who can advise with pygmy related issues I think some get pygmy goat syndrome I think to do with being prone to zinc deficiency.

[Lesley Silvester]

Can't help on the copper front but wanted to say welcome to TAS. I keep dairy goats.

[fsmnutter]

Yes, i give my adult goats the cosecure boluses for sheep every 6 months, and they get Denis brinicombe premium goat balancer, and often a cattle feed that has copper in it as well.
I had copper deficiency issues, one of the nannies had a tendency when moulting to completely shed her coat and go nearly bald in many patches before her new coat came through. I know i also tend to have cobalt issues as well, when nannies are due a bolus, my milk tastes goaty!
I haven't noticed problems like this since using the boluses.
Goats have a high tolerance for copper, so are much less likely to have toxicity than sheep, so supplementing with a sheep bolus should be perfectly safe.
It may well be worth you experimenting with supplements whether that is the premium goat balancer, caprivite, which you can buy online or drenches or boluses, which you could discuss with your vet.

[Goatmamma]

HI there, that's really interesting re the problem with copper. My two pygmy wethers are shedding right now and are almost bald on their necks and faces. I haven't logged on for a while so didn't see the information re the Grampian Goat Club meetings. I would definitely be keen to join and come along to meetings, will google them and see how to get in touch. My vet did a blood test and it came back with a slight copper deficiency but she said it's almost impossible to tell from a blood test. I'm terrified of overdosing them on copper, but everything seems to point towards that, particularly their fishtail, general gingerness and scaly/bald bits! It's not that easy to get hold of copper boluses for goats, all the sellers seem to be US based. We are near Stonehaven.
I have the red rockies lick, but understand it's not the best way to get enough copper for them.
And I was told goats were hardy and easy to keep!