Just a reminder.... CAE, auction purchases, etc.

Alice In TX/MO · #1 06/04/12, 08:41 AM

I just found out that a horse trader I know in the area who has been dabbling in goats and selling milk finally tested her herd. Yup, mostly CAE positive, as she got most of them at the sale barn.

What did she do with the positive ones??

Took them to the sale. NOT the butcher sale which is just down the road, but the auction where some poor unsuspecting newbie goat person will be plagued with problems.

Really really disappointing.

I won't be buying a horse from her, for sure, either. Never have been to her place, thank goodness, so I don't have to worry about contamination/bio-security.

Good grief. PLEASE buy from reputable people who TEST their goats.

End of soap box rant.

Goldenfarm · #2 06/04/12, 09:29 AM

As a newbie, this is why I over research everything! I am afraid to be that buyer!! Thanks for sharing, it is a good reminder!

CJBegins · #3 06/04/12, 09:58 AM

Alice, as a fellow Missourian, I would appreciate a pm to let me know who this horse trader is.
Thanks
Carla

Backfourty,MI. · #4 06/04/12, 11:38 AM

The goats we have now I have never had tested but they are healthy, no abcess ever, no hard udders, swollen joints, etc. healthy goats & I try to make sure when ever I have bought a goat in the past that the folks sound like they know what their doing anyways.

I would not have any problem having any of my goats tested though if someone wanted me to before selling them because I know they have been healthy. Never bought from a sale barn either though, thank goodness.

That's rotten though Alice that this lady is knowingly selling CAE positive goats & not being truthful. How do some folks sleep at night I wonder? I'd never forgive myself doing something like that!

Creamers · #5 06/04/12, 12:14 PM

Many CAE positive animals do not show symptoms for many, many years - and all the while, they are producing positive kids. . .Ek! Scary stuff.

mekasmom · #6 06/05/12, 07:19 AM

I doubt that anyone around here with "hobby" goats actually even tests them. Once in a while you will hear some of the show breeders talking about testing, but I really don't know anyone else who tests regularly.

BarbadosSheep · #7 06/05/12, 07:44 AM

I can't really fault her too much for selling them at the sale barn. It's what everyone does. If she sold them off of her farm and represented them as healthy I would have a BIG problem with that. Sale barns are probably the WORST place in the world to buy anything. That's where people take animals they don't want to stand behind, the ones they don't want associated with their farm. People go there to get bargain animals and that's exactly what they get....cheap. Buyer beware. I bet if you tested all of the animals at a sale barn, you would find that a huge percentage are sick with something. The vast majority of goat buyers do not test for CAE and probably never even heard of it so they don't worry about it. They bring home goats from the sale, hit them with a good dewormer and put it with their herd.

Alice In TX/MO · #8 06/05/12, 01:27 PM

This is going to be one of my blunt posts.

I *do* fault her for selling them at auction. Honorable people don't sell sick animals to unsuspecting customers.

I recently tested a friend's herd for the first time. There was one CAE positive doe. We butchered her. That's what honest, responsible goat owners do. We don't pass our mistakes on to others.

luvzmybabz · #9 06/05/12, 05:30 PM

I know of a breeder here that supposeiedly had tested then closed her herd and no longer tested. So she pooled her milk and fed her bottle babies. She sold 3 does to someone that took her at face value bred the goat and let the does dam raise. I wanted to purchase a doeling the purchase was based on testing but I went ahead and brough the doeling home and quarntined her feed her Vit D milk frorm store. When I picked up doeling and pulled blood from doeling and from dam of doeling. Both were + I had agreeed to pay for testing so put it on my account I felt so so bad to call her and tell her they were +. So returned the doeling and while I was there she called breeder of does first it was me feeding the doeling + milk until she was told the dam was + then it was the buck. So I went ahead and pulled blood on the rest of her goats only the goats purchased from this one breeder and their offspring were +. I know that the woman returned these does to breeder and just recently saw where she sold the does again and these does offspring are being sold. I fought with my conscience about calling and asking why you are selling obnviously + offspring considering the pictures showed them nursing. I have involved in a similair situation where I know milk was pooled and they sold offspring as - while there was a + goat om premises they never called people that purchased offspring to let them know as I was aquaintence with one.

The list of people that I would buy from grows shorter every year. When a newbie I had 4 + 3 does and 1 buck got 2 years of offspring hours and hours spent in barn catching babies $$$ on Vit D milk. Sent adults to butcher auction I test their offspring continually 3 years and still good. Have since added other tested goats that are retested before becoming part of my herd.

LoneStrChic23 · #10 06/05/12, 06:10 PM

Such a shame. This is why I ask to see test on purchases, I don't buy the "We tested a few years ago then closed the herd" spiel......"Closed herd" means nothing to me, don't care who you are..... And when I bring them home, I test them myself. Before a grown animal is sold, it gets tested and leaves with a copy of current test, and kids go with a copy of my herds test & are raised on prevention.

I can't control what is fed to my babies or what my animals are exposed to after they leave here, but I dang sure cover my butt & make sure I have documented proof that my herd is CAE free... I'll not have the carelessness of another laid at my doorstep....

I understand the mentality of the sale barn, but I couldn't sleep at night knowing I put a positive animal out there to be bought and infect other goats. The responsible thing to do is butcher it and be done with it.

How many kids can one positive doe infect? Especially in a milk selling/bottle raising situation? What about the generations after that? The whole idea of sweeping it under the rug (sale barn) so it's not your problem anymore is so careless, and it's why the disease is so prevalent... If more people tested, prevention raised kids & culled (not resold) positive stock, CAE could be a thing of the past....

But to many it's "no big deal", or not their problem and so it will likely always be a problem...

Cliff · #11 06/05/12, 06:13 PM

That's why I say never never buy any animal at the auction barn. That's where all the sick animals go. Especially Johne's positive cows - which exposes many many animals to Johne's. Most people these days are not about to butcher an animal, and they don't want to lose their investment, so off to the sale it goes. People these days only care about themselves. This is why I think Johne's testing and disposal of positive animals should be regulated.

julieq · #12 06/05/12, 08:34 PM

We've stayed with just a few breeders over the years, who test consistently and whom we trust. DH wouldn't even let a new neighbor, who breeds boer goats, around our goats until he found out that he had a negative herd. We run the risk of offending people constantly, but it's paid off over all these years having a clean herd.