Hard day,last day.

Not a hard day at work. Just that today is/was the day to put down Maggie and Sage. The hard part started last night.

It was the last time that I will come home in the dark to them and hear them calling for me letting me know that it's been hours, over 1000 hours since they have been feed last, and hurry up woman, give us grain NOW!

This morning, while I was in the kitchen getting my lunch ready, they were calling me. The morning call is different as they can tell I'm in the house. It's more of a "hurry up grain lady with the bad morning hair and feed us, it's been 10 hours since we had grain, we are starving!"

While milking Maggie this morning I started crying. I felt like such a traitor, here I am milking her, giving her treats knowing that she doesn't have much longer. Maggie was the first goat that I ever really milked, and it was Maggie's first time to be milked. We both learned a lot. It went from dreading to milking her to laying my head against her flank and listening to her while milking. I would try and warm my hand up as she did not like icy cold hands on her teats. Not that I can blame her!

Even though I know it's the right thing to do, it doesn't make it any easier.

Now I'm sad.

I got the test back for Maggie ( The other goat) and looks like she is also positive for Johne's. She has been losing weight but I was hoping that it was cause I have been cutting back on the grain as I'm drying her up.

What this means is that I will have to put her down and I will also put down Sage, the baby goat that is almost five months old. Sage had a 25% chance of having it due to her mom Juju having it, now with Maggie testing positive it's up in the 90% range that she also has it, just that she is to young to test. Sage is also to young to shed (it's not in the poop yet) Johne's

I won't have goats this winter and maybe not till spring of 2012. The ground will need to sit for one year. I could probably get goats in the fall time, but why mess with goats in the winter? I will just wait until spring. This way the ground will have plenty of time to do it's thing.

I still have plenty of milk set aside for soap making and if I need more next summer I know other people that have milk goats.

I will not be getting my goats from the same person that I got these ones from. I think that she has an epidemic on her land and that she is burying her head in the sand and not addressing it. (IMHO)

While I am sad by this news, I was prepared for it to be bad so I'm not surprised by it.

More goat talk.

I slept pretty good last night,other then Abby getting off the bed and wanting back on, but she needs help to get back on, she barks to let me know she needs up,up,up on the bed.


I made some decisions.


Wait till Maggie's test get back. (Six weeks) If it's positive then put her down, and also put down Sage, the kid. I can't test the kid, but right now she has 25% chance of having Johne's in utero and then she nursed on Juju,which heightened the risk as Juju could have had infected fecal matter on her teats.


While I'm waiting, find out how much a soil test cost. If it's in my price range get the current pasture tested and see just what level on infection I have there.


If the test for Maggie comes back negative, and the pasture test is negative, keep everybody on the current pasture. It will be winter soon, with a snow cover and the goats wont be nibbling on grass/weeds that may have Johne's. Also be very aggressive in keeping the goat pen, where they sleep, clean. I will NOT do a deep bedding like I did last year.



If goats are negative but land is positive build a small pasture on some land that the goats never really hung out on. Build a small,weather tight shelter and the goats will do fine over the winter.

Then test again next year. I might have to buy milk for soap making. I bought enough to make a lot of soap so maybe I wont have to, but I would rather sell lots of soap and need more then sit on milk.

Now about the two kids over at my friends house. I only ever wanted two does. I never had a desire to have a goat herd. One of the kids is a castrated male. I'm not going to take them back. My friends are going to put them down over there and take care of it for me. These kids where always going to be pets/weed eaters, not dairy goats. They have cows and can't risk the chance of Johne's. They are really good friends. It is a weight off me as it's two less goats that I have to decide about.

Also, don't be upset with the goat lady. I got my goats from her last year, yes, Juju had Johne's there and brought it over here, but the goat lady did not know that she had a infected herd. She just found out this year when she had one that lost weight and had it tested. Maybe she should have kept a closed herd? Who's to say, she needs to run her goats the way that works best for her. I will need to take care of my goats that is the best way for me. She did not purposely do this. Yes, I was mad with her at the first, but unfairly, I was upset and wanted to blame somebody. There is no blame. It just happened.

To end on a good note. Sold 17 bars of soap and had a lot of repeat people. They liked my soap and wanted to try other scents and also to give as gifts. That was nice, I needed that little perk.

Again with the goats.

