As a breeder who is striving for healthy animals we take our testing & prevention very seriously. Please keep in mind that every herd has different testing & prevention measures. Some herd owners find it acceptable to keep positive animals while others do not. Some herds do not even test and some herd owners are clueless about these diseases.. These are things every buyer should consider before purchasing an animal. If you ask a dozen different herd owners about these disease you will likely get a dozen different answers. As a buyer I believe you should be fully educated about health concerns so you can decide for yourself what you are willing to deal with. Below is our policy for testing and we believe every buyer should understand it. If you have ANY questions, just ask!
CAE
CAE is a retrovirus much like HIV in humans. Researchers at Washington State University found that 80% of the dairy goats which they tested carried the virus, while a smaller percentage displayed clinical (visible) symptoms of the disease. In goats, CAE can lay dormant for YEARS before it finally becomes active. Just testing 1 time does NOT guarantee the animal is in fact CAE negative. At this time, testing will only show if the virus is active at the moment the blood was drawn from the goat. Results are most reliable when the animal has had multiple years of testing done! For this reason on our farm we test every BREEDING DOE over 6 MONTHS of age, EVERY YEAR, no exceptions! Will will TRY to time our testing closest to kidding time but since we breed year round this is not always possible.
Furthermore, ANY goat we bring onto our farm MUST come from a health tested herd. We require health testing within the last 12 months to consider the farm "health tested". Once goats arrive on our farm (Adults) will be CAE tested immidiatly. Kids will be CAE tested before they are bred (usually after 6 months of age).
Since CAE is mainly passed in the milk we do not test our bucks AS OFTEN as our does. Our bucks have still come from a negative doe. They have also been tested upon arrival (or over 6 months old.). Most Bucks will then be tested here bi-yearly.
Do we pasteurize the milk?
No, we do not pasteurize the milk from does in our herd BUT all of our does have current negative tests.
We believe the kids need the natural antibodies provided in unpasteurized milk. This is the same reason WE drink unpasteurized milk from our goats. I believe fresh, raw milk the way nature intended is best for our growing goat kids. While pasteurizing does kill off "bad" things it also kills off the "good" things in the milk.
We also feel this is a false security blanket that many herds use. Many herds will NOT health test or even knowingly keep positive animals but they will pasteurize the milk they feed the kids. While pasteurizing the milk DOES kill the CAE virus it is open to human error. What if just ONE time the milk did not get hot enough for long enough to kill the virus?
Please understand: Pasteurizing the milk is a proven way to raise NEGATIVE kids from a POSITIVE doe BUT kids must be pulled the moment they are born. Just 1 single sip of milk from a positive doe will very likely infect the kid.
Why is whole herd testing necessary?
Many people ask, "Why not just test the mother to the kid?" Having raised goats for a few years now I have seen 1st hand just how often a kid will steal a quick sip of milk from the nearest doe in milk. Does do not normally allow kids other then their own to nurse but I can't even count how many times I've seen it happen! A mom will stand to nurse her kids, she will do a quick "sniff" of baby butts to confirm those are her kids. Then mom will "zone out" in milking mode and an unrelated kid will sneak in. They will get really good at blending in under the other kids. Usually the mom will realize it's not her kid and push them away BUT almost every time the kid gets a quick sip. I've seen smart kids hide behind mom and sneak in to nurse from behind! Remember it just takes 1 sip of infected milk to likely infect the kid! For this reason we only purchase from breeders who test the whole BREEDING herd!
Why don't more breeders test?
This is a question I don't have the answer for! The CAE test costs an average of $4 per animal. Yep, that cheap! It does not require a vet and really only requires minimal experience to draw blood to have it tested. If you can give a basic Sub-Q injection you could draw blood from a goat and send it in for testing. A quick google search will bring up endless examples of how to test and where to test!
Furthermore, ANY goat we bring onto our farm MUST come from a health tested herd. We require health testing within the last 12 months to consider the farm "health tested". Once goats arrive on our farm (Adults) will be CAE tested immidiatly. Kids will be CAE tested before they are bred (usually after 6 months of age).
Since CAE is mainly passed in the milk we do not test our bucks AS OFTEN as our does. Our bucks have still come from a negative doe. They have also been tested upon arrival (or over 6 months old.). Most Bucks will then be tested here bi-yearly.
Do we pasteurize the milk?
No, we do not pasteurize the milk from does in our herd BUT all of our does have current negative tests.
