Iodine Deficiency in goats

"Iodine is as essential in goats' diets as it is in humans. Goiters are the most visible sign of iodine deficiency. Newborns whose dams are iodine deficient can be born with goiters. Commercial feeds and minerals contain non-iodized salt, so it may be necessary to offer iodized salt on a free-choice basis. A quicker method of getting iodine into the goat is to paint 7% iodine on the hairless tailweb and to offer kelp (seaweed) free choice."  -  Courtesy of Tennessee Meat Goats

I used the kelp & 7% Iodine method, which has worked VERY well!  Below are some pics of how to do an Iodine Deficiency test and treatment...

Just make sure the goat's tail web is clean.  Then apply a pretty good spot of 7% Iodine to the middle of the tail web

Check the the tail web 24 hours after you applied the Iodine

You'll know they're deficient if in 12-24 hours, the spot is completely gone and you see no trace of the Iodine.  But, if you can still see a mark, then the goat is most likely not deficient.

It's a good idea to test your goats for iodine deficiency often.  Another good practice is to paint the tail of the deficient goat every day, with the iodine.  The painting of the tailweb allows the goat's body to soak up the iodine.  If you don't want to test them, you can just give them kelp anyway...it won't hurt them!

Hope this was helpful to everyone :-)

Have a good weekend!
-Hannah

 

Quick Oat Flour Pancakes - Gluten Free!

I've got another recipe for all of you  :)  These pancakes turned out SO fluffy and personally, I like them WAY better than the ready mixed batter you buy at the store...especially since they're gluten-free!  For the oat flour, I make my own out of regular oatmeal.

Pics of how to make your own oat flour below:

Grind oats in a blender

This is what you should wind up with...fluffy oat flour

This recipe makes about 15 pancakes.

Ingredients:

-4 egg yolks
-4 egg whites
-1 1/2 cups oatmeal
-1 1/2 cups oat flour
-2 cups milk (I use raw goat milk from my farm)
-4 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-8 tbsp sugar
-4 tbsp oil

Directions:

1.  Mix the oat flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2. Pour milk into a pan and cook until slightly hot.  Turn off the heat and pour in the oats (not the flour).  Let that sit in the pan for 5 minutes.

3.  Separate the egg yolk from the white and put them in two separate bowls.  Then beat the egg yolk and oil together.

4.  Then, mix the egg yolk mixture into the dry ingredients.

5.  Beat the egg white until it's a bit frothy or has some air whipped into it and pour it into the main flour mix.  Don't just stir it in, but fold it until the batter looks fairly smooth.  Now you're ready to make pancakes!

6.  Take a spoon and just pour small amounts of batter into the pan (make sure you grease your pan).

Hope these turn out for you and are as delicious as they were for me :)

Goodnight!

~Hannah

Shared on:  Welcome Wednesday