Keeping goats often involves a lot more minutiae than many people expect.
Goats are simple grazers, right?
They roam around and eat grass, their bodies are capable of eating tin cans if they want, so how much care do they really need from me?
Well, unfortunately, this is a complete myth.
Goats are pickier eaters than most people realize, and they have more sensitive dietary needs.
Today, we’re going to break down everything you need to know about one of the most important parts of a goat’s diet—copper boluses.
Without these boluses, they can become copper deficient, which is bad in all sorts of ways.
Let’s get started.
Why do goats need copper boluses?
First of all, let’s establish why exactly copper boluses are necessary for your goats.
There’s a variety of reasons for it, though I’ll get into exactly what will happen without it later.
As you should know about your own diet, minerals are an important part of the diet of really any living thing.
To varying degrees, animals, including goats, need minerals in their diet.
These minerals serve a huge variety of functions in the body.
Copper, especially for goats, is one of the most important minerals in their diet.
It is essential for the proper development of antibodies.
Antibodies in goats protect against diseases in the same way our own antibodies do.
Copper is also really important to the formation of white blood cells—these also fight disease and infection.
Copper also plays a role in the production of antioxidant enzymes.
Antioxidants prevent the formation of free radicals in your goat’s cells, which cause oxidative damage over time.
Overall, then, copper is essential for a healthy immune system.
It will not completely shield them from illness, but there are going to be very clear to see differences between copper deficient goats and goats that are not copper deficient.
So, let’s look at how often your goats will need these copper boluses.
How often should goats have copper boluses?
If you have had the goat from birth, then you should wait until it is six months old.
At this point, you should then administer boluses every 6 months for the remainder of their lives.
In the meantime, make sure they have a copper-rich diet from good quality forage and treats.
If you are buying the goat at a mature age, then you should do your best to find out everything you can from the breeders or previous owners.
Ideally, try to ask them if the goat has been bloused in the past, and when.
If they have not, then you should start right away, and do it at six-month intervals from there on out.
I’ll go into more detail on this later, but also be sure to get good quality boluses.
There are some trustworthy brand names out there that make your safest bet, but local places you can trust are also great.
In any case, good quality boluses every six months is plenty.
So, what actually are the risks associated with copper deficiency in goats?
What happens if goats are copper deficient?
The effects of copper deficiency can be really, really serious for your goats.
Remember what we said about the role copper plays in your goat’s body—it controls a great many essential functions of the immune system.
Without it, your goat is open to a wide range of potential illnesses.
Generally speaking, the symptoms you’ll want to look out for start with a wiry coat.
Their hair will become hard to the touch, wiry and unclean, and overall, very rough.
If you notice a rough and wiry coat on your goat, they may be copper deficient.
The coat can also change color when lacking copper, looking bleached or washed out.
Overall, it will appear duller.
Copper deficiency can also cause outright hair loss, too.
Check around the face and the tip of the tail.
If you notice any signs of hair loss, this can also be a good indicator.
Also, check if the tail is split, like a fish tail—this is another sign.
You can also check the goat’s eyes for signs of anemia.
If you pull down the lower eyelid and find that their eyes are pale or white, you could be dealing with a copper deficiency.
So, these are the signs of copper deficiency, but the problems will go deeper than that.
Without a properly supported immune system, your goat is going to have a tremendously hard time fighting disease and parasitic infections.
Goats that are copper deficient are a lot more susceptible to gut parasites, which can cause diarrhea and malnourishment.
Vaccines are also shown to be far less effective for goats that are copper deficient.
Whether you’re vaccinating them at a young age or when they’re old, if they are copper deficient, then there’s a good chance the vaccines will not give them the proper protection they need against the diseases.
Let’s not sugar coat this, then—copper deficiency in goats can very easily be lethal. In the long term, yes, but lethal nonetheless.
But can they get too much copper?
Can goats have too much copper?
Yes, they certainly can—they can have too much of anything, really.
