CAE Negative!

[Nanno]

Thanks for all the info, Dave. I know the risks of CAE infection to kids from raw milk. I also appreciate the concern of the lady I met at the fair. The question came up because there was also concern from some of the Europeans there that our mass feeding of kids from a common milk supply is actually spreading the disease more than if we were dam raising because of improperly treated milk. All it takes is one slip-up. It seems I've heard this nightmare happen from several people who have kept CAE+ does. They thought that because they were pasteurizing, the kids were safe. But I've heard several people come away from that with an entire batch of CAE+ kids because of a pasteurizer going bad, or they accidentally didn't heat the milk long enough, had a miscommunication with the hired help, etc. It makes me wonder how many have done this and haven't even caught it.

The lady getting after me was one I wouldn't trust to do her CAE prevention correctly because she looked like she was pulled in too many directions to be conscientious, and she hires high schoolers to help with her chores. Someone like that who is feeding dozens of kids, if they have a single mistake it's going to infect a LOT of baby goats and a lady that distracted would never even know it. She'd go along thinking she'd done the goat world a favor by doing CAE prevention when in fact she could be letting all kinds of infected goats out into the world. I'm not saying she's ever had this happen, but it just kind of struck me as we were talking that the CAE+ does in her herd pose a pretty big risk in the event of some human error in milk handling.