CAE Exposure?

[newbiekat]

Hi all, I have a friend who bought a doeling from us last year. She is currently 14 mo old. She wanted to breed her this year so she bought a buckling from another farm (also 14 mos old ). She tried and tried all breeding season long yet to get the two to breed, yet the doe kept coming back into heat. Well, I had a couple that needed bred so we made a deal to have her bring both back to our farm and I would watch for breeding at my place while hopefully having him breed my two girls.i didn't NEED them bred this year but if I could have gotten them bred for a late spring baby that would have been ok with me. If not, I wasn't too worried about it. Anyways, I witnessed breeding 3x for my friends doe and once on mine. So, a month goes by, and we sent in blood samples to Biopryn. All 3 came back negative. He ran with her doe all breeding season, came to our place for a month and nothing. We are thinking he's got fertility issues and she is debating on getting him tested or whatnot cuz at 14 mos old he should have no issues breeding 3. Well... when she sent in for the Biopryn she also sent in for CAE. Come to find out HE tested positive! All of my girls (including the one she bought from me) are negative. Now I'm freaking out. It was a stupid idea on my part to let him come over when she hadn't had him tested prior. I've read that there's a very small chance that it can be contracted thru breeding but... AHHH!! I'm going to have mine retested in the fall (like always), and so is my friend. She's also debating on what to do with him. But regardless... how long after exposure can they test positive?? and what do I do now??

 

[Hens and Roos]

Not sure, but maybe others will know;
@Southern by choice @Sweetened @Pearce Pastures @OneFineAcre

 

[Southern by choice]

Oh my... that stinks.
Hopefully all will be ok.
I am not sure about exposure times for CAE.
Glad none of the does settled.

As far as the buck... freezer meat. Infertile and CAE + to me that is a no brainer. She should contact where she got the buck from and let them know that he had infertility issues as well as CAE+.

I am a little more over the top on these things but I would test the girls in 60-90 days and 60-90d ays again after that.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

That is no fun at all. I would put him in the freezer also and would contact the seller to let them know. Not that they will do anything but they might.

While the virus is not known to be spread through semen, it is possible that during his run with the does, they might have been exposed to it in one of the other known channels of transmission. There is a chance that they are fine but I agree that testing and retesting should be done. I do not know how long after contracting it would show positive on a test though.

 

[Sweetened]

I would nut him in the least if he's a pet-type animal and put him in the freezer if not.

CAE is something people freak out about in North America. I have friends from Europe and CAE isn't something they worry about that much. It's one of those things that just come up -- some have immunity, others don't; like HIV, some live their lives with it without ever having an issue, others decline quickly. I will -NOT- cull for CAE, I will also not pasteurize the milk. Our herd is small enough that I don't make many sales, and those that I do, people are informed we are not CAE prevention on my farm, nor will I ever be. We are not a positive herd, but I don't test yearly either.

You can get false Positives as well as False Negatives. The test checks for antibodies; antibodies are produced upon exposure, and in my opinion, it's a feeble test for contraction of the disease. I know a couple people who have had animals tested that have always been negative, without explanation come up positive, as well as others who have done the exact opposite. A person I know on another forum tests yearly -- positive animals are put on one pasture, negative on another. Negative bucks are bred to negative does, and positive to positive does. He has shifted animals more than once from field to field due to positive and negative tests.

Get your girls tested, and then test again in 6 months and a year. Decisions like this happen, but that boy is blowing blanks!

 

[Southern by choice]

You can get false Positives as well as False Negatives

The incidence of this is extremely rare.
Often a doe that tested negative was simply within a certain range. The test depending on which one you are doing has an adhesion rate #.
It the cut off is below a certain range the animal is negative, if within a small range suspect, any thing over that would be positive.

A doe I was looking at had a high # but still within the "Negative" range. Her doeling at 9 months tested positive.
Needless to say I did not acquire the doe.

It is about the numbers.

Just because an animal is asymptomatic doesn't mean the offspring that are positive will also be asymptomatic.

To each his own..

 

[babsbag]

The thing about CAE is that IF it does start to show symptoms you can have it show in many different ways. Lameness and a rock hard udder = no milk is common and not really something you can look that other way at. What good is a dairy doe in particular if she can't raise her own kids and/or give you milk? And what good is any goat that can't walk.

Then you get a positive doe infecting their kids and end up with kids that might be dead before they are 6 months old from neurological problems.

Do I practice CAE prevention? Nope. Do I have a tested and closed herd (all new animals are tested) YES. !!!! Even my Boers are CAE/CL tested. I test every other year but I only test my foundation does, I do not test their offspring since I know where they came from.

I have never heard of a + animal becoming negative. The other way around, yes.

 

[Sweetened]

I am totally with you, babs, and at the point of symptom presentation, like a hard udder etc., thats cull time. But to me, if you end up with a CAE animal who lives a long, healthy life as a carrier but doesnt develop symptoms, thats a worthwhile venture, and one to keep kids from.

 

[babsbag]

@Sweetened, I can understand letting a doe lead a productive life with CAE if she can, or even just be a pet if the circumstances allow but I can't perpetuate this disease and knowingly let her have kids that aren't destined for the meat cycle. If you are saying that the kids may be asymptomatic because the dam is and therefor they should be kept and bred to perpetuate that gene I would agree whole heartedly IF someone can prove to me that that is the case. I am not willing to end up with a herd of CAE + animals or sell them to someone just on the off chance they may be genetically superior. They might be, something for some University or the USDA to study, I just don't want to be the lab "goat".

If the positive animals were not bred and sold perhaps (wishful thinking) CAE could be eradicated.

 

[Sweetened]

Me either, knowingly. There just needs to be people out there breeding for resistance and immunity, its the only way to combat the spread of the disease.

An infected doe can produce kids who both are and are not affected. This says something to me. I think its a worthwhile adventure for people looking for an alternative solution.