[theholisticgoat]

On copper bolusing while using the buffet, Michaiah said, reposting here with her permission:

“We haven’t bolused any goats in years since about 6 months after putting the goats on the buffet.

We were bolusing copper for years because we feed a high alfalfa diet and it slows the absorption of copper, so often we were bolusing every month or every other month, with darker goats needing it more. We went 2-3 months without bolusing despite obvious signs the goats needed it while we were deciding to switch and then waiting for our buffet mineral feeder and the minerals to show up. As a test, we offered the mineral buffet without bolusing. Within 6 months almost none of showed signs of copper deficiency. We believed that if we had done nothing, their mineral needs would have rectified given more time with just the mineral buffet, but on the handful of black goats that still needed copper, we chose to go ahead and bolus one more time to help them catch up to what they needed faster. We’ve never bolused goats since then and it’s been many years now. The whole point of the mineral buffet was to get away from the constant supplementation. If it hadn’t have worked, we wouldn’t still be using it. We don’t supplement anything beyond what they buffet offers and haven’t in years. We run 60-100+ head of sheep and goats a year and have for all these years that we’ve been using the mineral buffet.”