well I did it again

I added to this list of goats aquired from unfortunate circumstances. This is Patch.  She has a pretty messed up udder and her kids will likely have to be bottle fed.Her herdmate was obviousy suffering greatly from CAE, So this girl will be tested for that before being allowed into the main herd especially because she was an auction goat at one time. If she tests positive she will likely become sausage after having a few kids better than the fate of her former herdmate  who is in the process  of dying a slow painful death because her owner won't put her down.

Maybe Patch along with Bell (whose mother died in a commercial herd)Lucy (who was slowly starving to death because she wasn't getting enough milk) and Peggy ( as in peg leg:) who tore up the ligaments in her shoulder when young and will alway be gimpy and have special needs)can all form a support group for rescued goats!?

That's quite the goat rescue you have going on there!

How does one test for CAE?

Testing for CAE is pretty simple. Pull about 3 cc of blood and send it to a lab that test for it. It is only a few dollars. I use this lab http://www.biotracking.com/ they mostly do pregnancy testing (which I have used before) but can also test fo CAE.  This is the first  time I have felt it neccessary to test a goat for CAE. Her only herdmate was crippled from it and this doe has some seriously weird udder issues which may be associated with CAE but also could be due to the fact that she was used to raise an orphaned foal that could have damaged her udder. She was also went through an auction earlier in her life and her original owner is unkown. So all that puts up lots of red flags. She is a nice quality dairy goat and is worth jumping through some hoops to include her in my herd for a while.

my other goats all came from boer herds that  typically don't have CAE (its a dairy goat thing mostly due to older typical dairy goat managment practices) or  from reputable breeders that are aware of and take steps to prevent the diseases spread.

well I did it. I pulled blood all by my little lonesome with nobody holding the goat or anything! no biggy at all really. It is a little daunting at first but no one should be discouraged or feel like they have to pay for a vet call just to pull blood (or give and injection). Here is a little girl demonstrating. http://goatconnection.com/articles/publish/article_151.shtml