The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Foobar on April 28, 2015, 10:57:16 am
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Does anyone on here use boluses for mineral supplementation?
I'm thinking of switching from drenches to boluses as I don't think the drenches last long enough, but all the ones I've seen seem very large, with large applicators. Has anyone had any experience on bolusing smaller breed ewes (circa 35-45kg).?
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We use Co-Secure for copper - it's a slow release 'glass' bolus, which dissolves over about 9-10 months. We don't use them every year. There is a lamb size and an adult size, with separate applicators.
They are really horrible things to put in. The applicators are even bigger than the boluses themselves, and have to go quite far down the throat or they just spit them out. The danger is damaging the tissues of the throat.
Every now and then we find one lying around the pastures, in varying states of being dissolved, so they can hack them back out.
We really like the slow release aspect, but don't like the delivery.
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Yeah, that's what I thought. I've ordered some Copinox capsules to begin with as these seem small and can be administered with a normal dosing gun. I'll use those for now whilst I use up my stocks of drench (thanks to Nettex I have lots!), but in the longer term I'd prefer to find a suitable bolus that covers Se, I & Co and maybe Zn & Cu.
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We've tried both types and got the vet in to administer the large ones - could do a lot of damage with poor technique and/or unco-operative sheep (and some of ours were very unco-operative!)
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I have used the cobalt and selenium boluses. An assistant from the vets came out and did SOE 8 mth old lambs last year that were at a stand still . Blood test confirmed the deficiency. No problems, looked easy. I was advised to do the ewes pre lambing which I did, only one crunched it when I didn't get the gun back far enough but then swallowed it. I have been advised to do the lambs at weaning to prevent last years events. I will admit that I wasn't keen when I saw the gun but helped with the initial lambs and thought, well that's OK then !! I don't go looking for problems only solutions ????
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...follow-up question about the copinox (or any copper capsules) ...
if 2g is for lambs and lasts 6 months, and 4g is for adult ewes and lasts 6 months .... how long does a 2g capsule last in an adult ewe? ... is it 6 months at a lower daily rate, or 3 months at the usual rate?
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Dispersal time will be the same, so the small ones will last as long in an adult as the large size, but with a lower dose. We have used the lamb size on Soay adults.
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Dispersal time will be the same, so the small ones will last as long in an adult as the large size, but with a lower dose. We have used the lamb size on Soay adults.
But an adult Soay is the same weight as a commercial lamb, so yeah in a Soay it would last 6 months. But in a commercial adult??
Is the dispersal time based on the surface area of the rods or on the amount of fluid in the gut, or on the size of the gut (more surface area = quicker absorption)?
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Just guessing here, but it seems to me that dispersal time depends on the properties of the bolus material, i.e. how quickly it degrades? So if it is engineered to gradually degrade/disperse the supplement over 6 months, this is regardless of the size (of capsule or animal) just that the smaller capsule size releases a smaller dose (over the same length of time) suited to the smaller size of animal?
:thinking:
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LadyK - in this case the bolus is a dis-solvable capsule containing loose copper oxide rods, either 2g or 4g worth.