Author Topic: TB Testing goats/ raw milk (Read 10041 times)

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #15 on:** April 09, 2014, 01:41:47 pm »

Quote from: Anke on April 09, 2014, 11:02:09 am

Where have your goats come from? More important to check what the TB status is at their previous holding - and if you don't have cattle (or Alpacas/Llamas) on your holding I really would think seriously before testing. You don't seem to be a really high risk (IMO)

bTB will be endemic in the badgers in that area, Anke, so it's not the same equation as it would be for us further north.

Out of interest, Anke - what do you have against mariegold testing? If it would come up clear, what's the harm?

Anke · « **Reply #16 on:** April 09, 2014, 03:30:47 pm »

If TB were a problem in the UK goat population - DEFRA would have us testing compulsorily until the cows (goats) come home!

The reason I would tread very carefully with this is

a) freshly kidded goats really don't need any stress and unless the vet is any good at injecting/taking blood/causing pain in any way it can cause massive stress to them - if you ever had to inject a goat as opposed to a sheep...

b) Goats do not normally stay outside during the night, are indoors on wet days and for most of the winter, and their sheds are normally properly enclosed (unlike most cattle courts). So I don't think there is much of a risk of cross-infection.

c) Actually the fact that there only ever was ONE proper outbreak of bovine TB in goats is a case in point - there are large numbers of goatkeepers and a few goat dairy farms in the South-West if the risk was here DEFRA would test. No outbreaks - so no problem. It could create a bit of a hype amongst the general public if we started to test our goats all of a sudden. (And please don't give DEFRA ideas... I already pay well over 200quid each year for my CAE tests - and I KNOW they are negative before they get done!)

d) There is a significant proportion of cattle that react positive to the test, get slaughtered only to be found not to be infected after all.... except than it is a bit late isn't it?

Actually I think one of the main reasons that TB has not been researched and overcome in cattle is the fact that the milk is safe once it's pasteurised. If that were not the case the government would have had to spend much more and solve the issue... this way, it's only cows that get killed and it's cheaper to re-imburse the farmer the meat value... sorry a bit cynical there $:-\$

Dogwalker · « **Reply #17 on:** April 09, 2014, 09:41:45 pm »

I typed up a long reply yesterday evening then pressed the wrong button and lost it and was too tired to retype, so I'll try again.

I recently had my goats tb tested. All clear thank God.
Because
the neighbouring farms have all either had or have tb in cattle in the last year. My immediate neighbour has had two positive tests, due again next week I think. His cattle were in the adjoining field to the goats with just a stock fence between them. The only boundary without a hedge and double fence. The same badgers come in mine and his fields.
I discussed it with the vet and she agreed if Wales is trying to eradicate bTB they should be tested in such a high risk area. She persuaded AH that the ministry should pay as a contiguous test. After much confusion by different AH offices asking about my cattle and llamas The vet came and did the test.
She was brilliant and caused no stress to the goats who by then were 4 months pregnant. Most you couldn't tell anything had been done apart from the shaved patch each side of their necks. Three had very tiny marks but nothing significant.

All the same regulations would apply as for cattle.
There is compensation in Wales but I'm not sure about England.

Hope that helps

plumseverywhere · « **Reply #18 on:** April 10, 2014, 01:10:16 pm »

This has got me panicking big time! I'm not far from Gloucestershire (Vale of Evesham) and when we first moved here I heard from a neighbour that a neighbouring farmer had lost his herd of cattle due to them being TB pos.
This was about 8 years ago. There are a handful of dexters a couple of fields away, nothing else nearer.
Never seen a badger live on the field or dead on the road all that near by.

If I have mine tested and they are positive, they have to be culled don't they? $:-\$

Anke · « **Reply #19 on:** April 10, 2014, 04:15:35 pm »

Quote from: plumseverywhere on April 10, 2014, 01:10:16 pm

If I have mine tested and they are positive, they have to be culled don't they? $:-\$

Yes - but other than the isolated outbreak in GG's in 2008 (I think) there has been not one. So really no reason to panic. I think goats are similar to sheep - isolated animals do get infected, not sure it's known why and how (as in badger or cow or deer), after all, there is zillions of sheep in Wales and TB in cattle is rife.... and no cross infection. So statistically goats and bTB is a non-starter.

Unless the goats have DIRECT and prolonged contact with infected cattle I would have thought the risk is really minimal.

plumseverywhere · « **Reply #20 on:** April 10, 2014, 08:53:52 pm »

thank you for the reassurance Anke, have been stressing about this all afternoon

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #21 on:** April 11, 2014, 11:47:00 am »

Unless the goats have DIRECT and prolonged contact with infected cattle or badgers, alpaca or deer I would have thought the risk is really minimal.

With that addition, I agree.

Dogwalker · « **Reply #22 on:** April 11, 2014, 12:55:18 pm »

I wouldn't have had mine tested if my neighbours cattle had been clear. They've only been clear 6 months from the last bout and all the nearby farms - 4 within a mile radius - have been down in the last year.
There's evidence of badgers in the fields and the sett is just up the hill.