We believe the kids need the natural antibodies provided in unpasteurized milk. This is the same reason WE drink unpasteurized milk from our goats. I believe fresh, raw milk the way nature intended is best for our growing goat kids. While pasteurizing does kill off "bad" things it also kills off the "good" things in the milk.
We also feel this is a false security blanket that many herds use. Many herds will NOT health test or even knowingly keep positive animals but they will pasteurize the milk they feed the kids. While pasteurizing the milk DOES kill the CAE virus it is open to human error. What if just ONE time the milk did not get hot enough for long enough to kill the virus?
Please understand: Pasteurizing the milk is a proven way to raise NEGATIVE kids from a POSITIVE doe BUT kids must be pulled the moment they are born. Just 1 single sip of milk from a positive doe will very likely infect the kid.
Why is whole herd testing necessary?
Many people ask, "Why not just test the mother to the kid?" Having raised goats for a few years now I have seen 1st hand just how often a kid will steal a quick sip of milk from the nearest doe in milk. Does do not normally allow kids other then their own to nurse but I can't even count how many times I've seen it happen! A mom will stand to nurse her kids, she will do a quick "sniff" of baby butts to confirm those are her kids. Then mom will "zone out" in milking mode and an unrelated kid will sneak in. They will get really good at blending in under the other kids. Usually the mom will realize it's not her kid and push them away BUT almost every time the kid gets a quick sip. I've seen smart kids hide behind mom and sneak in to nurse from behind! Remember it just takes 1 sip of infected milk to likely infect the kid! For this reason we only purchase from breeders who test the whole BREEDING herd!
Why don't more breeders test?
This is a question I don't have the answer for! The CAE test costs an average of $4 per animal. Yep, that cheap! It does not require a vet and really only requires minimal experience to draw blood to have it tested. If you can give a basic Sub-Q injection you could draw blood from a goat and send it in for testing. A quick google search will bring up endless examples of how to test and where to test!
CL Testing & Prevention
CL scare me (and many breeders) more the CAE.
CL is passed from mammal to mammal by contact with infected bodily secretions. Yes, I said "Mammal to Mammal". It is mainly a worry for other goats, sheep & alpaca living on the farm but in rare cases CL can be passed to humans. CL is even more worrisome because it lives in the soil for MANY YEARS! It just takes ONE infected animal with ONE ruptured abscess to contaminate an entire herd and the property they live on. CL abscess occur on the body. The disease is not spreading until the abscess ruptures! Once the abscess ruptures it contaminates everything around it. CL can be on the internal organs or in the udder long before they start to show on the outside of the body. Abscesses that rupture in the udder spread the disease to nursing kids. An abscess that ruptures in the lungs can be spread from coughing!
This site shows some common areas for external CL abscesses but keep in mind they CAN occur anywhere on the body:
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/cl/cl.shtml
How we handle Testing:
We test ALL animals over the age of 6 months that come into our herd.
Here on our farm we have never had an unexplained abscess. Please understand that many injections, including the CD &T vaccine will leave injection sight lumps which could be mistaken for an abscess. For this reason we document the location of every injection given and watch for the lump. Usually these lumps go away within 1-2 weeks without ever breaking the skin. They are just swelling. Since we have switched brands of CD&T vaccine we see fewer lumps.
At this time we have decided that EACH goat that is brought in to our herd will have TWO consecutive NEGATIVE tests. This means they will be tested for 2 years in a row. Here on our farm we feel this is adequate since we handle our goats daily. Our animals are feed individually every day on the milk stand. This gives us a chance every day to feel the animal and look for anything abnormal. We also shave our goats every spring and keep them in short coats. This allows us to visually see anything abnormal. In the future we may decide to do random CL testings but at this time we feel 2 years of negative tests and no visible signs of the disease is enough to consider our herd negative.
All kids BORN ON OUR FARM to a NEGATIVE dam will have ONE test done prior to their 1st kidding.
While we prefer to ONLY purchase kids from tested farms we understand that not all farms test for CL YEARLY. Before purchasing any animal we take in consideration how often they test and where THEIR animals come from. We only purchase from breeders who have similar disease prevention and who have a highly regarded reputation of being trustworthy.
Management plan:
This is our plan of action should we ever find an unexplained abscess on ANY animal in our herd. As of writing this we have never had to use this plan of action but we want to be prepared. Any unexplained abscess or lump will be evaluated, drained and cultured OFF SITE by a licensed vet. CL is not a disease I'm willing to even mess around with on our property. We will also immediately have the whole herd tested for CL regardless of prior testing. I have talked to several local herds who have had to deal with this disease and I hope that we are never faced with it! This is where good herd management and frequent health testing really pays off.