Because I'm dealing with such a serious goat issue this is what I think about, talk about, and blog about. Hopefully somebody might read this an learn and not have to go through what I am having too.

I spoke with the State of Wisconsin Agriculture Disease Control Program.

Plan A.

Test the soil on a different place on my land (We will call this new pasture "A" ) if that test comes back negative build a new pasture and housing. (I let the goat free range so they might have infected all over my place) Let the old pasture and housing sit for one year. (Old pasture will be called "B")

While the the goats are on the pasture "A" test Maggie for Johne's. The three kids are too young to test. (The bacteria wont show on a test even if they have it. The state says that they need to be 18 months old for the test.) If Maggie is positive, cull her. If negative, let them all stay on pasture "A" for one year.

After a year, test soil on pasture "B". Test all the goats (The kids will be 18 months old by then)
If all negative, move them to pasture "B". If any goat test positive, cull that goat.

After another year goes by, test pasture "A". If soil test negative and goats also test negative
move the goats back to pasture "A". If goats test positive, cull that goat. I also should have pasture "C" ready just in case a soil sample comes back negative.

Let pasture "B" rest for a year. Test the soil, test the goats. If all negative, move them on pasture "B" and you are considered Johne's free after three years of negative testing.

During those three years, do not breed the goats. Do not let the goats off my land. Do not let any ruminate type animal on my land.

If at any time a goat test positive, you have to cull that goat and start a three year count again.

This is three years of testing and spending money. I got the goats so that I would have goat milk for soap making. I would need to buy my milk for three years. When it comes right down to it. I don't have the money or resources to do the three year plan. But, at the same time. It is really hard to make the decision to put down goats that may not have Johne's and that act and look with robust health. Beside, yes, I have made my goats my pets. I have great affection for them. I don't want to put them down.

Johne's is bad bad bad. Many goat owners have goats that have just wasted away and it gets blamed on a really bad case of worms when in fact it could have been Johne's. All the other goats that were exposed to it might have it and not show any signs of it for two years.. They get sold and expose the new herd to it.

Some ways to prevent it. Don't buy goats from animal auctions, animals swaps or anything like that.
Only get goats from a goat herd that is aware and has tested and is Johne's free and keeps a closed herd. Closed herd means that they do not let any new animal come onto their land without knowing 100% sure that they are Johne's free and also keep that goat in quarantine while they run a fecal test that takes six weeks. They keep their own bucks for breeding or they AI the does.

Plan B. Put all the goats down now and wait for a year and test the soil. If negative, get goats that have been tested and are free of Johne's and keep a closed herd from that point on.

When I talk to my friend Kellie I get all teary and then she gets teary. At times like this I wish I had a husband and just let him make the call and I take no part of it! It is very hard to make a decision.

Plan C. Put all the goats down, next year sell my place and rent a house in town for cheap, buy goat milk,make soap and keep my part time job at the library and still go to school part time. And not ever have to worry about Johne's again.

Juju update

It's not good news. I just got off the phone with the Vet. The blood test came back positive for Johnes. There is no cure. What happens is that there is a bacteria in gut and the goat is unable to get nutrients from the food. It also cause the appetite to diminish. Long story short, they starve to death.

The vet did tell me that the goat lady has had a positive case of Johnes with her herd, and that Juju came to me with it and with the stress of pregnancy, the bacteria was able to thrive and grow.

I made arrangements to have Juju put down on Monday. The vet will come and do that and then also take her away. I could bury her here on my land but I don't think that I can dig a hole big enough nor deep enough.

I will also now test Maggie to see if she has it. This will be a stool test. They will grow it out and also do a DNA bacteria test. If she comes back positive then I will have to put her down. If it comes back negative then I will re-test her next year. And not breed her.

The three kids. They are too young to test at this time. The bacteria needs time to do it's thing. Good news, they can't "shed" the bacteria until they at at 11 months of age. I will get the two back from my friend Kellie and come spring I will test them to see if they have it. The one kid, Basil (Root beer is his new name) and Sage have 25% chance of having caught it in utero.

The other option is to put all of them down (Maggie and the kids) without testing and let the land sit for one year as it takes that long for the bacteria to go through it's cycle.

Right now I'm very sad and discouraged. I know it's not this way but I feel that I am having really bad luck with animals. I had to put my cat down a few months ago and now my goat. And maybe more of my goats.

