Male Pygmy Goat Fur Falling Out

[bfields514]

Hey everyone,

Looking for thoughts on what might be causing my male (wether) pygmy goat's fur turning white and falling out in clumps. This is my first year with goats so not sure if this is a seasonal thing, hormonal, or more concerning something like mange or parasites.

I first noticed this about a month ago (in mid January) so it seems unlikely that it's a spring shedding. Also have 2 female pygmy goats that live with him and there fur is totally normal.

 

[500Chickens]

i have icelandic sheep and had a ram lamb (named sriratcha )start to have his hair fall out and turn lighter colored. it turns out he had barber pole worm. i dont know anything about goats though. sriratcha did pass the barber pole worm on to another one of my sheep but only one. barber pole worm causes bottle jaw and thats how we identified it.

 

[cassie]

I would treat for lice, have a fecal test run to look for parasites, and inspect the skin. If it is rough and scaly it may be a fungal infection. I used BluKote for that. I had a buck go almost completely bald from a fungus infection.

 

[Amagou81]

I definitely agree with the parasite or fungus answers. I know it's a totally different animal but I have a cat who's overly allergic to flea bites and his fur falls out and he's bald in spots until they are totally gone.

 

[febane]

Hey everyone,

Looking for thoughts on what might be causing my male (wether) pygmy goat's fur turning white and falling out in clumps. This is my first year with goats so not sure if this is a seasonal thing, hormonal, or more concerning something like mange or parasites.

I first noticed this about a month ago (in mid January) so it seems unlikely that it's a spring shedding. Also have 2 female pygmy goats that live with him and there fur is totally normal.

Hello, my Pygmy goat Hemi is losing his fur in clumps. It just started a couple days ago but his neck is bald all the way around it and he has patches missing on his back where you can see through to the skin. He looks like a chicken or a baby bird! He is almost a year old and we live in upstate NY. I am worried he is going to be too cold now. I have read as much as I could on the subject and know it could be mineral deficiency, parasites, or other things.

I am starting with mineral deficiency. I have two goats, the other is Jack and Jack is just fine. Since Jack is not having a problem my initial feeling is that it is not parasites. Wouldn't they both have mites? I bought ManaPro Goat Mineral for a supplement and am going to try that. After I bought that I did some more reading and read different things about feeding it to them. Am I supposed to mix it in with their grain? Most says free choice and I don't know how to feed free choice (these are my first goats). What kind of container am I supposed to have and can I feed this free choice? It says feed 1/4 to 1-2 a day. So I thought I was supposed to measure. I mixed it w their grain which is Purina Noble Goat and feed them separately. I just want to know how to feed a mineral supplement bc every website says they need a certain mineral then the next says it could be bad for them. Very confusing. They all say something different.

 

[500Chickens]

Hello, my Pygmy goat Hemi is losing his fur in clumps. It just started a couple days ago but his neck is bald all the way around it and he has patches missing on his back where you can see through to the skin. He looks like a chicken or a baby bird! He is almost a year old and we live in upstate NY. I am worried he is going to be too cold now. I have read as much as I could on the subject and know it could be mineral deficiency, parasites, or other things.

I am starting with mineral deficiency. I have two goats, the other is Jack and Jack is just fine. Since Jack is not having a problem my initial feeling is that it is not parasites. Wouldn't they both have mites? I bought ManaPro Goat Mineral for a supplement and am going to try that. After I bought that I did some more reading and read different things about feeding it to them. Am I supposed to mix it in with their grain? Most says free choice and I don't know how to feed free choice (these are my first goats). What kind of container am I supposed to have and can I feed this free choice? It says feed 1/4 to 1-2 a day. So I thought I was supposed to measure. I mixed it w their grain which is Purina Noble Goat and feed them separately. I just want to know how to feed a mineral supplement bc every website says they need a certain mineral then the next says it could be bad for them. Very confusing. They all say something different.

when our sheep had the barber pole worm he was around other sheep and only one of them got it from him

 

[febane]

when our sheep had the barber pole worm he was around other sheep and only one of them got it from him

thank you so much for your suggestion