I would agree that feeding any grain supplemented with copper is a bad idea. I am also hesitant to feed fish meal which is a animal protein to sheep. Although I do not know of any prion disease or such that would transfer from aquatic to ruminant livestock.
Copper is essential though to livestock. Environment is part of the equation in how much copper is metabolized by sheep. Also, the breed of sheep determines the sensitivity level to copper. IN MY OPERATION I feed a cattle mineral block with copper along with a plain white salt block to my Barbados Blackbelly sheep. I also dose my sheep with a 10% copper sulfate solution at 1cc per every 10 pounds of body weight along with either Cydectin, Safeguard, Valbazin or Prohibit. The addition of the copper sulfate solution with the de-wormers makes them more effective. And it is unlikely that parasites can build a resistance to copper. I have been doing this for 15 years and have yet to lose a sheep to copper poisoning. I also put a very small dose (less than a teaspoon) of copper sulfate crystals into 30 gallon poly tubs of drinking water for the sheep. This keeps algae out of the water and stops mosquito larvae from hatching. It will not kill any larvae that is pre-existing in the water. I top off the tubs with water along with the rain until I start seeing algae or mosquito larvae and then repeat the process. Water has been precious here and I cannot be dumping it out several times per week. This is what I do. It is up to you to test and evaluate what is effective in your operation. Mark Wintermute -----Original Message----- From: Blackbelly [mailto:blackbelly-boun...@lists.blackbellysheep.info] On Behalf Of Jim Isbell Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2015 12:01 PM To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Blackbelly Digest, Vol 11, Issue 44 Copper sulfate. Copper poisoning is the (main) reason you need sheep-specific feed versus goat or poultry feed. I know several folks who have run sheep and cattle together...and lost sheep because they got after a cattle mineral lick that had copper of some kind. > On Aug 21, 2015, at 23:53, Rick Krach <rickkr...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Liz, look at this label and tell me if you see anything that sheep should not eat: Fish meal, plant protein products, animal protein products, dried yeast culture, fish oil, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12 supplement, choline chloride, d-biotin, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous sulfate, potassium iodate, ethylenediamine dihydrodide, ascorbic acid, Not for Human Consumption. Meets FDA requirements regarding restrictions on mammalian protein sources. > > > Thanks, > > Rick Krach > in Auburn, CA > > > >> From: "Elizabeth Radi" >> To: >> Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Koi food >> Message-ID: >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" >> >> Rick, >> I personally would not feed Koi food to my sheep. Folks got into allot of trouble feeding ruminants animal parts in the past. It probably is illegal also. Think of "Mad Cow". >> I would think it would be ok to feed to chickens, because they eat just about anything. Also, the protein content would be pretty high I would imagine. I really do not think that fish food would be plant based, but mostly animal or fish source. Just some rambling thoughts. >> >> Liz Radi >> Nubian goats >> Nunn, Colorado >> >> >> --- rickkr...@hotmail.com wrote: >> >> From: Rick Krach >> To: blackbelly Blackbelly List >> Subject: [Blackbelly] Koi food >> Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2015 21:06:35 -0700 >> >> I know that pig food cannot be given to sheep, but I wonder about Koi >> food. ?Someone has given me 50 lbs of Koi food which their fish will >> not eat. ?Does anyone have any idea as to whether it'd be safe to >> give this to my sheep, chickens, pigs, whoever would eat it? ?My >> question is because the package does say, "Not for human >> consumption." ?Thanks, >> >> >> Rick Krach >> in Auburn, CA? >> _______________________________________________ > > > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's > homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.6086 / Virus Database: 4409/10493 - Release Date: 08/23/15 _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
