Zinc Deficiency

[nicophorus]

I have a wether who has a distory of hoof problems (soft skin above the hooves cracks and cakes) and now is getting some scaleing on the bridge of his nose and in a few other random parts of his body.

I thought at first it could be hoof rot or scald and I treated agressivly for it with copper solution and anti biotics. At the time I also gave him some extra zinc and selinium. Things got better.

But now the hoof issues and above mentioned skin issues are back. He always struck me as not as "plump" as the others most of his life too. Yes I worm.

Well, after doing a lot of reading, what I am thinking is this could be a genetic issue. And inability to hold onto Zinc. I'll be treating him again today and giving him zinc to see how that does.

Has anyone else delt with this? All my other goats are fine. Does it sound like "zinc deficiency" to you guys? Anyone have a goat with a chornic inability to absorb enough zince from the regular sources? (pasture and lose goat mineral free choice).

[Rose's Goats]

I would think zinc or maybe copper. How is his coat? Is it faded and brittle? Copper is needed in goats in very large amounts (compared to cows and sheep). This may be a copper issue as well as zinc. B vitamins can also play a role in skin quality. Try some oral drenches of Fortified B Complex along with any other treatments.

[nicophorus]

Has anyone used zinc bolus on their goats? I'm thinking that is what needs to be done with this guy. I can't run him down every day to give him daily zinc. Even trying to feed him seperate would be a chore as the other goats dominate him and i'd have to end up running him down to isolate/feed him anyways.

I can't even find a place to buy or order zinc bolus online... where do I get this stuff?

[garysfarmer]

If you can get around the other goats, try feeding him a couple of snacks. I give mine some toasted cheese peanut crackers occasionally. I use granola bars and others use sliced bread for worming.

Here's how I do it, feed them what ever snack that makes them crazy. Then apply the medicine to the snack and feed it to them. Before I had my set up I had to wrestle down the big billy and put it down their throat. This way we are still friends and they get their medicine. I haven't tried the light bread but it seems like that may even be better.

[nicophorus]

Noticed this and thought i'd update.

After too many weeks of "intensive care" that consisted of:

1. keeping him in his own stall
2. daily drenches of a zinc solution and a ground up "hair and nail" vitimin
3. every other day hoof soaking in zinc solution
4. applying copper solution to hooves a couple times a week
5. injections of antibiotic, and sometimes smearing antibiotics direclty onto his problem areas

His hooves and skin finally cleared up and I've let him rejoin his momma and the rest of the herd.

What part of the treatment worked? WHO KNOWS, just knock on wood it has not come back. Nothing special for him since , except switching entirely to meatmaker sweetlix minerals for the herd.

I was really thinking i'd have to put him down for awhile there, but sometimes TLC and presistence pays off.

Now that i've updated this, watch him come down with it again heh...

How did I justify spending so much effort on him? As a learning experience. First time ive had to deal with an issue like this and I figured there was no time to learn how to deal with it then now.