Guest guest Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm sure there are lurkers here who are great experts on this topic, but here's what little bit I know. CAE is a disease of the auto immune system in goats, and works something like AIDS in humans. Goats can't give CAE to humans, by the way. I don't know where it came from, but when I first got into goats in the early '80s, there were a lot of goats with it, including all of mine. Of course, I didn't really know what it was, and there was pitifully little research. People I knew just treated their goats for the symptoms and mourned the early deaths. Eventually, we will find out that CAE is linked to something like mineral imbalance, I'll bet. Until then, we test and cull, or not, depending on your perspective. Feeding heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk to the kids stops the transmission of CAE, and for all the hard work, it's worth it. There is a lot more to it than I've said here, but the worst symptoms are something you don't want in your herd: 1)Rock-hard udders at freshening (you ever see a real CAE udder you'll never forget it; it is NOT just edema) with very little production once it finally eases up. 2) Swelled knees and hocks with the worst being horribly crippled and contorted at a young age. 3) Wasting and unthriftiness no matter what good care they get. 4) Encephalitis of the brain in kids and young stock. Once you've seen these things, pasteurizing the milk for the kids seems an easy thing to do, though I still resist the notion of it just like the rest of you raw milk guzzlers. In recent years, I've seen a lot of animals that were testing positive but had no symptoms and lived to a ripe old age in good health. I don't know what to make of this, but I'm glad of it. Some of you experts out there need to pipe up and explain. OakMoon Farm Bakersville, NC " It is difficult to imagine any acceptable basis for the (USDA) to subject the owner of a chicken to more intrusive surveillance than the owner of a gun. " Zanoni. No Mandatory National Animal Identification System! ________________________________________ PeoplePC Online A better way to Internet http://www.peoplepc.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 From what I understand the test is for antibodies not the actual virus. This could explain the positive animals never showing symtoms. I would think that it could mean that the animal has been exposed but has fought off the infection. Debbie Chikousky Manitoba, Canada gdchik@... http://www.winnipegbeach.com/chikouskyfarms/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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