I was talking with a breeder who said a vet gave one of her goats a BoSe injection and because of it the animal died. Is there a danger of too much selenium? If so, I haven't heard about this. If someone could offer any insight, much appreciated.

-- Lynn (moonspinner@bluefrognet.net), February 13, 2002

Answers

I personally have never know an animal to die because of a BoSe injection. One the other hand a lot of dying animals have been given BoSe shots and died anyway.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002.

Hi Lynn, There's really a grey area between Selenium deficiency and toxicity in certain areas of the country - while most of the country seems to be deficient, there are some pockets of normal to high levels of selenium in the soil, but those levels can change from county to county in some cases...it's a good idea to check with a local Ag Agent about selenium levels before deciding whether your goats need the BoSe supplementing or not... no doubt a BoSe injection could kill a goat if the trace mineral weren't needed and it became so high that it was toxic, or it was given in too high a dosage. :)patty Prairie Oak Miniatures http://www.minifarm.com/prairie_oak

-- patty Putnam (WI) (littlegoats@wi.rr.com), February 13, 2002.

Lynn most folks vets don't have a clue what they are feeding or giving as supplements. Your best bet is to always find a breeder in your area who has the kind of animals you one day would like to, and mimic their management. If I was to go by the literature than we wouldn't be using selenium or E supplementation. But does this literature know where the corn or oats, or soy that is in my grain mix is grown? The .03 of selenium in your grain mix is the highest ammount allowed by law and thats a sheep requirement! Your hay could be grown on selenium defficient soil, and a new one to me, did you know that using galvanised pails or stock tanks, leach zinc into your goats, and can make absorption of copper etc. be hampered, making you need even more of it? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.

Vicki, your insights once again are priceless. No, I didn't think about the galvanized pail thing. Yet if I thought about it, I know that such material in bird cages can be toxic. So it makes sense. Thank you enormously for your info!

-- Lynn (moonspinner@bluefrognet.net), February 14, 2002.

We used to give our does selinium shots before kidding. We never experienced any problems. I stopped doing it after I read about Trish Duggar's, Sand-Dance Alpines, one of the best herds, doe dieing from a shot. Trish posted to AlpineTalk and mentioned she lost her best doe to a shot many yrs ago, it was really sad. A few otherf olks also shared their experiences. But then again, our speciality feed was complete so i didn't need to worry about it. Great answer Vicki.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.