Our First Herd, and what we learned...

When first getting into goats, the summer of 2005, there were some things I was, at the time not aware of. We thought goats would be great weed control! We originally looked for pygmy wethers....Easy to keep, no hormones, etc! But being the middle of the summer, I ended up really having to search. I found a sweet little Nubian wether for sale and finally the owner offered his mamma too, so he wouldn't be alone. I have a long history in animals, and I thought I asked all the right questions. Vaccination and de-worming dates, any past injuries? blah, blah. They came home, only to find that "Sugar", the mamma goat, did NOT consider her son company, and missed her herd. We know this because she screamed all day till dark until I found a couple more adult companions for her!

I found through some random connections a couple of goats way out of town. The gal was raising meat goats, these does were not needed anymore for whatever reason. I brought home a 5 year old Alpine and a yearling, spottie eared little nubian cross, both does.

We named the Alpine, who we found out later was bred to a boer, "Katie" and the spottie eared spit-fire, "Star". Everything was fine till I started falling so in love with this whole goat situation, I started talking to people and looking forward to raising milking goats. As I learned more, I encountered this phrase..."Have you tested them for CAE yet?"

Oh my Goodness! What is that and why hadn't I heard of it!? So After milking Katie for several weeks I decided I wanted another Alpine. I happened to have a friend who has a very nice herd, of very healthy and meticulously cared for Alpines. She had a cute little black and white doe she was frustrated with. Little Miss Jasmine wouldn't wean, and kept jumping fences to get to mamma! She offered her to me on the condition my herd was negative for CAE. ok, that is reasonable.

I drew blood on the 2 does I planned to keep. Katie and Sugar, who at this point is now bred. Sent it off to Washington state lab, and one long week later, POSITIVE.

Oh what a sad day! I was just crushed. I was completely in LOVE with Katie goat, Sugar is the sweetest thing, more like an old lab than a barnyard critter... now I have to make a decision. Do I keep them as pets, and not breed them? Do I find home for them and start a new herd?

My son and I talked it over. One of our very good friends had fallen in love with 'Star', and needed a herd mate for her. She was willing to take the entire herd. YEAH! This way my son could visit them, but I do not have to worry about that 20% chance of blood to blood transmission or a weird unknown means of transmission. We can maintain a Negative herd and have healthy happy dairy goats!

The moral of the story? Get your goats CAE tested yearly if they are exposed to outside goats. Have them tested PRIOR to purchase, even if the owner 'thinks' they are negative, because they test from time to time and they have never had a positive. Educate yourself on the disease, it can be very unpleasant.

We now test randomly, maintaining a 'closed herd' make thinkgs easier. We choose to dam raise some of our kids, as we know the dam is negative, has come from a negative herd and has a minimum of 2 (or often times,more) Negative tests while at our farm. We are not currently buying outside goats, and are very comfortable with our herd being 100% negative. We can eliminate this disease...it just takes education, planning and persistance!

For more information on CAE and goat Health, feel free to e-mail, or contact your local University Vet school. Washington State University or Colorado State University. Good Luck!