Would you buy a ND goat who is Neg, but is in a herd with a Pos?

[Hound]

No no no no no no no

I wouldn't. It's not hard to find negative herds and (hopefully) avoid the whole can of worms altogether.

 

[RiverOtter]

Ok, here is my public retraction!
Thank you lasergirl for the links, I suggest everyone read them. Note, to read the articles cited at the bottom, you will have to log in to several of the sites. But it is well worth it.

Though I (just my personal opinion, please read the articles and form your own) still wouldn't let it be a deal breaker should the animal be of exceptional quality. Both references cited sheep, not goats. I have a friend with a CL goat who hasn't had an abscess in years and all things considered I still feel safe drinking milk off his farm, though our goats will never mingle and I don't wear the same shoes I've worn to his farm into mine.
To put it in perspective; there are more cases of Leprosy reported in the USA per year then CL cases worldwide ever.
http://www.hrsa.gov/hansens/data.htm

This does NOT detract from my public retraction! I have seen proof that CL IS zoonotic and will pass this info on to whoever asks.
Just saying that it is way down at the bottom of my Big List of Things To Worry About.

 

[heathersboers]

We have been breeding show quality boer goats for 7 years and have had CL- we cull those who get it more than once- BUT- all CL is is unsightly and it can pass to other goats. If our gets it-we treat it and isolate the goat-if it returns-to the meat market they go regardless of how much that goat costed. We have had 2 cases in 7 years and both those goats are gone now. I would not buy a goat with CL knowingly. Never had CAE though

 

[AkTomboy]

Wow thank you for the replies again BYC'rs are awesome. I did update the first post the herd has two pos CAE, the two I am looking at are not. One is a bred doe and the other a wether, so in yalls HO all should be fine. Sweet I will post pics of them when the wonderful lady emails them to me

 

[Lifesong Farm]

Just to be safe I would do a test. You can do it yourself and send off to Washington State University,s lab or have your vet do it before she kids. If you get the wether I would also test him just to see so you know if you would have to treat him when he flares. Then test all again next year just to be sure. I would also think about pulling the baby at birth this year. Next year after your 2nd neg pull the baby or leave it on mom depending upon how you want to do things.

 

[Hound]

Goats can carry CAE their entire lives and never show an outward sign of it. These silently-infected animals can test negative for the antibody until stress or some other factor activates it. Testing will not give you a definitive answer.

It doesn't just require reproduction to spread; it can transfer in saliva from simply sharing a feed trough.

 

[AkTomboy]

Hound

The problem is that here in Alaska finding a herd that is a total NEG for CAE is super hard, I have been looking for ND for almost two years and every one who I have talked to except for one who is not selling has a Pos in the herd somewhere.

So its either get a goat who is NEG from a herd with a POS or fly kids up. I have had dogs, birds, horses and snakes fly up here so I am sure they can do goats, but I am guessing they will have to be weaned b4 flying, and they will be looking at anywhere from 12-18 hrs of travel time once they are dropped off at he airport....

I have not said if I will buy these or not thats why Im asking for yalls thoughts. Thanks again for the help,

 

[Lifesong Farm]

In your situation I would buy the neg ones and even a pos IF it has good conformation and then yank kids at birth.

 

[lasergrl]

Pretty sure the elisa test for CAE will not have a false negative, just because they arent haveing a flare up or stress (switching homes would seem enough stress to rule that out anyways).

You can get it done at biotracking and have a pregnancy test done at the same time of wanted. The CLtest is the one with poor accuracy from blood.