CL... what exactly is it?

I have read and read and read and all I can find is that it is a disease resulting in abscesses (if external) that if they rupture, it is extremely contagious to other goats... but what exactly is contagious? What happens to the goat? Why do most things I read say to cull the goat, but more specifically that the goat should be put down instead of spreading the CL to other farms?

There are about as many opinions on CL as they are people. Some say cull, some say you can live with it, but either way it is your choice. I would never buy a goat with CL because I choose not to deal with it.

If CL is external the pus is contagious. The thing is you have no way of knowing if it is internal or not. If it is internal and in the lungs it could also be spread by coughing or possibly even in the water. It just depends on where the abscesses are. Many goats live with CL and do fine and you might see an occasional abscess. Others get it internally and it can kill them

If it is a meat goat or sheep the carcass will be condemned at the slaughter house because of the abscesses and even if the entire carcass isn't condemned portions of it will be cut away and there is a substantial financial loss.

It is possible that the CL bacteria can be in the milk if an abscess is in the udder and it is a disease that people can contract, possibly through the milk.

It would just be morally wrong to take a CL + goat to auction and send it to another farm where the buyer has no idea that the goat has CL.

So what does it do to the goat then? Kill them, eventually? Why is everyone up in arms about it?

I still don't understand. You said the pus is contagious. I'm aware of that, but what does it DO to the goat? I'm still not getting that part...

Sorry if I sound mean, I'm not trying to. I'm really just trying to understand the disease, and kind of in a stressful spot because we are in a place where we may have to get rid of our herd if that's the case...

ETA: I've read about injecting formalin into the abscess and letting it die within the casing internally, and falling off as a non contagious scab, but I know a vet is needed due to the risk of potentially getting into the bloodstream or muscle and killing either the muscle or the goat.

A goat that has external abscesses will not die from CL; internal can kill them. If you have one or two goats and have no plans for more and don't care that you have to deal with it then keep it. If you want to show, sell, stud out your buck, send you doe out to be bred, drink raw milk, or have a clean herd in the future then keeping goats with CL becomes an impossible task.

I have read about the formalin injections and while it may work it doesn't stop another abscess from forming. I have also read that it is incredibly painful.

What does it do to the milk?

The CL bacteria can be in the milk if there is an abscess in the udder and if the milk is used raw it can infect the person drinking it, also the goat's kids when they nurse.

Thank you for your help @babsbag . We are going into the vet this afternoon to see what they say. They said most often you can pretty much tell by looking at the consistency of the goop that comes out, but they will still send it off to culture.

I didn't know that you were dealing with this firsthand, sorry to hear that. You can also tell by the location as they are usually on a lymph node. I have had a few tested that looked very suspicious but have always been negative. Hope that that is the results that you get.

Eventually titers will go up... then it most certainly ends up internal. When that happens yes it can kill the goat.

Even low titers can mean internal.
When lumps are external it doesn't mean the goat doesn't also have it internal.
The general thought is when titers get very high even with no or few external lumps the goat has internal.
UC Davis did a study years ago and 3% of the animals tested that had titers 1:16 already had internal CL.

So if people can get this disease from goats, what does it do to people?