Goats can be tough to manage. Around this time of the year, you can notice their coat becomes dull instead of its normal shiny appearance. It also has a coarse feel to it. Then they get a "bottle jaw" look to them and diarrhea which indicates the presence of parasites. They are quite prevalent in our locale. In addition to treating with Ivermectin, Safeguard and Valbazen, we give them copper boluses.
When I say copper, I mean copper. The heavy metal comes in the container and you make up capsules by measuring out prescribed amounts. They feel heavy in your hands.
The trick is to get the goats to take the copper boluses. I use a device that's normally used to worm cattle and horses. I first coat the capsules of copper with peanut butter and put in in the wormer gun followed by a generous helping of peanut butter as the chaser.
We straddle the goat, pulling their heads back. Then I gently insert the worming gun as far down her throat as I can get it and push in on the plunger. This pushes the two copper capsules down their throats. We hold their heads back until they've swallowed it all. We did have cases in which two of the goats recognized something was up and spit it out. We just do it again until they swallow it.
Copper has a life of 4 - 6 months. Perhaps this will do the trick and will say farewell to the parasites. We'll keep monitoring the goats daily.
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