I’m going to be really transparent here: When I named this blog, THIS type of interaction is the one that ticked me off the most. It’s also the one that fascinates me the most, and I have every intention of doing an educational deep dive on the topic. But not today.
I sold a doe to a small breeder in another state a while back. They had her for a while, but in the long run she wasn’t a good fit. They told me, I offered to take her back, and they offered to breed her to their really well-bred buck before she was returned. I agreed.
The buck was CAE-positive. The small breeder was upfront with me about it. I’ve owned dairy goats since the late 1980s. I was aware of CAE and CAE prevention protocols when they were in their infancy. I wasn’t worried.
I got worried, though, when the doe injured a leg and came up lame; I’m human, and I assumed the worst. (I was vindicated later, as was the small breeder, but that doesn’t make the short-term panic easier to digest.)
This is sort of that “Do we vaccinate our baby or not?” argument. My unvaxxed human child is much healthier than my vaxxed human child, but the panic I felt every time the unvaxxed kid got a fever growing up was unparalleled. (Well, until the vaxxed one was diagnosed with cancer. But that’s a story for another day. Spoiler: She didn’t have cancer.)
(You: “How is that the same?!” Me: I took a known risk because I didn’t think it was a *big* risk, based on a lifetime of goat ownership and everything I knew about the topic. It worked out for me. YMMV.)
I tested the doe before she kidded. Negative. I tested her a year later. Negative. I tested her two years out. Negative. I tested her kids at a year of age. Negative. I tested them again at two, prior to kidding. Negative.
So where does the mansplaining come in? The original breeder of the buck who had tested CAE-positive reached out to me, told me he knew the buck was positive, and “pretty much” (reading between the lines) told me to cull the doe and the kids–and he absolutely roasted the small breeder at the same time. It’s not that hard to be nice. And the world isn’t black and white. Even when it comes to CAE, a communicable, and in some states, reportable, “terminal” disease. (Hang in there; I’m on your side. I sure don’t want CAE-positive goats, either…but this is NOT as cut-and-dried as everybody thinks.)
I am not advocating for using CAE positive breeding stock. But sometimes really bad things happen to really good goats and really good people. And there are known protocols in place to address this. It isn’t an automatic death sentence. It IS a lot of added labor, and a lot of added worry. But again, as I tried to say in previous posts on other topics, if you love the animal in front of you, you have options. You don’t have to listen to the first person who tells you to cull this or sell that.
(Before you go misinterpreting me and starting rumors, I want to state clearly I don’t have CAE positive goats. I do have life experiences I want to share after 40+ years owning dairy goats, and you can interpret them however you wish. At this point in my life, I really don’t care what you think of me.)
I have a yearling due in April. She is the granddaughter of the doe who was returned to me bred to a CAE+ buck. She’s the only doe kid I have who carries those bloodlines from that buck, the buck whose breeder basically berated me for taking on this experiment. The bloodlines matter to me for sentimental reasons. The breeder matters to me, because I kinda like the guy, and I like that he doesn’t much like me. I’m going prove him wrong here, when that doe freshens, is lovely, and doesn’t have CAE. It was a gamble, but honestly not much of one, and worth it.
(Someone out there is going to say those negative tests mean nothing, I was stupid, and buyers should avoid me. It’s okay. You are not my target market. There are boutique breeders out there doing everything right; please support them. No hard feelings.)
Yeah, the Facebook post I started this with is about everything *but* CAE, and I’m going to get there. For now, I’m going to publish what I have, and come back with a Part II. I have CAE stories. I have CL stories. And I have opinions on testing or not testing, frequency of testing, cost of testing, and so on and so forth. Check back. Thanks for reading.
Quit Mansplaining Raising Dairy Goats To Me: A Blog 