Juju update

One of the three blood test came back. It came back negative. This was the test for CAEV. Which stands for Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis virus. Still waiting for two more test results to come back.

No change in Juju. She does seem to be eating better, but then sometimes she shows no interest in food after a few bites. She always like to eat fresh browse. But I think that she (all of us) is getting tired of the high heat and humidity. We all want to just sit still and not move.

I got the results via the mail so tomorrow I will call up the vet and talk to him about Juju, maybe I should do a Nurti Drench on her? Maybe that would pick up her appetite?

I sill have not seen her poop! Pee, yes, poop no! I think she knows that I'm watching her and is being "shy" on purpose!

Also, looks like my sister will be here tomorrow morning! Flights are looking good right now. She ended up going to Fairbanks to get a flight to the Twin Cities. Those flight have more seats available.
If I don't hear from her by 2am (My time) I will pick her up at 6.15am at the airport.

I better go put the critters to bed, we are starting to have some big boom booms and lighting, gonna rain soon.

Worries, part two

The vet came out today to check out Juju, my very thin goat that I'm worried about. He agrees that she is too thin.

He gave her the going over. Clear lungs, eyes look good, temp is normal. He listened to her rumen (Gut) and said that it sounds good, normal sounds. He then looked in her mouth, looks good, no sores, teeth look good.

He agreed that it was odd that she was so thin and Maggie is a tad bit over weight. Juju got a broad spectrum de-wormer and also she got a antibiotics shot, that I will have to follow up with two more of them. (Friday and Sunday)

Juju then peed on the garage floor so we got a urine sample and I ran that into the vets office. No diabetes, and no bladder infection. He also drew blood and that will be sent in. He's going to test for
Johne's (Yoh-nees) disease. If that comes back negative then we will re-test her again in a few weeks. He says that false negatives are common. The test only cost 25 bucks. Diarrhea and weight loss are the two signs of this disease, Juju has not have any diarrhea at all. He doesn't think that she has it but he wants to rule it out. Most likely Juju has a bad case of worms and with nursing she became stressed (First time mom and all) and that lowered her resistance to worms and now the worms are keeping her from nutrients.

Some of the reason why he thinks that it is NOT Johne's is that there have not been animals on this land for a long time, if ever. The goat lady that I got Juju and Maggie from has not had a case of Johne's and I have the goats on a bunch of land so that there is no over-crowding.

I talked to the feed store. The grain mix that I get from them does not have copper in it. So maybe Juju is lacking some of that. But then why is Maggie overweight? She eats the same as Juju does. But I went ahead and got 50lbs mineral supplement that is made for ruminants (But not sheep, sheep can't have copper)

I am really hoping that it in not Johne's disease. There is no cure. It's kind of like Crohne's in people.

Update on my sister. She did not make the flight, they are trying again tonight. If they miss that then they will visit me some other time.

Worries.

I will try and get a picture to show you what I'm talking about. I am worried about my goat Juju. She is the one that had the two babies, she nursed one and I fed the other one. What I'm worried about is that I feel that she is to skinny. She eats her grain, but she does not eat it like Maggie does (Maggie scarfs her grain) and after about three minutes or so she stops eating grain. She eats lots of browse and hay. I have free choice alfalfa hay and also sweet grass hay available at all times.

I am trying to catch her in the act so I can take a stool sample in to see if she is loaded with worms. The grain that I feed them is a mix that the goat lady gave the feed store. It has minerals and all that stuff that goats need. But I wonder if I need to give the minerals as a free choice also? The minerals I'm talking about is mostly copper.

Juju did have a very dry coat but I noticed that it is going away. The baby still nurses, not a lot, but I do catch her doing it. When she tries, Juju will let her feed for about 10 seconds and then pulls away.
Some of my worry might be that Juju was a chubby goat when I got her and I'm not used to her being thin. The goat lady said that the girls would drop weight if the kids nursed. Maggie did not feed her babies, and she is now plump, where she used to be thin.

I will wait and see what the poop report is before I make any changes.

Oh, it's not like she dropped weight fast. Just that after she had the kids she was then thin and has stayed thin. I wonder if the heat that we have been having is causing her some stress? They have plenty of cool fresh water to drink.