While I’ve done my best to stress the importance of copper boluses, it’s also important not to administer these treatments more than twice a year.
Too much can in fact cause copper poisoning.
Symptoms of copper poisoning include copper-colored urine, which means your goat is in hemolytic crisis.
This means a great many of your goat’s cells have been destroyed by the excess copper, and they are being lost faster than the body can produce more.
Your goat is unlikely to develop copper poisoning from boluses alone, as long as you don’t feed them more often than every six months.
The copper they will get from the rest of their diet should also be trace enough that they aren’t at any risk of copper poisoning.
Just remember to know the signs and call a vet if you think your goat might have copper poisoning.
So, with all this said, there’s probably one important question on your mind—how do I get my goats to take these boluses?
How to administer copper boluses
There are a few different ways you can give the boluses to your goats.
Let’s look at some of the best choices.
Disguise them in food
If you’ve ever had to give a pet a pill before, then you probably know this is always a great option.
Copper boluses are typically small enough that they can be easily disguised in food, so your goat eats it without even really noticing.
Whether you put it inside some fruit or vegetables, on a spoonful of peanut butter, as long as it’s completely covered, your goat will probably eat it without realizing it.
Pill pockets
Similar to disguising it in food, you can also make pill pockets to administer the boluses.
These are little dough balls in which you can stick the pills.
Just mix peanut butter, molasses or apple sauce, and flour, till you get a dough.
Make some small balls and poke a hole in them with something long.
Insert the pill into the hole and pinch it shut, then let the balls sit in the fridge for a while.
Your goat should eat these with no complaint.
Balling gun
Many farmers favor using a balling gun over all other methods.
This is a long, thin instrument which you can use to essentially force the pill down the goat’s throat.
Just place the bolus inside the gun, insert it into the back of your goat’s throat and press the plunger.
Your goat won’t like this, and they are known to bite—so be careful if you’ve never done this before.
Ideally, have someone with you who has done it before.
Syringe
If you’ve no balling gun, then a syringe—with the needle removed—can also work well.
You’ll need tro crush the boluses up, and then mix them with water.
Use a flavoring of some kind ideally, to mask the unpleasant flavor.
Insert the liquid into the syringe, and put the syringe into the goat’s cheek, pulling its head back.
Don’t shoot it all down the goat’s throat. Push the plunger slowly and make sure it goes into the cheek and not right down the throat.
Gently clasp the goat’s nose if it doesn’t swallow the mixture.
Pet piller
If your goats are still young, then a pet piller may work.
These are designed for dogs and cats, but they can work for goats, too.
They are little plastic pill guns designed for giving pills to small animals.
Using it is mostly the same as using a balling gun.
Crush the boluses
Finally, you can crush the boluses and administer them in a wide variety of ways that way.
You can sprinkle them over some food or mix it with peanut butter or something similar.
Remember, goats are friendly, but they won’t like what you’re doing—you need to be prepared for them to react badly.
They could even bite you.
Your goats will likely eventually get more used to it as time goes on, but they will never be fully used to it.
Now, finally, let’s look at where best to find your boluses.
Where to find copper boluses
There are, naturally, many options.
Livestock supply shops near you should most likely have copper boluses that you can buy in bulk for goats.
Consult with the staff there to find out about the brand and quality of boluses they are offering.
Larger pet stores may also stock what you’re looking for.
There are a variety of trusted brands available online.
Vitality copper-glycinate-chelate, UltraCruz have specially formulated copper boluses for kids.
Check reviews online and see what users seem to favor the most.
There’s no two ways about it, then—goats need copper, and copper boluses are the most reliable way to get them what they need.
Broader mineral supplements are okay, but still many goats fed solely on these are copper deficient, with serious side effects.
There’s a fair bit you need to know about giving your goats copper boluses, but I promise you’ll save more time and money getting to grips with it than taking them to the vet for copper deficiencies!