:help A friend acquired a lovely Nubian doe that's preggers and is due at the end of the month. When we ran CAE tests on her hey came back positive.. I don't have any colostrum in my freezer to give her and she is very worried. If the doe has bucklings, she will let them nurse (or bottle the the does milk) but she wants to raise the doelings right.. Any ideas on what she can do? does that "artificial" colostrum have any merit? She's really a sweet lady who's trying to learn everything she can (obviously the hard way) Any suggestions on what she can do?? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
See if Theresa or Jane have any extra colostrumor even Agape goats who is closer to you. I don't have any at all I keep a bag of cow colostrum on hand just in case but have never had to use it. so have no clue how it works.
And whoever you get it from heat treat it yourself. Make sure she super glues the teat orifice closed and then teat tapes. Yes you really have to pick at it to get the super glue off, but it works. Teat tape on it's own will come off. Nothing is worse than coming out to licked off kids and there all 3 doelings! If she is going to let the bucklings nurse than have her castrate them at birth so she doesn't loose her nerve not to sell them when they are ohh soo cute! Keep the doe in quaranteen until she is no longer draining lochia, although this is dead blood it still has live cells from the uterus in it. If she allows other kids to nurse this doe should be treated like the piriah she is, in fact I think in a herd where you do allow kids to nurse there is no CAE prevention going on, kids nurse from other does. Vicki
If you cannot find any goat colostrum near you, I have successfully raised kids on cow colostrum. It is another alternative. There again, you must be sure its from healthy cows. I wouldn't buy it from a commercial dairy!
Stacy, I do have some colostrum here. This will be out of my FF Nubians and not the best quality, but these does were vaccinated before kidding, they've been tested twice this year through WSU (neg) and colostrum tested through PAVL (neg). It has not been heat-treated yet. Just PM me if you're interested.
Thanks guys (gals)!! Yes, this lady is quite the realist and doesn't live too far, so I will be banding her boys. She already has a hispanic family that is interested and has promised to sell.. she knows what cuties they can be! Ok, super glue & teat tape.. and yes, KJFarm, she is interested.. thanks.. We've talked about milking thru, so she can have it year-round and not have to deal with kids.. I think she's going to give it a try.. she only has one other doe, but it's not due till April. (CAE-neg thank goodness!)
Oh great am I in a panic I don't think I have any more colustrum in my freezer!! eek! well hopefully I wont Need any, and I'll get tons with the first kidding.
CAE animals should live separate from other negative animals. I prefer them dead. Back in the 70's we didn't even know what this dreaded disease was. When I returned to the dairy goat world in the late 80's -people were advised to pastuerize their milk and feed it to the kids thus breaking the cycle of the disease. I learned about CAE too late and it got started in my herd. Through testing by WSU and pastuerizing the milk I eliminated the disease. Every goat that tested positive was butchered - even expensive goats that I had purchased. I have maintained a CAE free herd ever since then and have not had a positive doe in the herd for 15 years now. I did purchase a doe and her test came back CAE positive. However, she had been kept in a separate pen in complete isolation with no contact with another animal - not even a common fence so was never part of the herd. She was a bred doe and I pulled her kids at birth. She did not even get to smell the kids and they were removed without touching the ground. As soon as the kids were born, she was put down. In my opinion a CAE doe should not even be milked. Although pastuerization kills the virus, there is always the chance that the pastuerizer did not heat the milk at the proper temperature or that someone forgets or mixes the milk or she leaks milk or bleeds and contaminates her herdmate.
I agree with you, Tim. We butcher any animal that tests positive, we have only purchased animals that have tested positive but they died here, that has only been two. I believe if you sell a (+) doe at the sale barn you are not helping only continuing this vicious cycle.
