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Post by harleydales on Jun 29, 2006 15:20:54 GMT -1
Has anyone come across copper deficiency in horses? Harley is going paler round his eyes like specs, and on his cheeks, almost a smokey grey colour.
I seem to recall someone saying this happens when they are lacking in copper. I'm sure I've seen deficient cattle with 'specs' on!
Advice greatly appreciated!
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Post by anna85 on Jun 29, 2006 15:34:24 GMT -1
Yes, our specialist subject unfortunalty!
We have the worlds worst land that is copper deficient. We feed coppertrition between April and July every year.
The major noticable effect is a red/brown tinted coat and also if they are copper down they will eat more without putting on weight. We have the land tested regualry too. However, all blood tests are calibrated to thoroughbred levels so they can be a bit vague as there is no definitve Dales level.
Let us know if we can help anymore, we are pretty familiar with it all after living here for 10+years.
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Post by greydales on Jun 29, 2006 15:38:34 GMT -1
It's been suggested to me that this may be the case with Saturn, although I am still wondering if it's to do with sweating and sunbleaching, as he does sweat a lot. I need to do grass or soil analysis to make sure!
Edited to say Anna, where do you get your soil tested and how much does it cost?
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Post by anna85 on Jun 29, 2006 15:50:47 GMT -1
Just asked Dad Gill and we had it done through DEFRA (but they don't do it now). He suggests just looking in the yellow pages for soil scientists. Its quite dear.
Mum says to phone Baileys (feeds) and ask to speak to Liz (Bulbrook), and tell them you think you've got copper problems. They should be able to tell you where to get it tested and also maybe have a look at grass analyses. Often a damp spring will produce a high molybdenum year which will lock in the copper and produce the deficiency.
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Post by greydales on Jun 29, 2006 15:56:17 GMT -1
Thanks for that Anna  |
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Post by jet on Jun 29, 2006 16:08:22 GMT -1
I wonder if this is why Sprite has orangey tints to his mane and light coloured areas around his eyes and muzzle.
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Post by jakesmum on Jun 29, 2006 19:10:07 GMT -1
jake just has the orangey tints to main and tail which I put down to sun bleaching as I haven`t rugged him
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Post by harleydales on Jun 30, 2006 8:07:24 GMT -1
No orangey or coppery tints, just theses spectacles!
I could ask the owner of the land if they know whether it is copper deficient, and the Scottish Agricultural College will do soil tests for me.
He's certainly not losing weight!
Thanks for the advice.
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Post by jay on Jun 30, 2006 10:15:33 GMT -1
Ooh this is really interesting...I was going to put a post up about Jay because his coat colour just isn't normal this year. He's normally obviously black , but this year he's looking more browny with almost orangy/coppery colour bits round his eyes and a few other places....similar to the pics of Gill's saturn that she put up a couple of weeks ago.
I feel like a really mean mummy now! We did all about copper deficiency in cattle at uni but it just didn't occur to me that it might be the cause of the change in Jay's coat colour
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Post by jay on Jun 30, 2006 15:41:01 GMT -1
I was speaking to a vet earlier about one of my dogs and mentioned the copper thing to him. I think he thought i was mad  He claimed not to have heard about any cases of copper deficiency in horses before, and suggested that it could be his coat changing because he's getting older. Wish it had been my usual vet...I'd have got some useful advice out of him |
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Post by anna85 on Jul 3, 2006 12:56:16 GMT -1
pm'ed you back Jay.
We just wanted to add, please don't feel you should just feed extra copper in case you are copper defiicient. We do it in strict control from the vets and Baileys horse feeds because we regularly test copper deficient in grass/soil/blood. A copper excess can be v.dangerous to horses.
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Post by julie on Jul 10, 2006 21:33:36 GMT -1
You need a vets guidance as you need to feed a balanced mineral mix as adding copper will make everything else unbalanced - zinc especially and may cause more problems. Naf made up a mix especially for my horses after dicussion from vet.
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Post by harveydales on Jul 11, 2006 7:35:26 GMT -1
Anna - what causes the soil to become copper defficient? I'm just curious as we are not that far away from you and also on clay - I think you said you are on clay? Harvey is all black so I'm not worried but just interested. I've never had our soil tested but did a Ph test myself a few years ago and found some areas of the paddock very alkaline which seemed odd.
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Post by harleydales on Jul 11, 2006 7:44:22 GMT -1
I think your soil deficiencies depend mainly on where you are and the type of soil. Continuous heavy cropping can also leach nutrients from the soil.
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Post by jay on Jul 11, 2006 9:17:05 GMT -1
Just a quick update - I've spoken to 2 vets now and both of them are denying that horses suffer from copper deficiency! I've got Jay one of the baby red rockies mineral licks which contains lots of different minerals, not just copper. That wouldn't do him any harm would it? I'm not adding anything to his feed.
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He claimed not to have heard about any cases of copper deficiency in horses before, and suggested that it could be his coat changing because he's getting older. Wish it had been my usual vet...I'd have got some useful advice out of him
