Dodgy CL results-- Advice?

[Taffy]

Oh, Phil & Nanno, I am sorry to hear the titer has doubled. I so hoped this test would come back in the normal range. My heart goes out to you two. Hugs.

[Charlie Horse]

Somehow I don't feel good about culling. Isn't there a Leper colony somewhere?

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

We can cure Lepers. CL, nada.

[Taffy]

There are things you can do if you have CL positive goats. Housing them in separate pens with a minimum of 10' between the pens from negative goats, making sure you go to the negative goat pen before you go to the positive goat pen and sanitizing boots/changing clothes before contact with negative goats. Never using feed pans/water bucket from positive goats for negative goats. Pulling kids at birth so they are never touched by the dam. It's not easy but it can be done.

[Nanno]

So I talked to the folks at Texas Vet Lab who make the goat vaccine and I understand now why this is not used much among dairy goats. The milk withdrawal is TWO MONTHS! Dang. It hasn't been tested on pregnant does enough yet to be recommended for them either, so basically vaccinating any of my girls is out unless I dry them off early before I breed them.

I still plan to vaccinate the boys and give them as much protection as possible--particularly the ones we are retaining. The longer they live here, the higher the risk that they will eventually become infected. I can vaccinate Delilah this year since she's open, but everyone else will just have to take their chances without it, and I'll probably start doing twice yearly tests on them to try to keep on top of this as much as possible.

[Nanno]

Today was a wretched day. We took Lilly to slaughter.

Phil and I decided to forgo the third CL test--at this point it just felt like delaying the inevitable. We decided not to wait and see if she became clinical. I knew I would spend all my time worrying and thinking, "What if I missed one?" or "What if she develops an abscess while we're out of town?" etc. We decided against the sale barn. I don't feel right passing our problems onto other people. We decided to go the butcher route. It doesn't feel good, but none of our other options did either. Since we decided to put her down, she must inevitably become food for someone. Better to be people food (or even dog food) than food for buzzards and coyotes and worms.

I've been told I won't be able to eat meat from a pet goat and right now I'm inclined to believe that, but I hope in time to get over it. I want to be responsible, and there is in fact something wholesome about knowing that Lilly's sacrifice is not going to waste. There's also something to be said for knowing where our meat came from and knowing that this animal was well cared for and had a free and happy life right up to the end.

Phil and I both spent a lot of time in tears today. Just because something is the right thing to do doesn't make it easy. I'm thankful that Lilly was not pregnant or lactating. She also has very "clean" meat since I haven't vaccinated since last year, and she hasn't had antibiotics ever, and she has not even needed to be wormed since last fall. If it had to be done, this was a good time to do it and a good goat to start with. I've been worried about her hurting one of my pregnant mamas or perhaps hurting or even stealing babies when they are born. She had developed quite a nasty streak over the last year, and I've been concerned about what might happen when everyone but her started having babies.

So anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know what we decided. I plan to vaccinate my boys in May and I'll keep ya'll posted on how that goes.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Thats a pretty stellar thing to do Nanno and Phil. I am sorry it turned out this way. I had to put my first two goats down myself. Never have I thanked God more then when it only took one bullet each time and there was no sign of life afterwards. Which with goats, can often happen. Time will make it easier to eat the meat. At some point, if like myself you maybe thankful that you can take a little bit of that goatie friend with you for the rest of your life

[Taffy]

My heart truly goes out to you. No words can express how hard this must have been. I'm glad you chose to have her slaughtered rather than take her to the sale barn. Hugs.

[Nanno]

Thanks for the support you guys. It was a very rough day, and it's going to be hard for me to pick up those packages of meat tomorrow too, but I believe we did the right thing. It's terrible having to put down a young and apparently healthy creature so full of life who was also a friend that trusted me.

Lilly has always been the "class clown" around here. All the goats come happily to their pens at night and walk dutifully through the gate--and then there was Lilly. She would stand near the gate but just out of reach, and when I would lean over to grab her collar she would bolt in the opposite direction and take off in a series of joyful leaps and bounds with her tail curled playfully over her back. She would run behind the house and then peep out at me from around a corner with a taunting, and delightfully mischievous "catch-me-if-you-can!" look on her face. Sometimes I'd end up making three circuits around the house in pursuit of the wicked, jolly little beast. It didn't help that she was by far the fastest goat in my herd, even after having babies. She's the only goat who could catch up to Daisy-dog and overrun her (which she sometimes did on purpose, the little terror!).

Besides "Silly Lilly," we also called her "The Ninja Goat" because of her crazy antics. She would run in an arc up the side of our house and I even saw her run straight up the wall and do back flips off it on occasion. Sometimes for no apparent reason at all she would start dancing and leaping backwards on her hind legs and then bolt off like someone had set a firecracker under her tail. She was always on the move and always at double-speed. I always said that if I were breeding race goats, Lilly would be my prize filly. For all the flaws in her conformation, she sure was an athletic little thing, and so full of the joy of life. And more than any goat here save Finn, Lilly LOVED people. We were her idols, and she never got too big to try and climb in my lap. She's going to be sorely missed.

[michael]

Responsible living is not always easy. I hate having to make these decisions. My respect and empathy go to you and Phil. Well done, though sad to hear you had to.