Dulce and Penny have been the cornerstone of our Mini Nubian herd. This year our annual goat disease testing came back with very unexpected results revealing CAE virus in both Dulce and her daughter, Penny. CAE virus can cause arthritis and other chronic problems in goats and sheep. It does not infect humans.

WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT:  Every single one of our goats were tested and retested for the disease. Other than Dulce and Penny, all the goats tested negative for CAE. Thankfully, CAE is not very contagious and is not believed to be transmitted in utero; nevertheless, we are keeping our clean tested goats on separate pasture.  After extensive research on the disease, we have made the difficult decision to cull Dulce and Penny from the herd. While it is possible to maintain a herd with asymptomatic CAE such as this, we feel it is in the best interest of our herd and our homesteading community to eliminate any potential spread of this disease. Dulce and Penny will continue to be kept in comfortable isolation on our farm until the delivery of their kids. We will be there to assist and follow proper CAE protocol, including immediately removing the kids as they are delivered and strictly bottle feeding them in order to preserve them from the disease and to carry on their high-quality genetics.

As for our remaining 11 goats, they will each receive a 3-6 month follow-up test for CAE to ensure we maintain a CAE clean tested herd. Any adult goat sold from our farm will have received 2 consecutive negative tests for CAE, per recommended veterinary protocol. All kids sold from our farm will be from clean tested parentage, unless other specific requests have been made for Dulce and Penny's offspring. We continue to strive to offer not only excellence, but also honesty, transparency, and trust.   For more information on CAE, refer to MERCK MANUAL Veterinary Manual: Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis.