# Goat eating hair off other goat!



## Chili Goat (May 27, 2009)

One of my goats is looking pretty patchy and loosing hair, I have on serveral occasions now seen my other goat pluck the hair of him and eat it!?!?!?!?
Right now I have put a coat on him to prevent the other goat from eating/plucking the hair. Is there anything that I could put on the goat that would deter the other goat? It would have to be safe for goat A to have on his skin and for goat B to possibly ingest.

At first I thought that it was a deficiency (selenium?) because I just took them off their grain (Purina's Noble Goat Grower 16) because they just turned 1. They have free access to loose minerals now but didn't for about a week while I was weaning them off the grain - seems a little soon to be showing symptoms?

This situation has ME pulling MY hair out!!!!!! :hair:


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

WOW I have never heard of it. maybe they are jealous of how cute he is? :ROFL:


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## Chili Goat (May 27, 2009)

sweetgoats - he is pretty cute!


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

My bottle babies, Angel and Mitsy, are not only turkey suckers, but they also nibble and suck off clumbs of fleece from our herd queen Angora doe's head. Not sure if they're trying to nurse or if something else is going on. At any rate, Katie, the Angora, just stands there on the ground face level w/the twins when they're on top a cable spool and lets them do it. My concern is that they might swallow the wads of flleece and cause some GI problems. Don't know what to do to deter this behavior. :shrug: 

Deb Mc


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## KGW Farms (Nov 25, 2009)

Gosh....hmmmm......If he were here I would make sure he and his buddies are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need, and make sure he doesn't have any external worm/mite issues. As for a deterrent......goats will taste everything. I really like pine tar. I would put some gloves on and smear a thin layer over the bald spots and adjacent hair. I have noticed goats do not like the taste and will leave that area alone.


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

pine tar huh?

it comes in a shampoo also, you could try washing the goat with it. ??


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## KGW Farms (Nov 25, 2009)

I do not think pine tar comes in a shampoo. I like MicroTek by Eqyss....it is an excellent shampoo. I use it on all the critters here. It helps get rid of and prevent rain rot, scratches, etc. It is all natural too!


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## Chili Goat (May 27, 2009)

Thanks for the input everyone! I have talked to the breeder of my goats as well as an older 4Her and they think that it is a mineral imbalance issue due to the change in their diet. I got a new bag of Golden Blend Minerals and hopefully that will stop him from eating his brother alive!


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## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

Most animals eat hair because its a very rich protein source. They may need more protein.


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## Mully (Jun 23, 2009)

Bitter Apple spray might be effective. It is very bitter and goats hate the taste. You could also make a pepper spray and apply a light coat.


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## Chili Goat (May 27, 2009)

crocee - interesting point about the protein, I had never heard that before. I'll definitely look into that possibility. 

Mully - I never even thought about bitter apple or pepper spray, I think that would be a little less messy than the pine tar! 

KGW - I love the MicroTek, I use it on my very sensitive Hanoverian mare with distal canon keratosis. Really great product.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

EQyss is the best! 

The MicroTek is good smelling too


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## Matrod (Mar 14, 2016)

i have the same problem, inject a multivitamin 4 2 successive days and they will stop
that beside the minerals


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

.
.
...They don't have strange bite marks...do they?opcorn:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

This is a very old thread.


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

holy necrothread :-o

see it is Zombies:slapfloor:


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