Yesterday I spent a lot of time going through some Vet books I have & pondering on just how the results of recent soil & plant tissue tests have impacted on the livestock.
As most goatie people probably know, copper excess causes liver damage. This bit of knowledge makes one very wary when feeding products containing copper. We put out salt/mineral lick blocks for our sheep & goats. The ingredients differ depending on the time of year & what the stock are grazing on.
We run a mixed farming enterprise, sheep, goats & some broad acre cereal cropping... wheat, barley, oats. In this part of Australia our climate consists of hot dry summers & late Autumn/Winter rain. We plant crop late in Autumn & harvest late November/early December. The weeds come usually when it's warm, after the early Spring rains.
Some of these weeds are known to cause liver damage, so stock is rotated around the farm to help offset the 'damage' & lick blocks containing a micro mineral which helps minimise the uptake of copper are put out with the stock when these weeds are growing.
It is the general opinion of the local farmers & vets that this area has high copper levels, and as such the use of copper containing products is not recommended.
When a friend of ours wanted to get soil & plant tests done, neither the Bloke or myself could see the value. These tests are expensive, and besides that we do get soil testing done to work out what fertilizer to apply at sowing time.
Since moving from my little patch of paradise on the outskirts of suburbia, the goats have presented with a 'few' problems I hadn't previously encounted, in particular problems related to newborn kids & survival rates.
In my previous life to lose one kid at birth was a disaster. Out here the percentages of life & death increased to around 10% losses. These 'lost' kids were weak at birth, some 'floppy' (unable to stand) & some could not suckle because they could not lift their head. The kids that did survive were bright & alert but all needed 'help' in some form or another.
We tried Iodine. Gave the recommended doses, by mouth, at the recommended times during pregnancy. But that didn't alter the percentages, the losses remained constant. The last iodine drench was given at shearing along with a worm drench. I do think the iodine helped the goats off shears. This country is notoriously low in iodine so this may not be useful to others in areas where iodine deficiency is not a problem.
The kids that were born with the droppy heads required the most help. When you lifted their head they went 'sway back'. Several of these I bottle reared. The swayback didn't right itself & they didn't live past 12 months of age.
Swayback or Enzootic Ataxia is a sign of copper deficiency. All my books told me that! ...the Vets could offer no enlightenment as to why I was getting these kids. It has to be said in the defence of the Vets - they were used to seeing liver damage on autopsy due to plant poisonings so obviously they did not see how we could have a copper deficiency problem.
Animal testing requires the animal to be dead to collect liver samples. These tests are also expensive & not totally reliable particularly if they don't target the specific problem.
This is where the big picture comes in, and I thank our friend for his insistence on getting the soil & plant tissue sampling done. The tests showed the soil was indeed low in copper, and likewise the plants (wheat & barley samples) grown in this soil. Given that the goats are fed on grain & hay that we grow on farm, as well as grazing crops planted for their munching it stands to reason that they do not have enough copper in their diet.
A subclinical deficiency of copper also affects growth rates, fleece growth & fertility.
Now ~ I know! My 'gut' feeling was correct.
I am not a bad goat mother after all.
Happy 'old goatie' ...maaaa... signing off from 'the middle of nowhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment