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!

Spring Worming for the Goats

In the photos below you'll notice that there is alot of hair loss on our buck. That is one way we can tell that our goats need worming.

See the thin hair on his withers?

He is also rubbing himself on every fence and post because he is so itchy.

We wormed with Ivomec Plus because it does a very good job in our area. It's extra-label use for goats so check with your vet, just like we checked with ours, to make sure it is okay for your herd.

We follow up with a week of Mineral Max because we know that in our area most goats don't get enough copper.

We buy Mineral Max from The Farm Store because it seems to be the cheapest place for us to get it.

We also worm the does right after they kid because the stress of kidding seems to increase the worm load. The does also get a week of Mineral Max after they kid to help them stay healthy and strong while they are feeding kids and we are milking them. We keep them on the Mineral Max once a week throughout their milking and we seem to have fewer health problems.

More Treatments

This morning I decided to treat Glacier with "Today", an intra-mammary infusion to kill mastitis-causing organisms. Since she didn't get better with the Penicillin or the Albon, we need to try a different drug. Last night there were so many clumps in her milk that I could hardly believe it. It is odd because the teat that is infected is giving the most milk, almost twice as much as the other teat. Her milk production hasn't decreased, either. She is still giving 5.5-6 lbs at each milking (about 3/4 gallon). She has no fever, is eating well and doesn't seem to be affected by it. Her milk all gets fed to the chickens and the ducks since we can't drink it.

The chickens and the ducks are doing very well on the milk. I dropped a chicken egg the other day and it didn't even crack on the hard ground. The 9 year old Ameraucana is also laying again.

I found a clutch of duck eggs this morning, too. I think there are at least a dozen in the nest. One of the ducks is sitting on them. I'll leave everything alone and see if she can hatch some out. I'm sure we can find homes for them without trouble. People seem to love the ducks.

I gave one of our neighbors (with 7 children) 2 dozen duck eggs a few days ago. The are a wonderful family and the children are so much fun to be around. They stopped by yesterday and told me that, "Duck eggs are 5000 times better than chicken eggs!" They are so happy that they bought ducklings this year and can't wait until they start laying in a few months.

Since Glacier still has mastitis, Buddy is still not moving much, and Clover is acting 'weird' I decided to give worm those three with Ivomec Plus at 1 cc/ 100 pounds. I gave Clover and Glacier 2 cc each and Buddy got .5 cc, all SQ. In ten days I'll do it all again. I found a paper written by Jim Miller at Louisianna State University on parasites and treatment. Vet2Be'assignment will be to read the paper when he comes home from his canoe trip. It has extra-label dosages and milk withdrawl times for a number of different wormers as well as other information on worming and identifying worms.

Worming goats

This was recently posted on HobbyFarmers, a nice yahoo group (listed in the sidebar) that has been helpful to us. The author kindly consented to let me post here.

Thanks Teresa!

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Re: De wormers for goats (from HobbyFarmers@yahoogroups.com)
Posted by: "Teresa Barr-Jones"
Tue May 12, 2009 4:21 pm (PDT)

We have successfully used the following wormers on our full-size Nubian dairy goats:

Cydectin (oral sheep drench, given as directed for sheep)
Ivermectin (injectable given orally @ 1 cc to 55 pounds)
Prohibit (Levamisole, given as directed for sheep)
SafeGuard Goat (given as directed on bottle)

A great reference for goat wormers is available at the Fias Co Farm website: http://fiascofarm.com/goats/wormers.htm

Disclaimer: I am not a vet and my comments are not meant to challenge or replace a vet's advice.

Hope this helps. :)
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Teresa Barr-Jones
Galloping Winds Ranch
http://www.GallopingWindsRanch.com
Images with Flair - Website Design & Support
http://www.ImagesWithFlair.net

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We are not vets, either, so don't base your decisions on what we use, find a good vet to give you a recommendation.

When we worm our goats we use SafeGuard Paste (labeled for horses) at the weight recommendations on the label. There is no milk withdrawl when using SafeGuard Paste. We also use Ivomec (labeled for horses, too) at the recommended dosages on the label. Our vet told us that the milk withdrawl for Ivomec is 5 days. We use SafeGuard Paste right after the does kid in the spring and the Ivomec in the late summer.

We don't have too many problems with worms in our area because it is so dry here. Wetter areas of the country have to worm more often, heavier doses, and use different wormers. If you have your animals on 'dry lot' (no pasture), your worming routine will vary from ours, too. The best way to check what wormer you should use and how often to use it is to run a fecal exam. You can also have your vet run fecal tests.

Molly at Fias Co Farm has a great tutorial on running fecals. You can find it here.