We just got results from a CAE test we had done on our herd about three weeks ago. We just started our herd the past spring. We started with a doe (FF) and her doeling. We got them when the doling was about 2 months old. We added another doeling this past summer. And about two months ago we got a buckling, a weather to keep him company and 3 older does. Anyway 3 came up positive for CAE. The first doeling we got back in the spring and the buck and the weather. They buck and the weather have been housed separately from the doe. But the doe was bred to the buckling. The vet did the ELISA test and she told me that she thinks that it was not transmitted from one to the other, but that they all got it at the place they were born, since goats are more likely to get it in the first month of their life. Based on everybody's experience, is this accurate? The doeling mother, which we own came up negative too. The vet think that when she was young maybe another goat in the farm she was at had it and that is how got it. She said that older does can get it, but the young ones are more susceptible to it. We have been puzzled about the whole thing because they came from different places. The doeling's breeder had told us that her goats had been tested and the other breeder runs a dairy.
My daughter and I have decided to castrate the buck and sell him, the weather and the doe as pets. The doe is now living with the weather and the soon to be weather. We will keep them until she kids and separate the kids at birth. I was planning on dam raising all of our kids, but we have no other options in this case. Well, I am thankful we found out before it got spread throughout the whole herd and that everybody came up negative for Johnes. The vet advised we test the does again before they kid, just to be on the safe side.
Replies
Thanks so much for your input, it is good to hear from people that have had the same experience. Yes, all the goats that came up positive are under a year old. They are between 6 and 8 months old. I am hoping that we got a false positive too, because it will be hard for us to keep them separated from the whole herd long term.
Astrud
Deborah Flint said:
Hello Everyone,
Ok I have Three CAE goats. First I think I need to address. if you test a goat befor they are a year old you run an extremly high chance of a false positive.
second: what are the numbers? mine are in the 70% area- if they are below 60% I would have them retested.
Third: believe it or not but the chances of a buck transmitting to a doe while breeding is very slim. I did lots of research on this because my Alpine Buck is positive and he comes from a long list of enoblements.
fourth: it is not the end of the world. Yes they are more suseptible to colds and infection but maintaining them (seperating if needed )And NEVER NEVER let the doe clean off her young at birth or use her milk (unless you know how how to pasturize (whole cows milk is ok for newborns after colustrum supplement) and dispose of afterbirth do not let doe eat it and they will try. .
I keep a supply of banamine and NuFlur on hand for my two does and have prepared myself for the inevitable.
babies that don't gain wait I give free choice grower , CDT and watch.
I currently have 29 goats and have had the three postive for four years now. None of the others have contracted it.
AND YES the milk is safe for human consumption.
Hope this helps
deb
Dancing Dragon Goats
thanks for sharing your experience. Because of our circumstances, I feel like some error was made along the way
I have used PanAmerican once. I had a mini nubian doe that tested positive, so I sent a sample to them and it came up negative, then positive. I did one more test and she was positive again. They were very kind and efficient, but the negative gave me a little concern. Not sure why that would happen. I ended up giving the doe to a petting zoo and no one else in that herd ever tested positive. Eventually sold that herd and started over with ND goats 1 1/2 years later.
Thanks, I will let my vet know. She also said that they work with Cornell, but it would be a little bit more expensive than the lab in Texas, which was Panamerican.
Patty Meyer said:
There's one in Washington called Washington Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory. You can google WADDL and it comes right up. I know a lot of people use that one.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Yes, I thought it said on their website that results took 3-4 months from the test. Glad that is wrong info =)
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
If you mean that the test takes 3-4 months to get results? No, it's only a week or two. If you mean the goat has to have CAE for 3-4 months before testing positive? Maybe, but if the goat has tested positive on ELISA and they really have the disease, they should test positive on the PCR, according to the two pathologists that I have spoken with about the test.
Chaverah Farm said:
thanks! Yes, we have gone and separated the doeling from the rest of the herd. She was bred almost four weeks ago an dhas not come back into heat, so we put her with the boys that came up positive too. I think before we make any decisions about them I will have them re-tested with the PCR test and see what we come up with. I will check with the vet on Monday to see which lab she used for the test. The doeling that came up positive came from a small herd that was tested in 2012 and she was born on Jan of this year. They said they added another doe a month or so after she had been born, but she had also come from a tested herd. The boys came from a lady that runs a dairy in VA. She does not sell milk, but sells cheeses and soap, so she is also very careful about what she does. She is having her whole herd tested this Monday. So I am thinking that maybe there was a mix up at the lab with all the tests. People make mistakes too. So hoping and praying that we have a non-existent problem.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
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