Chat
05-02-2015, 07:02 PM
Hmm... I was just doing a little research and realized that the copper boluses I use are actually copper oxide. Not very helpful, is it?
So Dave, where did you get the research about goats not absorbing oxide and sulfate-based minerals? I'd love to start using Multimin 90 except that I'm nervous about adding any selenium to my goats' diet. It probably wouldn't hurt during certain times of the year, but during other times it could be deadly. Unfortunately, without doing blood tests I'm not sure I'd know when it was safe and when it wasn't. It's entirely possible my goats could be low on selenium during the winter (depending on where my hay came from) and high in the spring and/or summer. As far as I know, rain and drought patterns change the selenium content of our forage from year to year. From my understanding, hay cut from one field can be high or low in selenium depending on the exact soil it's cut from since the selenium lies in pockets. Also (as far as I know), hay cut from the exact same patch of ground can be low in selenium one year and toxic the next depending on that year's climate.
The year I lost my horse to selenium poisoning, many other horses either died or became ill from selenium toxicity in pastures they'd grazed in for years. A long drought caused the grass and weeds to form very deep roots into the subsoil (where the selenium layer is), and when we finally had an early wet spring, those plants sucked the selenium right up and caused all kinds of problems with the livestock. Without doing blood tests before every mineral injection, I'd never know if adding selenium to my goats' diet might be dangerous. Kinda tricky. I don't know of any minerals or mineral injections with low or no selenium. Only a few places in the country deal with high levels like we have here. And like I said, depending on that year's climate, we could actually be low.
So Dave, where did you get the research about goats not absorbing oxide and sulfate-based minerals? I'd love to start using Multimin 90 except that I'm nervous about adding any selenium to my goats' diet. It probably wouldn't hurt during certain times of the year, but during other times it could be deadly. Unfortunately, without doing blood tests I'm not sure I'd know when it was safe and when it wasn't. It's entirely possible my goats could be low on selenium during the winter (depending on where my hay came from) and high in the spring and/or summer. As far as I know, rain and drought patterns change the selenium content of our forage from year to year. From my understanding, hay cut from one field can be high or low in selenium depending on the exact soil it's cut from since the selenium lies in pockets. Also (as far as I know), hay cut from the exact same patch of ground can be low in selenium one year and toxic the next depending on that year's climate.
The year I lost my horse to selenium poisoning, many other horses either died or became ill from selenium toxicity in pastures they'd grazed in for years. A long drought caused the grass and weeds to form very deep roots into the subsoil (where the selenium layer is), and when we finally had an early wet spring, those plants sucked the selenium right up and caused all kinds of problems with the livestock. Without doing blood tests before every mineral injection, I'd never know if adding selenium to my goats' diet might be dangerous. Kinda tricky. I don't know of any minerals or mineral injections with low or no selenium. Only a few places in the country deal with high levels like we have here. And like I said, depending on that year's climate, we could actually be low.