Two Weeks Later

It was about two weeks ago that I gave the goats the second copper capsule.  I think it’s exactly what they needed.

Mary without bottle jaw and looking better

I’m already seeing lots of new hair growing.  Flower still isn’t back to perfect, but she obviously has a lot more hair on her ears.

Flower

Hopefully, that will also take care of the parasites.  Harley is starting to grow hair back where it fell out when I poured her.

Harley

I also hope the eyes will keep showing more red (less anemia).

Dolly

They do seem to be improving now.  I just need to figure out a good schedule and dose and hope it doesn’t change.

Casey

Oh yeah, I also need to figure out how to deal with the kids.  My weaned kids are doing well.

Bubbles

But the ones not getting sweet feed are starting to show signs of hair loss.

Sacagawea

I might have to do more weaning of kids.

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Signs of Copper Deficiency

When I discovered what was wrong with my goat herd, I was actually happy.  I got the impression that if I gave my goats the copper capsule twice a year, it would be wonderful.  Life would be perfect with them again.

Casey

But my goats are in worse shape now than they were when I first gave them the copper last year at this time.

Flower

The whole herd.

Thankfully, the copper I gave the girls last fall seems to have worked wonders for the kids.  None of them show signs of deficiency from before they were born.

Snow White

But the moms…many didn’t have milk.

Bonnie and Socks

They’re thin.

Annie

They’ve had bottle jaw from the severe anemia.

Mary

It’s not just the moms.  We had lice (parasitism is one of the signs). I actually had to get the vet here for Harley because the treatment I did wasn’t taking care of the problem for her.

Harley

We’ve had diarrhea.

Litha

Stormy even had bottle jaw, and she’s been retired from having kids for two years now.

Stormy

Their fur is coarse, thin, and coming out.

Dolly

It’s just a nightmare.  I am worried about my girls who are due in June.  Vinnie’s losing hair on her side.

Vinnie

Even Cupid, who was new to the farm last fall and was getting sweet feed with copper all winter is quickly losing ground now that she’s with everyone and not getting the extra feed.  She has a fish tail and is losing the fur from her tail.

I finally decided that the recommended dose was not enough.  The amount I was told to give them is half the dose on the directions that came with the capsules.  I gave everyone another capsule; hopefully, that will do the trick.

I really am at a loss of how to get things to improve.  If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what I’ll do.

Weaning

I’ve had to start weaning kids even though they are quite young.  It started with Mary.  She had some pretty out of control bottle jaw.

Mary

I put her in the Love Shack.  She’s not happy about that, but it only took a couple of days for the bottle jaw to go down.

Then I had to wean Haley’s boys because she was getting bottle jaw.  You can see she’s horribly thin and she’s lost most of the color on her side and has a bare streak down her nose.

Haley

I also put Cinnamon with her in the north paddock.  She’s thin and losing hair too.

Cinnamon

After a couple of days, she still didn’t have much milk in her udder.  I got more milk from her when Athena and I were both taking from her last year.

Mary and Haley’s kids are fine.  They were already taking bottles, and they’re still getting them.

Haley feeding Hook and Smee

I do worry about John.  He has never taken a bottle.  He’s chewing his cud, and he’s good at eating sweet feed, but I do worry he’ll need more food and copper than I can provide.

John

Hopefully, they all do well with the new weaning arrangements.