Copper deficiency and worming signs

I thought I'd show a few if the signs to look for with copper deficiency. These goats only show a couple of them, but it's better than nothing.

A common early sign is reddish or lighter colored hair. It's very obvious on black goats, but
not always on other colors. I once acquired a brown goat that most would say was just light brown, but I thought he looked off colored so I gave him some copper. He turned into a darker, toggenburg color. 

 

 The above goats all show the reddish/brownish look of a goat in need of copper. In the pic below, you can see the goat is nicely black except her hind leg. This isn't an indication of copper, it's just bleaching from laying on urine soaked bedding, very common in winter.

 

Below is a pic of one of the girls after her copper has taken effect. Much nicer! She's black and shiny.

 

While not copper, below are a couple pics of goats in need of worming. You can see their coat is rough and ugly looking. While a bit of this is common when shedding the winter coat, these are much more than that. Another sign of worms is that they don't lose their winter coats. The others in the herd had or were in the process of losing theirs, but these two kept hanging on to the winter coats. They started losing a few days after the first dose of wormer.

 

More extreme signs of copper deficiency are ghosting around the eyes, where the hair falls out in that area. Fishtail, when the hair in the end of the tail falls out and the tail looks like a fish's tail when viewed from the side. Bowing of the legs, usually the front. Deficiency in babies can show as losing control of the hind legs, although a few other issues can look the same in babies. I'm sure there are others,but that is what I have experience with.

While copper is important and goats need a lot, you do want to be careful not to over do it. That is much harder to fix than a deficiency. I use copper boluses, but you can use a 1% solution of copper sulfate given a week on and a week off. Doing it this way, you have to watch them VERY closely for overdose. On the week off, if they keep an even keel and stay in good condition, no more. Other signs to look for, loss of appetite. I haven't had to deal with an overdose yet, but I have many copper antagonists in my water and ground. If you have a high copper level in your water or feed, you may not need to supplement.

You should research thoroughly before supplementing as there is always more to know!