Purchasing from a CL "CLEAN TESTED HERD"

"Herds must be clean tested and vaccinated"

This is a demand we hear a lot from folks looking to purchase Goats. They are asking for proof of vaccination as well as proof that a herd tests negative for certain illnesses. (Most commonly CL)

However, you CAN NOT HAVE BOTH NEGATIVE CL BLOOD TEST AND CL VACCINATED!

What? How can you NOT have a CL vaccinated herd as well as a CL negative blood tested herd?

Let me elaborate on this for you....

CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis.) Is one of the illnesses that folks are most afraid of, and the one this article is mostly about, along with Johne's Disease, CAE and Enterotoxemia (Overeating Disease) to name a few.

(More on these diseases to come in other posts)

Most Goat owners cringe at these words. Understandably so, they sound extremely scary! And, they can be life altering to your herd. But let me ease your mind a bit on the CL issue...hopefully ease it a lot a lot.

Most people looking to purchase Goats whether they be first time Goat owners or established Herdsmen DEMAND that they purchase from a CL "Clean Tested Herd" because they want to ensure that this disease among others stays out of their herd. Again, understandably so! We personally take MANY precautions to ensure a healthy herd for ourselves and our customers including operating with a CLOSED HERD, vaccinating and running tests.

HOWEVER, Did you know that SOME vaccinations can cause FALSE POSITIVE Blood Tests!? This is especially true with CL Vaccines.

This is where the "You can not have both negative CL Blood test and CL vaccinated" comes into play.

Much like in humans, when you vaccinate an animal you are "tricking" their immune systems into creating a response to that illness. Most vaccines are made from "killed" or "modified" bacteria that can NOT actually infect your Goat. It does however make the Goats immune system attack against the "killed" organism thus creating Antibodies. These antibodies will then show up on a blood test for that specific illness as a "positive result" thus creating a "false positive".

This does NOT mean your goat has the illness, and it does NOT mean your Goat is a carrier of the illness, it just means your goat has ANTIBODIES for this illness, therefor the ability to potentially fight off the illness if it is ever exposed to the live disease.

Because of this, Blood tests for CL are NOT 100% accurate.

The only 100% accurate way to test for CL is to test the actual puss from a formed abscess of an infected Goat.

**A Goat that has NEVER been vaccinated for CL and throws a "positive test" is more likely to be a true CL Positive animal *

A CL "positive" Goat (that has been vaccinated against CL) may never show signs of illnesses, just as a "positive" Goat does not mean a contagious Goat. EXPOSED GOAT DOES NOT MEAN INFECTED GOAT. All goats that have a CL vaccine are considered an "Exposed Goat".

With this being said, If you purchase a CL "Negative" blood tested Goat, you can almost guarantee that they did NOT vaccinate against CL and that this Goat will be more susceptible to contracting CL if it is ever exposed to the live disease. Where as a "Positive" CL blood tested goat that shows NO SIGNS of CL, is most likely a healthy, CL vaccinated Goat.

Confusing I know, This is where knowing the signs and symptoms of CL really comes into play as well as having a well known and trusted breeder.

Of course NO vaccine is ever always 100%. As we know, us humans may get a Flu Vaccine and still contract the Flu, But.... a vaccinated Goat (much like a vaccinated human) is much less likely to develop the illness it is vaccinated against as opposed to an unvaccinated Goat.

Now that we have brought into light a little more on how vaccines work and how blood tests run, knowing that vaccines create antibodies that show up as "false positives" especially for CL, keep in mind that this also means there is no such thing as a "clean" or "disease free" herd.

Anyone that claims they test "clean", have never vaccinated.

Now that we have read up on CL Vaccines, Check out our other article,

"What is CL and is it Dangerous?"