Chat
11-05-2014, 11:07 AM
You will not for sure give any babies CAE by damn raising. But I like the fear the lady has because if someone doesnt appreciate CAE and what it takes to deal with it, they wont do the extra steps to prevent it. CAE does have a 6-12 month gestation period thats why its best to test twice a year. Actually thats kinda false. Its more that the teeter level takes time to rise high enough to be detected but close enough.
Is the risk higher if you dam raise? Yes, but thats only if you are placing your animals at risk of getting it from other infected goats. This is assuming that you have tested a few times and know for sure you are clean. CAE is a blood born retro virus and doesnt live to long outside the body. Minutes at most. So contact needs to be with fresh body fluids. Blood and milk being the most likely. A couple of goats fighting, drawing blood or a kid nursing. The think with kids, they will snitch drinks off just about any udder that stops in front of them. If only for a suck or two. But thats enough for them to catch it. This is why its a must to separate positive animals from negative animals. Using the same needles to give vaccines is another way CAE can be transmitted.
We tested for 5 years, twice a year before we started to trust enough to feed raw milk. And this was after the 10 years we spent at the other farm working to eradicate CAE and CL from that farm. And we are a closed herd with no outside contact of any kind cept from new bucks that we only purchase from top known breeders. So the easiest way to think about it is, if you put your adult animals at risk by letting them hang out with possible positive goats, then you are putting your babies at risk by feeding raw milk.
Is the risk higher if you dam raise? Yes, but thats only if you are placing your animals at risk of getting it from other infected goats. This is assuming that you have tested a few times and know for sure you are clean. CAE is a blood born retro virus and doesnt live to long outside the body. Minutes at most. So contact needs to be with fresh body fluids. Blood and milk being the most likely. A couple of goats fighting, drawing blood or a kid nursing. The think with kids, they will snitch drinks off just about any udder that stops in front of them. If only for a suck or two. But thats enough for them to catch it. This is why its a must to separate positive animals from negative animals. Using the same needles to give vaccines is another way CAE can be transmitted.
We tested for 5 years, twice a year before we started to trust enough to feed raw milk. And this was after the 10 years we spent at the other farm working to eradicate CAE and CL from that farm. And we are a closed herd with no outside contact of any kind cept from new bucks that we only purchase from top known breeders. So the easiest way to think about it is, if you put your adult animals at risk by letting them hang out with possible positive goats, then you are putting your babies at risk by feeding raw milk.