Ongoing Copper Issues

It took eight years for my diagnosis of copper deficiency.  I’ve been giving the goats copper for five years.  I am still struggling with copper issues.

Bubbles almost has a rat tail and didn’t settle this year.

Cupid’s patches are really supposed to be much more orange.

In good news, Daisy is doing much better.  She’s still thin, but the diarrhea is gone and she has more energy.  She is picking up weight, and I expect she will fully recover.

Daisy

Her girls are also doing well.  They just come running and gobble down the sweet feed.

Daisy is in back; Blanche and Cotton under the log

They chew their cuds and are doing well.

Blanche and Cotton

Friday while I was doing chores, Cutie came running to the milk room door.  I immediately saw that she has a horrible case of bottle jaw.

Cutie

That’s what happened last year and why she was supposed to retire. Except for the whole Benji jumping out and breeding her.  Interestingly, Cutie and Daisy were born the same year.

BJ (Benji Jr)

Anyhow, I weaned BJ and put Cutie up north with Daisy.

Cutie (behind) with BJ (2.5 months) and Heidi (11 1/2 months)

They should both be fine.  And, dang it, Cutie is darn well retiring!  I already have several kids looking like they are getting low on copper, so I’ll need to divide some capsules in half and give to those kids.

Ivory and Q-Tip (you can see their hair is getting thin)

I already gave copper to Sidney’s kids.  Their noses were bare.  About two days after I started hemming and hawing because they didn’t weigh enough to give them a copper capsule, Jay went lame.  His front legs were just wonky–like rubber.  That’s when I immediately gave both boys half of a capsule.

I don’t know how he could eat like that.

I ended up calling the vet to put him down because, even though he started growing new hair on his nose about a day after getting copper, he was still just struggling to walk.

Jay with new hair growing on that nose that was completely bare.

Then, when I got home from work and caught him for the vet, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  He had one leg pretty straight and mostly standing.  So we decided to wait.

He’s about the same.  I will give him the other half of his capsule pretty soon, and hopefully that will finish his recovery.

There’s Always One

I swear every time I think the herd is all healthy, there’s one that just has to step in and try to die.

Hilda is improving now that she doesn’t have kids on her.

Now it’s Daisy.  For some reason she just suddenly got really skinny and had diarrhea.

Daisy and her girls

It’s a good thing I got the bucks off the north paddock so it could grow.

Frodo and Xerxes are getting along well since they are not in rut.

Because I put Daisy and her girls up there.  The two littles are starting to chew their cuds, so I’ll wean them soon.

Blanche, Cotton, and Daisy

Daisy got an extra copper capsule and was wormed.  They are all getting sweet feed to help put weight on Daisy and keep the two girls growing.

The whole eight years to get a diagnosis of copper is still a bit overwhelming to deal with.

More of the Animals in Pasture

I am actually hoping to get a lot done this weekend. We’ll see. Here’s some animals enjoying the warmer weather.

Heidi in the late afternoon sun

Bella

Odie

Dolly

Ava and kids

Nessa

Xerxes

Rosie’s boy

Daisy and kids (and Hera’s boy looking at me)

Sunset–Popcorn, Dolly, and Purl

Happy weekend!