Need info on Johnes disease! Very worried.

[cutechick2010]

I kept a dairy cow here for about a month while her owner was having surgery. While she was here, she began having severe diarrhea that refused to clear up. Her owner was able to pick her up and took her to his vet for testing. The cow (Julie) tested positive for Johnes disease. I don't know what test was used. The owner had found one cow with Johnes in his herd a few years ago and had the herd tested, however Julie was then a very young calf and apparently got left out of the testing at that time. None of the others showed up positive at that time, so he believed that he had gotten rid of it by culling the affected cow.

While she was here, knowing his herd had been tested, I kept Julie penned in the same dry lot with my goats. I have three goats, the youngest of which is about a year old. Of course they didn't nurse off of or drink any milk from the cow, but I am sure they have done things like spill grain out of the feeder and eaten it off the ground. My fear is the possibility of my goats having contracted this disease from the cow. I have been reading up on it, but I can't seem to find out what the likelyhood of my goats getting Johnes in this way are. If anyone has any experience with this or knows more about this disease than I do, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

 

[Southern by choice]

look here... http://www.johnes.org/ click on Frequently Asked Questions on the side bar.

 

[Godsgrl]

look here... http://www.johnes.org/ click on Frequently Asked Questions on the side bar.

A very interesting link, thank you

 

[20kidsonhill]

Were you able to move your goats to another lot on your farm? I would think the less time exposed the better. I understand johne's is very hit and miss as far as infecting animals. I am sure it is very stressful.

 

[cutechick2010]

Were you able to move your goats to another lot on your farm? I would think the less time exposed the better. I understand johne's is very hit and miss as far as infecting animals. I am sure it is very stressful.

Unfortunately I can't move them. Their dry lot is connected to the only building they have for shelter, and I can't move the building. I talked to my vet today, she feels that my goats are old enough there should be little risk of them contracting it. I was planning on buying a buck kid in the next couple of months, I will probably have to cancel or at least delay doing that now. I don't want to risk bringing a young kid here if the soil is still contaminated.