As with ANY health testing, we are more then happy to test ANY animal in our herd at ANY time at the expense of the person requesting the test. CL testing generally runs approx. $10 per animal.
CL is passed from mammal to mammal by contact with infected bodily secretions. Yes, I said "Mammal to Mammal". It is mainly a worry for other goats, sheep & alpaca living on the farm but in rare cases CL can be passed to humans. CL is even more worrisome because it lives in the soil for MANY YEARS! It just takes ONE infected animal with ONE ruptured abscess to contaminate an entire herd and the property they live on. CL abscess occur on the body. The disease is not spreading until the abscess ruptures! Once the abscess ruptures it contaminates everything around it. CL can be on the internal organs or in the udder long before they start to show on the outside of the body. Abscesses that rupture in the udder spread the disease to nursing kids. An abscess that ruptures in the lungs can be spread from coughing!
This site shows some common areas for external CL abscesses but keep in mind they CAN occur anywhere on the body:
http://www.goatworld.com/articles/cl/cl.shtml
How we handle Testing:
We test ALL animals over the age of 6 months that come into our herd.
Here on our farm we have never had an unexplained abscess. Please understand that many injections, including the CD &T vaccine will leave injection sight lumps which could be mistaken for an abscess. For this reason we document the location of every injection given and watch for the lump. Usually these lumps go away within 1-2 weeks without ever breaking the skin. They are just swelling. Since we have switched brands of CD&T vaccine we see fewer lumps.
At this time we have decided that EACH goat that is brought in to our herd will have TWO consecutive NEGATIVE tests. This means they will be tested for 2 years in a row. Here on our farm we feel this is adequate since we handle our goats daily. Our animals are feed individually every day on the milk stand. This gives us a chance every day to feel the animal and look for anything abnormal. We also shave our goats every spring and keep them in short coats. This allows us to visually see anything abnormal. In the future we may decide to do random CL testings but at this time we feel 2 years of negative tests and no visible signs of the disease is enough to consider our herd negative.
All kids BORN ON OUR FARM to a NEGATIVE dam will have ONE test done prior to their 1st kidding.
While we prefer to ONLY purchase kids from tested farms we understand that not all farms test for CL YEARLY. Before purchasing any animal we take in consideration how often they test and where THEIR animals come from. We only purchase from breeders who have similar disease prevention and who have a highly regarded reputation of being trustworthy.
Management plan:
This is our plan of action should we ever find an unexplained abscess on ANY animal in our herd. As of writing this we have never had to use this plan of action but we want to be prepared. Any unexplained abscess or lump will be evaluated, drained and cultured OFF SITE by a licensed vet. CL is not a disease I'm willing to even mess around with on our property. We will also immediately have the whole herd tested for CL regardless of prior testing. I have talked to several local herds who have had to deal with this disease and I hope that we are never faced with it! This is where good herd management and frequent health testing really pays off.
As with ANY health testing, we are more then happy to test ANY animal in our herd at ANY time at the expense of the person requesting the test. CL testing generally runs approx. $10 per animal.
Johne's Disease Testing & Prevention
To date I have never spoken to anyone who has dealt with Johne's disease in goats. More then likely this is from lack of testing because the disease is found world wide is ruminate species (goats, cattle, sheep, deer, bison, etc).
We have decided to treat testing the same as with CL. We will test all new goats over the age of 6 months old for 2 consecutive years. We feel that if any animal was carrying the disease 2 years is long enough for it to test positive. We may be mistaken in our thinking but at this time that is the testing protocol we have decided to follow. We may at times decide to random testing of previously negative animals.
For more information on Johne's disease please see this site:
http://www.johnes.org/goats/faqs.html
As with other tests we are more then happy to test ANY animal in our herd at ANY time at the expense of the person requesting the test.
We have decided to treat testing the same as with CL. We will test all new goats over the age of 6 months old for 2 consecutive years. We feel that if any animal was carrying the disease 2 years is long enough for it to test positive. We may be mistaken in our thinking but at this time that is the testing protocol we have decided to follow. We may at times decide to random testing of previously negative animals.
For more information on Johne's disease please see this site:
http://www.johnes.org/goats/faqs.html
As with other tests we are more then happy to test ANY animal in our herd at ANY time at the expense of the person requesting the test.