CAE, CL & Johne's Disease
What are They?
CAE is a retro-virus in goats. This means that antibodies created by the CAE positive goat are not effective in attacking the virus. There is no cure for CAE so once a goat has CAE it has it for life. Generally, CAE is passed in the milk to nursing kids but in rare cares it can be passed by saliva, nasal secretions, urine, and feces. It only takes 1 sip of milk from a positive goat to infect another goat. This is why we will always buy from tested herds, health test prior to kidding and never keep a positive animal here. (To date we have never had a positive goat on our property.) CAE is not contagious to humans who drink the milk, only other goats and sheep.
Some goats can live a normal life with CAE while others will break with symptoms. Their are 2 forms of CAE, the encephalitis form and the arthritic form.
The encephalitis form of the CAE virus is usually seen in goat kids under 6 months old. Signs include paralysis, seizures and eventually death.
The most common is the arthritic form which is usually seen in adult goats over 1 year of age. Signs include enlarged joints, especially in the carpal, hocks, and stifle. As the disease progresses, goats may show an inability to stand and may walk on their knees. Progression of the outward symptoms can take months or several years.
CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis) is caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. This bacteria is usually spread through contact with material from subcutaneous abscesses (pus). The bacteria can survive several months in the soil and environment, remaining a source of infection. What does that mean? If you have a goat with CL and the abscess ruptures, opens or drains anything that goat has come in contact with can harbor the bacteria for months (Soil, wood, barns, feed buckets, etc.) Though much less common , internal abscesses may also form in the lungs and other organs as a result of the spread of the bacteria within the animal via blood or lymph. When abscesses are present in the lungs, the bacteria can be spread through respiratory secretions (nasal discharge or coughing). In rare cases, it may be present in the milk. CL can easily spread through a whole herd starting with just 1 infected member once an abscess ruptures. CL is not contagious until abscesses form, it is the pus inside the abscess that is contagious. The biggest concern with CL is that it’s a zoonotic disease, which means it can also infect other species. Although rare, this includes people.
Johne's (pronounced "Yoh-nees") disease is caused by a bacterium named Mycobacterium avium ss. paratuberculosis ( “MAP”).
Johne's disease typically enters a herd when an infected animal is brought it and it sheds the organism into the environment. Infected animals can look and act healthy in the early stages of the disease. Without testing their is no way to tell animals in the early stages from healthy animals. An infected animal can appear healthy for YEARS before it is diagnosed from symptoms. All the while it is spreading it to it's herd mates! Young kids are far more susceptible to infection than adult.
Signs of Johne’s disease are rapid weight loss and diarrhea. In goats, diarrhea is not as common as in cattle. When kids are infected they usually don't show signs of disease until they are adults. Adult goats become emaciated and weak even though they are still eating well.
Since the signs of Johne's disease are similar to those for several other diseases and parasites. Lab tests are needed to confirm a diagnosis. If a case of Johne’s disease occurs in a herd, it is very likely that others (who may still appear healthy) are also infected.
What are They?
CAE is a retro-virus in goats. This means that antibodies created by the CAE positive goat are not effective in attacking the virus. There is no cure for CAE so once a goat has CAE it has it for life. Generally, CAE is passed in the milk to nursing kids but in rare cares it can be passed by saliva, nasal secretions, urine, and feces. It only takes 1 sip of milk from a positive goat to infect another goat. This is why we will always buy from tested herds, health test prior to kidding and never keep a positive animal here. (To date we have never had a positive goat on our property.) CAE is not contagious to humans who drink the milk, only other goats and sheep.
Some goats can live a normal life with CAE while others will break with symptoms. Their are 2 forms of CAE, the encephalitis form and the arthritic form.
The encephalitis form of the CAE virus is usually seen in goat kids under 6 months old. Signs include paralysis, seizures and eventually death.
The most common is the arthritic form which is usually seen in adult goats over 1 year of age. Signs include enlarged joints, especially in the carpal, hocks, and stifle. As the disease progresses, goats may show an inability to stand and may walk on their knees. Progression of the outward symptoms can take months or several years.
CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis) is caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. This bacteria is usually spread through contact with material from subcutaneous abscesses (pus). The bacteria can survive several months in the soil and environment, remaining a source of infection. What does that mean? If you have a goat with CL and the abscess ruptures, opens or drains anything that goat has come in contact with can harbor the bacteria for months (Soil, wood, barns, feed buckets, etc.) Though much less common , internal abscesses may also form in the lungs and other organs as a result of the spread of the bacteria within the animal via blood or lymph. When abscesses are present in the lungs, the bacteria can be spread through respiratory secretions (nasal discharge or coughing). In rare cases, it may be present in the milk. CL can easily spread through a whole herd starting with just 1 infected member once an abscess ruptures. CL is not contagious until abscesses form, it is the pus inside the abscess that is contagious. The biggest concern with CL is that it’s a zoonotic disease, which means it can also infect other species. Although rare, this includes people.
Johne's (pronounced "Yoh-nees") disease is caused by a bacterium named Mycobacterium avium ss. paratuberculosis ( “MAP”).
Johne's disease typically enters a herd when an infected animal is brought it and it sheds the organism into the environment. Infected animals can look and act healthy in the early stages of the disease. Without testing their is no way to tell animals in the early stages from healthy animals. An infected animal can appear healthy for YEARS before it is diagnosed from symptoms. All the while it is spreading it to it's herd mates! Young kids are far more susceptible to infection than adult.
Signs of Johne’s disease are rapid weight loss and diarrhea. In goats, diarrhea is not as common as in cattle. When kids are infected they usually don't show signs of disease until they are adults. Adult goats become emaciated and weak even though they are still eating well.
Since the signs of Johne's disease are similar to those for several other diseases and parasites. Lab tests are needed to confirm a diagnosis. If a case of Johne’s disease occurs in a herd, it is very likely that others (who may still appear healthy) are also infected.
OUR TEST RESULTS:
We are a small FAMILY run Hobby farm. We are not a large commercial operation.
Since I occasionally let my does nurse and raise their own kids I prefer to test closer to kidding time.
Kids who are bottle babies are put on pasteurized milk.
Please remember CAE testing is only "SNAP SHOT" in time. Results are for the very MOMENT the blood was drawn.
This is why we test yearly.
Yes, I have clipped our personal information from the lab results. This is not to deceive anyone! I just do not feel our home phone number and home address should be listed openly on the internet.
We are a small FAMILY run Hobby farm. We are not a large commercial operation.
Since I occasionally let my does nurse and raise their own kids I prefer to test closer to kidding time.
Kids who are bottle babies are put on pasteurized milk.
Please remember CAE testing is only "SNAP SHOT" in time. Results are for the very MOMENT the blood was drawn.
This is why we test yearly.
Yes, I have clipped our personal information from the lab results. This is not to deceive anyone! I just do not feel our home phone number and home address should be listed openly on the internet.
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CAE screens from 2012 - Present
Please keep in mind that stress, pregnancy, vaccines and illness (not related to CAE) can cause numbers to fluctuate or slightly increase. As our herd has gotten larger we have started testing our does closer to kidding (2-8 weeks before) . We also vaccinate our does with CD&T vaccine in this time window. ANY vaccine WILL cause a general immune response. That immune response can sightly elevates numbers BUT in my experience it does not cause a false positive. I have had many people tell me they don't test during pregnancy/before kidding because it will cause a positive? This has never been true for us. I personally prefer to test close to kidding. To each his own! :) 
2020 Herd Screens:
2019 Doe Herd Screens:
2018 Doe Herd Pre - Kidding Screens:
2017 Random Buck Herd Screen:
2017 Doe CAE Pre - Kidding Screens :
Dec. 2016 Re-screen
Tempo was tested Nov. 8th and she was negative but high negative (21). I re-tested her just to see what would happen... Numbers can bounce around from 0 - 29 and still be Negative. 7 weeks later, still negative :) See how negative #'s fluctuate! 
