goat loosing hair

[freerange freaks]

I know it's spring but this isn't just regular shedding. My buck goat started to loose his hair about one week ago and now one of the does is loosing her hair as well.

This is really disturbing because the hair is falling out in big chunks and all that is left behind is pink skin. I left the buck this long because he is not scratching or rubbing. But now that there are two goats with the same problem, I know there is something wrong.

I have a vet app in the morning. But, my vet is just a small animal vet so I need some advice so we can look in the right direction for treatment. What do you think?

 

[sparkles2307]

Mites? Our cows get bare skin spots in big hunks if they have mites or lice...I know goats' oil is supposed to repel most of the lil buggers but they can still cause problems. They prolly just need to be poured.

 

[ThornyRidge]

could be a number of things.. lice/mites comes to mind.. have you treated.. look closely at their skin and see if you see any flakes/movement.. are they itching/scratching/biting themself- sign of buggies.. the bigger issue may be mineral imbalance- are you feeding a LOOSE mineral supplement (not the hard as a rock block) if not get some.. and I would think a zinc supplement may not hurt either.. zinc defieciency = hair loss.

 

[bheila]

When my goats fur was falling out like that it was mites. I treated them with Ivermectin every 10 days 3 times.

 

[freerange freaks]

I was wondering about mites too but they are not scratching or rubbing at all. Maybe mange but how would they contract that? No new animals have been introduced and I can't see how two can have this and not the other one. The buck has very large flakes of skin shedding as well as crusty areas around his legs. The doe (pregnant) is simply loosing her hair with no flaking skin.

I feed a loose mineral for dairy cattle with copper. I couldn't get a goat mineral. I am thinking a zinc def. as well. But I can't find any info into how much they need every day. I'm pretty sure they need a copper bolus which I'm going to ask the vet for.

These poor goats are freezing. They are practically bald and it has been snowing here for days.

 

[dutchhollow]

I have a few boar crosses that shed down to the skin, don't know if it is from being an african breed or what, but the first year I had them I had the vet out and he found no cooties. I have three in a herd of almost 45 at that point that did it (still have them and they do it every year) have a freind that has them to and did the same thing. Better safe then sorry and have the vet out to do a skin scraping now and be sure.

 

[MaggieBeth]

From experience with something that sounds simular, I vote MITES! As I remember my goats did not appear to be scratching themselves any more than usual, but sure enough the mites were still present. With treatment my goats returned to their "normal" coats very quickly.

 

[ksacres]

Another possibility would be ringworm.

 

[freerange freaks]

Well, it seems that my goats have lice. I am horrified that my animals could become infected with this. I thought things were being kept clean and they were being fed properly but still here we are.

My vet recommended a louse powder rubbed into the skin and then cover the animals repeat in 14 days. I sure hope this cures them. I also have tea tree oil (my own recommendation) for the areas close to their mucous membranes. I would rather use tea tree oil for the whole goat but it is freezing here and there is no possible way I could bath them and dry them.

Thank you for all of your advice.

 

[ksacres]

Having lice is not a reflection of your management skills, it just happens sometimes.

They aren't hard to control, your goaties will be fine.