# "Wry" tail worse during pregnancy?



## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

I am assuming the doe took back in late Sept - first couple days of October, putting her at just a hair over three months along.

Her tail, pre breeding, barely leaning over to the side. When she was posturing for head gal in the herd, she had that thing up in the normal position. 

Now, it arches over to the side like some goofy rainbow, even when her hackles are up. It has been slowly arching more since this fall.

Is that pretty common in bred does with a wry tail or whatever it is that is going on with the tail? 

You can see what her tail looks like now in this picture from the Christmas goat thread.


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Yep. Mine do that when they're bred, too, and it gets more and more arched as they get closer to kidding...


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I have a pack wether who's tail does that when he needs a Bo.Se shot. He always seems so need them more often than the others.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

goathiker said:


> I have a pack wether who's tail does that when he needs a Bo.Se shot. He always seems so need them more often than the others.


I have also read that with the tail like that needs selenium.


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

I have some selenium/vit E gel. Should I try some with her?


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

Here is a picture of her from back before she was bred, so either August or September.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

I have a doe who's tail is usually bent or "wry" and it always gets worse when she is preggo. It was bent not naturally as far as I know though. She broke a hind leg when she was a kid(really young) so she has never been shown, but it never healed correctly. Her whole hind end is almost bent in that direction. The tail as well. It doesn't seem to affect kidding or milking so since she is not a show goat I don't care. It's just wierd.


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

She does get BOSS in her feed twice a day (one part BOSS, one part calf manna, two parts COB that is light on the corn). And BOSS does provide selenium. Getting alfalfa/grass hay (60/40 mix) on demand, and I am switching them to manna goat minerals from purina. She has been my mineral Hoover lately. I am looking to find out where I can get a non-purina goat feed like ADM or Manna for when she is back in milk.

It won't hurt her to do BoSe on top of getting BOSS, will it? I was reading that it is good to give within a certain timeframe of delivery. She is 7.5 weeks out from her due date right now. I know fiasco farms, which others have said isn't updated anymore or like it used to be, mentions BoSe or gel at about five weeks out and two weeks out. I have time tomorrow to call the vet and see about getting some if need be. 



They get ACV in their water, which has increased her intake quite a bit.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

The paste is pretty safe and is meant to be done monthly. Your BOSS may or may not provide selenium...It depends on where and how it was grown. The worn out fields are why we have these problems.

Pregnant does do give a lot of their selenium to the fetuses.


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

Then I guess I will talk to the vet about a BoSe shot or two for her. If she is giving it to her kid(s) (impossible to tell how many are in there due to her rib cage size), and she herself is possibly deficient, she only has so long left to give it to them before they arrive, and I don't want to deal with deficient kids.

That is one of the few things my soil test didn't cover. And then again, she is getting hay from a local supplier now, and this area is at .2 ppm or less according to an old USGS test done just a few miles from here.


Btw, she was copper bolused in October. Our copper supply in the soil falls into the adequate category (tested for that), and she does graze a bit on the nicer days.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

My oldest doe always does that. She had Sel/E gel a few weeks ago (probably due for it again) and her tail is still cocked over. None of her kids have ever shown deficiencies; I assumed it was due to everything back there shifting around. My other two bred does hold them straight up more now but not to the side like her.


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

It makes them look so goofy, doesn't it? Especially when the goat in question is the herd queen, and is doing her best to keep everyone in line (I hope we get at least two doelings out of her - one that goes to the breeder per our purchase contract, and one that we keep so that maybe she will finally have someone around that she thinks would make an acceptable buddy for her).

When we first got her, I didn't even notice the tail (too busy looking at the udder and thinking of all the yummy stuff that milk would make....), but it definitely has gotten worse over the last three months. I first noticed it after her initial breeding, nearly two months after we got her.


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

One of my young does, about 1 year old, had a slighty bended tail as well. Will have to give her a BoSe shot or some gel and see if that helps...


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