Time for Copper!

Some of the Saanen goats we have need more copper than others.

One sure way we can tell they need more copper is their bald noses, or in Curly's case, very thin hair all over.

This week we 'bolused' them with copper. I use Copasure. The boluses are made for cows so they are too big for goats. I open up the boluses and empty the contents into smaller capsules. I push the capsule into a piece of banana and they eat it as if it's a treat because they love bananas!

See Curly's thin coat on his back? This tells us he's low on copper. 

Annie's bald nose is another indication of low copper.

Curly gets a bald nose, too.

All the adult goats got between one "00" size capsule with copper and three "00" size capsules with copper. Annie and Curly were the ones who were dosed with three each because they seem to be the ones that need it most. 

We also wormed everyone this week. It's been a very wet (thankfully!) spring. In our area that means we tend to have more worms. We dose once, then again 10 days later. This week was the second dose. It's not something that First Graders are interested in, so I didn't post about it earlier.

The cows have sloppy pies right now, too. All the wet weather can sometimes bring out the coccidia so they are being treated with some Corid in their water for a few days. Sloppy pies can also be caused by too much protein, but that isn't a factor since their feed hasn't changed.

It's back to semi-normal adult posts for the summer. 

I'm not sure how I'll handle things in the fall.

It might be time for a blog re-design. 

If you have suggestions on who does a good job, feel free to leave the notes in the comments!