[Jacob-list] why Se deficiency kills them in the end

[Avillion Farm]

While both skeletal and cardiac muscle are affected by Se deficiency, it is the damage done to the 
cardiac muscle that can result in death.  When I had the affected goat kids the really miserable part of it was
that they would be born weak, and then appear to pick up with extra supportive care, then get worse again
by about day 3-4; the year it happened here, I lost 1/4 of my kids and couple of them died in my arms which
was truly heart breaking.  Basically what was happening was that their heart muscle just could not pump enough
blood to keep them alive after they started to walk around more and nurse on their own.

Adults in the flock can be supplemented with a vitamin mineral mix that will ensure that they are not deficient which
in turn should help the lambs.  Then the BoSe given to the lambs is more of a pre-cautionary boost as opposed to trying
to treat an already affected animal.  My guess is that with lambs that were born marginally or somewhat deficient, but 
appeared to recover for a few weeks is that there was damage to the heart muscle that only became severe enough to
be clinically manifest after the lamb was starting to grow rapidly and get ever more active.  The other thing that some 
folks do is treat the pregnant ewes or does with injectable Vitamin E; it is safer than using BoSe on pregnant animals
and it helps because Se and Vit. E have a mutually sparing effect on one another.

Elaina
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