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Is this fish tail

399 Views 24 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  toth boer goats, 
Renea H
My goats had bolus’ February 20th and they have free choice purina goat minerals w 2500 ppm copper. They are not on well water. Their coats are a little rough and I noticed today their tails are looking fishy. Should I give a bolus again?

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ThePhoebeFive
So, I have a question. Our buck constantly has a fishtail. Doesn't matter when we've bolused, he's got one. We offer free-choice minerals and ARE on well water. We're thinking maybe it's the way the hair grows, but I'm just concerned there's something else. He's been like this his whole life. Could it be the well water? We can't really change that, but I guess we could bolus him more often. None of the others are like this.
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ThePhoebeFive
21goaties said:
Can you post pics
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Yeah, I'll do that in a bit.
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ThePhoebeFive
@21goaties, here you go.


I did shave him recently, too. Do you want a full body shot of that?
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ThePhoebeFive
Boer Mama said:
@ThePhoebeFive do you have a good weight on him? Just to make sure you are giving him the full dose of copper when you bolus him.
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I don't know for sure what his weight is. Probably about 50lbs. I can try to weigh him later. We use UltraCruz kid boluses since our goats are little. It's 2 grams per bolus.
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ThePhoebeFive
He's right at 50lbs, but we are trying to get some weight back on him.
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ThePhoebeFive
Sorry, @Renea H, for hijacking your thread. 😬 I can move this conversation elsewhere if you want, I didn't expect it to go this long.
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ThePhoebeFive
Boer Mama said:
Copper is 1gram/22lb , so he’d need more than 1 bolus. Do you dose him every 3 months?
Calcium in the well water can conflict with copper absorption.
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Oh, well that would definitely make a difference! 😬 Yes, every three months.
Our calcium level is fine, but our water does have a lot of iron which I know can effect that too.
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ThePhoebeFive
What about our pregnant doe? She's usually about 40, but while she's pregnant I'm sure she weighs a quite a bit more. Do we need to up her copper?
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ThePhoebeFive
Also, it's been a month and a half since we last bolused. If I give the heavier ones a little more, can I then give them the adjusted dose again in another month and a half? I don't want to overdose.
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ThePhoebeFive
21goaties said:
I would just give the correct copper dosage next time you bolus him. We have well water and bolus every 3 months too, when we don't, their coats get rough. His coat looks okay, I'm not seeing it in person though. You just don't want it to be coarse with hooked hairs.

Sometimes fish tail is permanent if the goat has had it for a long time

We use a weight tape on ours and then round up 10 lbs
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His coat had gotten pretty rough over the winter, but I shaved him and started conditioning it regularly and that has helped some. Underdosing the copper does explain it, though! I will properly bolus next time, then.
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ThePhoebeFive
toth boer goats said:
That is fishtail.

Well water with too much iron cancels out copper.

Getting a water filter system such as culligan water treatment system, they put in, what is called iron out, which will flush the iron out.

Giving the right dosage of copper bolus by weight is needed and if no improvement, you can follow up 4 months later until the hair is growing back on the tail head. Look closely at the tip, is it bald or has little hairs there?
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Just checked, he does have a few small hairs on the tip.
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ThePhoebeFive
Hounddog23 said:
Hi there.. i just wanted to tell you i had copper issues due to my well water i use a hose filter now called Horse Hydrator its helps.. last months too. I got mine on Amazon.
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Okay, that is good to know, thanks!
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