# Copper bolus- what age?



## abtowell (Nov 6, 2009)

Ok, I searched and couldn't find it. I coppered my whole herd a few months ago, but I am new to this, obviously so at what age do you start bolusing? I don't want to miss ding it on the new batch of doelings.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Studies suggest 5-6 months as the earliest time to start a bolus or pellet schedule with copper, selenium, or cobalt, but I'm not sure I believe the justification for that because most of those studies work with commercially available products, which are geared for larger animals. The smallest commercial copper bolus, for example, is 2 g, and the minimum size for that size bolus is about 40 lbs. Same for selenium pellets; I don't think anyone makes them smaller than 10g.

So provided that you can resize to a #5-#3 capsule, you can start bolusing as soon as the rumen is developed enough, which is a little after weaning, when they can eat and process solid food. Just IMHO. Then again, some bolus soon after birth and their kids are fine.


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

We generally don't bolus until the does are 10 months old or so. But we have a very good loose mineral with 2000ppm of copper, so the bolus may not even be necessary. If your does have been bolused and have good minerals, their milk should have an excellent mineral content for the kids in the early stages. 

We want to provide excellent nutrition for our goats, but you do need to keep it simple sometimes!


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## abtowell (Nov 6, 2009)

I didn't bolus my does until they were 3 months along as I had just learned about it. Also I had some deposited kids I bought and they came from non-bolusing farms, so I was really asking for them.

Thanks though,
Alysha


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Alysha, are you asking more about what's safe in terms of not causing copper toxicity, or what's a generally recommended approach by vets and using the currently available science? Or just what everyone does?


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## abtowell (Nov 6, 2009)

Well, definetely what's safe. It's just this is my first year to do this and I found enough info here to do the pregnant does and yearling kids, but I wondered when you started the bolusing in new kids. Our vet didn't even know about bolusing so I asked here instead. I just hte being behind the curve. i had to start the hard way on the Lysigin. I sure would have liked to have just known, hey you give this, you don't get staph, ou know. Didn't want to end up wit more copper definency because I didn't give the new kids copper when I should.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Ah, okay. Well the way it works in goats it that unless the mother has severe deficiency in copper (and other trace elements), the kids will be born with copper already in the system, as it passes through the placenta to the baby. Interestingly enough, milk, even from a dam without deficiency, usually does not have copper levels that are high enough to build up reserves on a kid. It's barely enough to maintain, and as the kid grows, those reserves in the body are used up. So without feed that has minerals, or without a free choice mineral available, the kid will use up all available body reserves in 4-5 months and will be deficient.

This makes it difficult to gauge when to bolus new kids because it depends on the feed and the minerals available. Commercial herds usually will test the serum levels for copper or do a liver biopsy to get a general idea of copper levels. It might also be that no bolus is required. I would definitely not give it to a kid before the kid was 2 months old.

To make a long story shorter. Your new kids, unless they came from a dam who was severely deficient, should not require additional copper for 3-5 months if you feed well and make minerals available. 

Hard to tell what's safe without a test for existing levels. If you are really paranoid about copper and can't do a test, you can try administering a very small #5 bolus, at 1/4-1/2 the recommended 1g per 22 lbs weight, after the kid was 2 months old.

My personal schedule is to start at about 6 months with copper oxide bolus and 10 g, 5% selenium pellet. Copper I repeat every 12 months at 1g per 22 lbs, and give the selenium pellet every 1-2 years regardless of weight because it's a slow release pellet. Usually, that means I sync up the entire herd every autumn on their supplements before breeding. But, I haven't had goats that long, so I don't have years of data to back up my approach; it's taken from studies I've read and practical advice from vets and breeders.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I bolus when I am down to the kids I am keeping, they are eating well, not just picking, at the grain pellet I am feeding...so around 12 weeks. Vicki


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## KJFarm (Oct 26, 2007)

I also bolus my kids at 12 weeks, when they are weaned.


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## Kc turner (May 25, 2018)

Kct


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