# cl in dairy goats and milk



## Valley Ranch (Jun 8, 2012)

So I have been investigating cl especially with the new vaccine that is now out. We have dairy goats and there seems to be alot of talk amongst the meat goat raisers but not dairy. 
So does CL come through in milk? Can it get you sick through milk? 
Would the antibodies the vaccine cause to develop be an issue in goat milk?
I am hoping some dairy goat people can jump in and give me some info.
thanks


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## Roll farms (Jun 9, 2012)

I can't give you technical answers, only anecdotal.....I've drank milk from CL+ goats for years.
I've vaccinated clean does w/ Cas-Bac (sheep CL vaccine) for years and drank their milk.

It's been my experience that meat goat people are a lot more accepting of CL than dairy goat people....mention CL at a dairy goat club and watch the faces turn pale.


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## Valley Ranch (Jun 9, 2012)

hahaha  that has been my experience too!! And I always think, no wonder it is such a problem if no one will address it!!
There doesn't seem to be any info beyond personal experience out there either.  I have just found a new vet who treats goats and even she admits she doesn't know alot, which I see as a positive sign. She asked her partner what he though and his answer was"no I wouldn't touch it" and what I felt like saying to him was "do you even know what cl is??"
For a disease that has been running amok here for so long you'd think there would be more answers!!
I am hoping my vet can tell me if the milk can be tested and I'll check that out. 
My thought is milk is always going to have some level of bacteria in it, as even pasteurization doesn't kill it all but how bad it cl really? I know it is supposed to be zoonotic but why then hasn't it become rampant amongst goat milk drinkers? goat milkers? Heck even the other animals on goat farms, like the dogs and horses etc. Things just don't add up.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you pasteurize?


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## Roll farms (Jun 9, 2012)

Yes, because we sell "CAE prev. raised kids", we pasteurize.

We've been dealing w/ CL for 10 yrs or so now.  It's not something I'm proud of or anything, and I wish we didn't have to deal w/ it...but...it's not the mind-numbing disaster I was first told (by my vet) that it would be, either.  Healthy, happy goats seldom have outbreaks.  We might lance 3-4 a year in a herd of 25 animals or so.

Not one kid sold has ever had CL, either, to my knowledge...and you can bet your bippy that if one did, we'd hear about it.


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## Valley Ranch (Jun 9, 2012)

Thanks.
We always had a small closed herd until we recently picked up 2 milk does from a really dodgy breeder. Been dealing with staph  and malnutrition and now started to worry about cl!!! I've been reading alot and asking vets and there is alot of misinformation. 
It seems you can't keep it away forever so need to come up with a game plan and educate yourself.


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## chubbydog811 (Jun 9, 2012)

I'm glad there is a discussion starting on this! CL does seem to have very little info about it. I personally wish there was more. 

I am a dairy goat person, and like Roll said - mention CL to dairy people, and their faces go pale.
I for one, am running a clean herd. I had an..outbreak  for lack of better words...of CAE (bought a doe from a friend I trusted, other older doe nursed off of infected doe and got it, another doe somehow got it, and 2 bucks). I culled every single one. Whether they were sold as pets only, or put in the freezer, I want nothing to do with it. If it were CL, they all would have been euthanize and cremated or buried in a deep hole on the back 40 that I'm not planning on using any time within the near future.

From the experience I have had with CL, it doesn't pass through the milk...My friend sold me 2 doelings who's mother was infected with CL (didn't know before she sold them). Neither doeling had CL and they were on her for about a week or so. Though both were positive for CAE.
I do remember reading somewhere about it being contagious to humans through milk, but obviously they were a bit wrong!


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## Valley Ranch (Jun 10, 2012)

All my research is now saying  it cannot pass through milk unless there was an abscess in the udder that burst. But that would probably cause mastitis too.  So you wouldn't be drinking the milk for that purpose.
I am going to talk to my vet on Moday but I think I am going to go ahead and vaccinate all my girls and be done with it. I'd rather know they aren't going to get it than have to deal with it. I cannot understand how such misinformation can get out there. 
I still cannot find for sure if pasturization kills CL or not. Some articles say yes othes no.


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