red and purple color in eyes and fur coat

[porchpickles]

hi ....im new to raising dexter cattle and am experiencing a deepening of red in the whites of my heifers eyes and occasionally notice a slight purple tint to the girls coat around the neck area.They are very healthy and shiny, they get loose mineral and pay no attention to it, they also get second cutting hay, 12%protein tub, and about 1 1/2 lbs. of grain aday......they also are pasture fed......i am an advid reader and had a nutrtionist for sweetlix tell me that the red in the eyes can be from a copper deficiency.....however, my old vet, and i mean old,(OLD SCHOOL>>>>AND VERY CASUAL)says"its just a change in the season " affecting their coats.......no mention of the eyes.....im concerned cause im trying to raise purebred dexters and dont want any birthing problems from my best girls..that why i choose dexters, cause of their size and easy birthing rates...any advice would be helpful..........thanks .

 

[rockridgecattle]

okay, since you are putting in the time and effort to raise pure breds, possibly for re sale, my suggestion would be a Vet.
Get the vet to draw blood and do a work up on the blood to look for problems.
Sounds like a mineral problem IMO.
Not all mineral is created equal or for specific areas. Just a general all purpose mineral for any one and everyone. Does not always work Look at the tag and compare diferent brands.
Nutritionists are usually more in tune with the mineral diffeciencies. Talk to your local ag office, they might have a nutritionist that does not work on commission to help you out.

Prime example:
1 to 1 mineral co-op brand and feedrite brand.
We used to use feedrite. co-op came out with there own. So we bought theirs. Within 6mo we could not keep a fence post in the ground. The cows were eating them, the barn, corrals anything with wood. Suddenly it dawned on us to change mineral. Within a month or 2 the fence posts stopped disappearing...costly change...