What is G6S??

[HazyDay]

I seen this on Viki's website and don't know what it stands for

She is a G6S carrier so all bucklings will be tested before sale

Is that like CL or CAE disease or all deadly diease? Not to turn any one away from her goats! (I must say they are very good looking!!! )

[dezeeuwgoats]

G6S is a genetic thing - NOT a disease, NOT contagious. It is passed on by breeding and is a Nubian-specific genetic abnormality. Check out this link:

http://www.goatworld.com/articles/g6s.shtml

Seems to be a wide range of opinions on this - some cull it out completely, others won't sell carrier bucklings and feel that is sufficient. Yet another controversial goat issue!

You have three status - normal, carrier (one copy of a normal gene, one copy of the G6S gene), and affected (two copies of the G6S gene). Affected animals generally die. Carriers look fine, but can pass it on to their offspring. Breeding two carriers, the riskiest cross, produces both carriers and affected animals.

Niki

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

There are very well known bloodlines of Nubians, and I would bet that alot of purebred and cross boers that are G6S carriers. Think of it like this...if you were able to take blood and genetically test it for the gene for parrot mouth, you could then not breed carrier to carrier and do away with parrot mouth in your goats. For my herd I am dealing with G6S by not using carrier bucks, as I test my does (many of them have negative offspring tested in others herds) I will disclose their testing. I had planned on having everyone done by this year, but I lost my business partner in goats, my herd is larger than I hoped it would be, so testing is going to be of a few here and few there. I don't believe in putting up information like "my bucks are negative because they have no carrier or positive kids' so until testing is complete the website has the info on it that it does. I purchased Babbett already tested, so I disclosed this, for myself it would be unethical to not.

G6S has already turned into the old CAE game for many breeders. "No I don't test for it because we have no symptoms of it" Problem is that unless you test for ethier you don't know, because none of us keep every single kid born at our farms until they are old enough to show symptoms, and when sold and doing poorly at their new home, we blame it on the new persons poor managment. But like CAE and alot because of the internet G6S will become something all responsible breeders will deal with. Vicki

[HazyDay]

Thanks vicki! That clears it up 100% But now thats another thnig I should have done on my herd! Im at 5 does and 1 buck... But I have no job and school stops me from working so I have to do odd jobs just to make the feed bills and hay cost!

[susanne]

don't go crazy about it hazyday. this test is expensive and if you have only one buck, it is enough to have him tested to make sure your offspring will be healthy.
this is a genetic disorder in goats that show them self in undrifty kids, and death in early adult hood. i see it as a self limited disorder. it is not contagious and will not contaminate your soil for years to come. i certainly would not compare it with cae, cl, johne's, tb or brucellosis. most of those are zoonotic diseases and much more important to test for if you want to drink the milk raw, and/or handling your animals a lot.
no need to loose sleep over G6S.

http://www.goatworld.com/articles/g6s.shtml