[CaramelKittey]

Hi all!
My doe Lucy gave birth to a healthy buckling and a dead breach doeling in 2019, and the same thing happened again this year. My doe Gracie gave birth to a premature doeling this year. I am very sure my soil is iodine deficient. What is the best way to supplement iodine for goats? I have heard of goat owners who give free-choice kelp, and others who top-dress kelp on their feed. I've also heard of goat owners sprinkling iodized salt on feed as well. How do you supplement iodine, if needed? Should I do a cobalt bolus for them along with their copper bolus? Do I need to supplement kids/bucklings/whethers as well? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[NigerianDwarfOwner707]

Photos of the doe?

Could be a lot of mineral issues - with kelp for iodine, I’d think selenium is more likely. What brand of loose minerals do you use?

 

[happybleats]

Iodine def. Often causes dead babies to be born with little to no hair and often severe goiters. Im sorry about the loss.
Most likely somthing else going on. Not to say you dont have an iodine issue..to address that I prefer to set out fresh kelp daily in a mineral feeder and allow the goats to choose it free choice. What all do you feed and what minerals are used.

 

[ksalvagno]

Iodine deficiency will cause doe kids to be born dead or very weak. I had a year that I lost almost all my female kids. A goat mentor told me my girls were iodine deficient. I use a cobalt block and kelp. Never had a weak or dead doe kid again.

 

[CaramelKittey]

Thank you all!
We use Purina Goat Chow for our does. We just started giving them alfalfa pellets, but we didn't start that until the beginning of August.
They have free choice Sweetlix all the time. Unfortunately we ran out of Sweetlix before some could be shipped to us, and it was in that week we lost Gracie's kid. I'm not sure if there is a connection there, but it seemed too short a time frame for her to lose the kid. We lost Lucy's kids before we started them all on Sweetlix Meat Maker.
I do have some kelp I could give free-choice if that is the best way to go. From what I've heard, most soil in the North East is severely iodine deficient. Here are some recent photos..
Squeaks

Gracie

Thanks all in advance!

 

[CaramelKittey]

Iodine deficiency will cause doe kids to be born dead or very weak. I had a year that I lost almost all my female kids. A goat mentor told me my girls were iodine deficient. I use a cobalt block and kelp. Never had a weak or dead doe kid again.

I'm sorry for your losses. I'm glad it is better now.
Thank you for you information. Is there a specific brand of kelp and cobalt block that you use? Thank you!

 

[CaramelKittey]

I do have a photo of the kid if needed. The kid was born 52 days early, and was hairless.

 

[SalteyLove]

Photos of the doe?

Could be a lot of mineral issues - with kelp for iodine, I'd think selenium is more likely. What brand of loose minerals do you use?

I think the owner does not use kelp already, but was asking about that as an option!

 

[SalteyLove]

I'm so glad you got Sweetlix on board! Do you offer any other mineral supplements? Bo-Se injections, selenium oral gel, copper bolus?

For the great majority of goats here, loose minerals are not enough to meet all their needs. You should definitely plan to supplement additional selenium, copper, iodine, and likely zinc. Jersey & CT (where I live) are not so far apart and let me tell you, it takes a LOT of minerals to end up with 100% healthy hearty live newborns. I'd highly recommend asking your veterinarian if other goat producers are using Bo-SE or MultiMin90 in your area.

In my herd we use kelp from NoAm (North American) Kelp Company in Maine. They ship 50lb bags. For some reason it's a lot less expensive to ship it to my husband's work in RI rather than CT so try a few different addresses of friends/family if possible. We don't offer it free choice due to heavy consumption/cost.

In addition to loose minerals and kelp, we also use regular copper bolusing and MultiMin90 injections, and occasionally selenium/E gel and Replamin Plus as well to keep everybody up to snuff.

 

[CaramelKittey]

I'm so glad you got Sweetlix on board! Do you offer any other mineral supplements? Bo-Se injections, selenium oral gel, copper bolus?

For the great majority of goats here, loose minerals are not enough to meet all their needs. You should definitely plan to supplement additional selenium, copper, iodine, and likely zinc. Jersey & CT (where I live) are not so far apart and let me tell you, it takes a LOT of minerals to end up with 100% healthy hearty live newborns. I'd highly recommend asking your veterinarian if other goat producers are using Bo-SE or MultiMin90 in your area.

In my herd we use kelp from NoAm (North American) Kelp Company in Maine. They ship 50lb bags. For some reason it's a lot less expensive to ship it to my husband's work in RI rather than CT so try a few different addresses of friends/family if possible. We don't offer it free choice due to heavy consumption/cost.

In addition to loose minerals and kelp, we also use regular copper bolusing and MultiMin90 injections, and occasionally selenium/E gel and Replamin Plus as well to keep everybody up to snuff.

Thank you!
We do a adult-sized copper boluses every 6 months to all our adults. They also get selenium paste every six months as well, or as needed.
I'll definitely check out NoAm Kelp Company! Do you think we should offer ours free choice? We only have three does, one whether, and two bucklings we would be giving it too.

 

[happybleats]

"The kid was born 52 days early, and was hairless."

Certainly could be iodine issue. Kelp free choice is good idea. I do agree that a well rounded mineral program is needed. Selenium paste should be done monthly. Copper normally every 3 to 4 months.

 

[SalteyLove]

When does are pregnant I would strongly consider giving the selenium paste every month, even twice in the last month of pregnancy. It's the lowest concentration of selenium in any product used by goat owners. It wouldn't hurt any of your goats to have it monthly, year-round.

See how fast they eat the kelp and whether it's financially sustainable to offer free choice. My beasts are obsessed with it but I know some herds don't take to it as readily.

 

[CaramelKittey]

Thank you. We will definitely do that.

Selenium paste monthly.
Copper every 3-4 months.
Kelp Free Choice (If possible).
Sweetlix Meat Maker free choice.

How much seliunium paste do you think we should give everybody? We have two Pygmy/Nubians crosses, and two purebred ND does. Do you mean copper boluses every 3-4 months, or is there a copper paste?
Thank you all so much for your help and advice!

 

[CaramelKittey]

Do you think there is any need for a cobalt block? I know blocks aren't ideal for goats, but I haven't seen many other options. Is there a cobalt bolus they should be getting?
Thank you!

 

[Chelsey]

I have cobalt and selenium blocks while also having loose minerals, replamin, copper bolus, and selenium paste. I figured that if they still want it, they’ll eat it and they do quite a bit. Theyve lasted me over a year now and should last for several more.

 

[ksalvagno]

A cobalt block is absolutely a good idea. I'm never without one. Takes a super long time for my goats to go through one. The block is fine in this instance. Goats need cobalt as well as the iodine. At my farm I personally need both sources since the goats have periods of time that they aren't interested in kelp. But they will lick the cobalt block regularly for salt.

 

[CaramelKittey]

Thank you! We will definitely get a cobalt block! Is there a specific brand you use?
As for the replamin and selenium paste, do you use the amounts recommended on the package? What type of selenium block?
Thank you!

 

[ksalvagno]

I have the blue cobalt block. Bought it at TSC. Give Replamin at the listed dosage.

 

[happybleats]

We had a hard time getting cobalt block here. My daughter works at TSC and her boss said if there was enough interest to order he would. I got several people to sign up for certain amounts they needed. They ordered 2 pallets and all sold quickly. We all were telling everyone we knew to go grab one lol. Now they keep it in stock. But First block went really fast..we are on our second block and its going much much slower. It has made a huge difference here.

Selenium paste has proper dose on the tube.

 

[Chelsey]

My blocks were both from TSC but I had to shop around for the cobalt, it was a few towns over.