cl and cae how is it harbored?

[bj taylor]

are these soil borne or are they strictly hosted by the animals themselves? I am totally new. we will be getting a few goats soon to clear brush then decide if we want to continue goats or not. we may "rent" a few head to clear a problem area & then I will assess if I really want to raise goats or not. so... i'm not that interested in this first batch (I will learn, but not be personally vested in them). once they have done their job & gone back to the owner, if I get "my" goats - do I need to worry about such diseases left behind by the first "rented" group?

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Wish I had the time to answer this.

Will try and get back to you.

 

[sprocket]

are these soil borne or are they strictly hosted by the animals themselves? I am totally new. we will be getting a few goats soon to clear brush then decide if we want to continue goats or not. we may "rent" a few head to clear a problem area & then I will assess if I really want to raise goats or not. so... i'm not that interested in this first batch (I will learn, but not be personally vested in them). once they have done their job & gone back to the owner, if I get "my" goats - do I need to worry about such diseases left behind by the first "rented" group?

I haven't had experience with CAE, but I have unfortunately had experience with CL. Before you start your herd, you should have the goats you're going to bring to your property tested for both. CL will manifest itself as abscesses at various locations on the goat's body - should they burst, you'll risk contaminating whatever the puss gets on to. CL's a bacteria and presumably yes, it can continue to live or sit dormant in the soil or any wood you might have around.

There are vaccines out there for CL - Caseous DT and CaseBac for example - but I have NOT found them to be 100% effective. I have had vaccinated CL-free animals contract CL. I believe that the vaccine will lessen the symptoms, but it will not provide 100% immunity.

CL will typically pop up during times of stress - on does, you're likely to see it come up around kidding time, either shortly before or after. If you do get CL into your herd, you're looking at years of getting rid of it, should you decide you don't want to cull everything. I don't think it's the end of the world, but you really don't want it if you don't have to. I never looked forward to the days I'd have to get up and lance an abscess.

CAE is viral and is transmitted via bodily fluids. We haven't seen CAE on our farm, but we pull all of our kids from their moms at birth before they've had a chance to suckle. This will minimize any chance of contraction of the CAE virus via milk. We heat treat our colostrum and pasteurize milk before feeding it to kids. While I can't say with 100% certainty, I doubt that the CAE virus would survive long off of the host.

My advice: make sure that your rented goats do NOT have any CL whatsoever. If they show any signs of lumps (search on the internet for a chart of common locations) send them back ASAP.

 

[bj taylor]

thank you sprocket. that gives me a lot to think about. straw hat, I look forward to any info you get a chance to share.