CL sanitizing of pasture

[sgian]

In case my billy's test comes back positive for CL, I've been considering how to sanitize his pasture. Would burning the entire pasture and the goat shed be too radical? I figure the heat would kill anything in the soil and on the fences.

If the abscess hasn't ruptured by the time we get the results and if we do slaughter him, would any sanitation efforts be necessary?

[mygoat]

The problem with CL would be that it isn't only external abscesses. He could have one in his lungs or intestinal track and be coughing/pooing up the disease everywhere.

Build him a teeny tiny separate pen as far away from everyone else as you can. Build him a tarp house/lean-to out of whatever scrap wood or disposables you have laying around. yes, you'll have to feed him hay but at least the spread will be contained as much as possible.

I suggest burning the tiny area you have him on, then getting some dog kennel disinfectant and heavily wetting the area. Then, keep animals off of the area for several years. I'd never use it again, until about 12 years have came and gone.

Do his chores last, do not go in the pen with him, do not socialize with him. Use buckets, troughs and items that you would be OK with never using again. If you do have to handle him, wear gloves.

get that vet back out and have him remove that abscess whole! NOW before it busts open! Did the vet draw blood or send in a sample of the contents of the abscess?

Wear cheap shoes when doing his chores, and spray them down with bleach after you do them, everywhere on the outside - not just the soles. Reserve those shoes to his chores only; never wear them in another animal's pen. After you get the test results back, burn them.

And finally, test the entire herd once now, then again in a few weeks, then again in 6 months. This disease does have an incubation period so just because they test negative now doesn't mean they aren't simply early-infected. Then, every 6 months is reccomended.

Since you got yours at an auction I would also recommend testing for Johne's, which is a chronic wasting disease. CAE is also highly looked down upon but not so much in the boer world, though if you care about the goats/industry I suggest testing for it as well. (Three tests per goat is 15.00 at Pan American Vet Labs, pretty inexpensive. Also, learn to draw the blood yourself otherwise it'll cost you a pretty penny each time to have the vet out. all you need are 20ga 1" needles, 3cc syringes, RED TOP blood tubes, and then the items to ship it. )

Even if your buck comes back negative, retest him. There are false negatives/positives but even with the false positives/negatives the tests are invaluable tools to eliminating diseases - they just have to be handled properly. Personally, as soon as that suspicious abcess showed up I would've butchered IMMEDIATELY. It's perfect placement. Then, I'd have shut down my breeding operation and gone into test-mode.

[mygoat]

You can eat goats without internal abscesses. If the lungs/liver look like they have abscesses, throw away the entire carcass.

Dispose of it somewhere VERY FAR from where you plan on ever venturing, having livestock of any sort, etc, because it is zoonotic.

Also, you'll want to wear gloves because the disease is zoonotic. Be very careful in handling his carcass until you know of any internal diseases. Be sure to cook the meat well, and you should be fine.

[sgian]

I took Stinker to the vet, and the vet took both a blood sample and a sample from the abscess. The vet was not impressed when Stinker greeted him with a nice long ejaculation, LOL.

I feel really sorry for him because now he is all alone. He was running over whenever he saw me coming this afternoon and cried whenever I left. I've been giving him extra table scraps because I feel sorry for him.

I guess I should stop sharing my dip with him. He loves Copenhagen so much, and has probably been using it for a very long time since he recognized the can the first time I pulled some out.

I usually burn carcasses that I don't eat.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I was at a goat conference when a boer guy was talking about burning his pastures. It is done out here to kill offending weeds and give grass a good chance to take hold. Anyway he burns the fields to kill CL Bacteria and to also kill worms. It was the first time I had heard the Dr. Craig of Texas A&M speak (he was a paristologist) on this issue. Worm eggs and larve live under the smallest amount of soil and will not be killed by the flash burning of grass, it would have to be a soil sterilizing fire. Also CL is rarely in the soil, it is on limbs, and tree trunks and fence posts and the hay feeder, the grain feeder and barn walls, the fence where they rub. Pretty tough to disenfect your life. Vicki