Dairy Updates and Decisions

One day earlier this month our friend Bird dropped by to milk Miss Marcie, who was very obliging and cooperative.

Very soon our large dairy does may be traveling to C&M Valley Farm in Readyville, the place where Marcie was born and raised, for breeding. By next year we may switch to a meat-goat buck, but for now we'll focus on dairy. The C&M Valley genes are worth the drive, and now that our dairy does are at ease with road travel, why the trip should be a breeze. Or so I hope.

The sad news is that Miss Marcie, our in-house Dairy Queen, recently tested positive for CAE, or caprine arthritic encephalitis. The disease is highly contagious between doe and kid, and any kids that Marcie may have in the future must be pulled from her before she can even begin to lick them dry. Our veterinarian, Dr. Travis Whitlow DVM at Kinslow Veterinary Clinic, told me that arthritic symptoms do not usually appear until around age four. (Marcie is three, I think.)

For now we'll simply keep Marcie from doing what she does best: nursing kids. Our stores of frozen colostrum from Miss Marcie will get tossed (making more room in the freezer!), and she can no longer be our go-to nanny goat for orphaned or weakened kids. Dr. Whitlow and I did not discuss the chances of Marcie's simply carrying the disease versus developing full-blown symptoms. Denial is a form of self-preservation; I want a little time before considering the swollen, arthritic joints, lameness, and death that may be in Marcie's future as early as next year.

The breeder from whom I purchased Marcie was devastated to hear the news, and hoped that Marcie picked up the disease here rather than on her farm. Since her herd has been negative, I gather she hasn't tested all her goats in the past year or so. This means that I'll want to test our entire herd now, to see if any other animals have been infected, then segregate positive from negative does especially near birthing time, as the disease could be passed to other does through discharged mucous, placenta, or afterbirth. 

Graham, the Nigerian Dwarf kid orphaned at birth just prior to Easter this year grew up on Marcie's milk. He will be one of first to get tested; I don't know if bucks are usually tested or just does, but both Graham and the now-deceased Nubian kid Maguire benefited from the stores of Marcie's colostrum in their very first hours of life.

Ignorance was a much simpler state, but what has been learned cannot be unlearned. (Yes, much gets forgotten here, but even I will now know to test the herd annually.)