Did I make a mistake?

[username taken]

I'm sorry I didnt see this thread earlier but there is a lot of misinformation here and I wanted to give you some advice.

If you are only looking for pets, home milkers etc. and do not want to show your goats, if you really like these two girls and they are priced right, then there is no reason not to buy them.

CAE is not the end of the world. It is a very manageable disease to eliminate from the herd - by way of 'catching' kids and bottle feeding them on pasturised mum's milk, replacer or milk from a -ve doe. For all practical purposes, CAE IS TRANSMITTED BY MILK ONLY. Yes, there is a VERY SMALL CHANCE of transmission by other bodily fluids, but in practice it is so small it is nothing to worry about.

Now the thing is - CAE positive goats can lead a normal, healthy life. Oftentimes the disease doesnt kick in until they are aged - around 10 yrs old. In other words, when the goat is reaching the end stages of the life span in any case. Very rare for a young goat <8 yrs old to be seriously afflicted. CAE positive goats are certainly fine for pets and family milkers. What this means, is that you can even leave kids from positive does on them - yes the kids will contract the disease but as I have said they can lead normal lives with the disease for the majority of their life.

If you want to show, then you dont want CAE +ve goats, but for simply pets and home milkers, CAE +ve does are fine and can often be bought very cheap. And even in show herds that contract CAE, its a very easy disease to eliminate.

 

[Chirpy]

Although username taken has very good points. I am also one of those that does not want a CAE goat on my property. The biggest reason for me is that so many other people (at least around here) wouldn't ever buy a goat from a farm that has ever had a CAE positive goat on the premises. So - future sales of any kids (you need to have kids to continue milking) could be difficult when people find out you have a CAE positive herd/partial herd.

If you were me.... I wouldn't knowingly start off with goats having any issues. But, others do and are happy with their decision.

 

[chandasue]

Well, I was uneasy about the deal and I'm glad others agree that it's not a good way to start out. Why take the risk? If I decide to show and sell kids down the road I won't be shooting myself in the foot by going through several years of culling and costly testing to eliminate a disease that I could have avoided in the first place.

 

[cmjust0]

I wouldn't necessarily want to start a herd with a known CAE+ goat, but if I found that one of mine had CAE...I wouldn't cull it.

CL, yes, I'd cull...but CAE, nah.

It's funny how so many folks talk about how easy it is to spread, yet here you are looking at buying two goats housed together...one positive, one negative.

Bear in mind, too, that the most routine test for CAE isn't terribly reliable in the first place.

But, again...I definitely wouldn't start a herd with a known CAE goat if I could help it.