You all thought this blog was about goats and the trials and tribulations that I go through trying to be responsible for my goats and be the best owner that I can be. You never thought I would be writing about sheep... although they are also pretty cute small ruminants! This post is about my buckling Branson, He was born in February 2019 in Michigan and we brought him home in April of 2019. He has been a sweet little buckling, who has a ton of love to share and is generally a pleasure to be around. Branson, has developed an interesting look that I cannot seem to figure out. I clipped him for his first ever show in July of this year and he just never seemed to grow his outer coat and guard hairs back...
This means he now looks like a little lamb with a white wooly coat on his neck and torso, with a cute little brown head, legs and beard. I have done a ton of research about why this may have happened to him and the answers that I have come up with don't make much sense to me. The two most common answers I have come across are clipping the goat too close to the cold weather, so it only grows the insulative cashmere and not the guard hairs on the outside. The other reason is because of hormonal imbalances that are caused by early pregnancy and lactation. Neither of these fit Branson's particular circumstances, so I have begun to think it may be caused by a nutritional or mineral imbalance. I have only been feeding the bucks hay, along with their minerals and kelp, so I have begun supplementing them both with zinc and pulling Branson out onto the milk stand to eat about 1 cup of dairy goat pellet each day.
I will keep you posted on his progress. I would also love to hear from anyone that has dealt with something similar. What caused it? How did you prevent it in the future? Thanks in advance!
Happy Goating!
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