Dec. 2016 Sales Screen
Tuxedo and Missy were sale pending so I ran a current test on them 
Dec. 2016 Sales Screen
Moon & Saga were sale pending so I ran a current test on them 
Nov. 2016 Screen
Memphis was new to our herd so I wanted to test him before he moves into the main buck pen. Retested Rose since she is due in Feb. even though her last test was 6 months ago. 
Nov. 2016 Pre-Kidding Screen
May New Addition Screen 2016
These samples were sent to a different testing lab! I gave Integrated Dairy Services out of Dublin, Tx a try. I tried them because they are closer to us and they test more often! They are still a BIO-TRACKING lab! Here is their link: http://www.biotracking.com/labs/integrateddairy 
March 2016 Pre-Kidding Screen
Test done for does due to kid April - June 
Jan. 2016 Pre-Kidding Screen
Test done for does due to kid Feb. - Early March 
Tempo had a major rumen surgery in Aug. 2015 to remove a wire she had eaten. She healed quickly but I did not expect her to get bred so easily! I just could not wait to find out so I had pregnancy testing done on her. Sure enough she was bred! YAY! Since the lab had her blood on hand I asked them to run CAE testing for me. That is why her results are by themselves.
Dec. 2015 Pre-Kidding testing
December is filled with 2 kids birthdays and Christmas so funds are always tight in our family. We also didn't have any goats kidding in fall/winter 2015. I realized Dixie was the only goat due to kid in Jan. 2016 so I ran CAE on just her. 
Aug. 2015 New Addition In Milk Testing
Dixie was brought into our herd in milk. She came from a negative herd but I wanted to have results myself. (Please Note: Stress from changing herds & recent vaccines can cause numbers to be slightly elevated but still within a normal NEGATIVE range.)
April 2015 Pre-Kidding Testing
Feb. 2015 Pre-Kidding Testing
By request I experimented with adding Tattoo info on the testing forms. I found it annoying. I know all of our goats by NAMES not by numbers. I don't feel it makes the testing anymore organized or reliable. If anything, more confusing to look at! 
June 2014 Yearly Adult Doe Testing
Feb. 2014 Yearly Adult Testing
Jan. 2014 New Addition Testing
Misty was a new addition who I lost to bloat before she ever kidded. Treasure came from a herd claiming to be negative but she did not have current testing on her dam. Treasure was only 6 months old but I wanted a test on her BEFORE breeding. 
Aug. 2013 New Addition & Yearly Testing
Dec. 2012 Yearly Testing Our Growing Herd
July 2012 Testing our 1st Registered Adult Does
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Pre - Sale Health Screen
July 2020 
Pre - Sale Health Screen
June 2020 
New addition Health Screen for Ringo
April 2020 Testing done by Texas A&M 
New addition Health Screen for Zulily
Feb. 2018 Testing done by Texas A&M 
New addition Health Screen
Oct. 2017 Testing done by Washington Animal Disease Lab (WADDL) 
Nov. 2017
Random Herd CL & Johne's Screen Testing done by Sage Labs 
Nov. 2016 Random Johne's Screen
We had a pooled direct PCR test done which checks for the genetic material of the bacteria. The pooled testing puts samples for 5 different goats into 1 test. The group is tested. If any come out positive you then need to test each goat from that pool. However, when they come back negative, the whole pool is negative. Testing done by the Johne's Testing Center 
Feb. 2016 Random CL Screen on Doe herd.
When doing a random screen I feel the "highest" risk animals should be screened. This screen was done specifically on goat's brought in from OTHER herds and not babies born here. Our theory is babies born here to already negative does are a VERY low risk. To date we have never had a positive. Testing done by Texas A&M 
I had Johne's and CL testing done in 2014. However, I am currenly missing the paperwork! If I ever find it, I will add it here!
Sept. 2013 CL & Johne's Testing
Testing done through WADDL 
Dec. 2012 CL & Johne's Testing
Testing done through WADDL 
Feb. 2012 CL & Johne's Testing
Testing done through WADDL 
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