We have learned that it is very important to quarantine new members of the Green Home Farm when they arrive so that any nasty diseases or viruses that they may bring with them, do not affect the home livestock. Also, anything that may be in the home community isn’t introduced to healthy animals coming in.
A case in point is our two original goats Molly and Millie. Molly did not live long enough for any inbound disease and, when they arrived, there were no other animals that they could have affected.
However, this month I got a routine blood test performed on my two goats for CAEV. Millie, it turns out, had this condition. With Millie being in close proximity to Holly (our latest addition), there is a slight chance that Holly has picked up the condition. While Holly’s blood test shows that she is currently negative for CAEV, it is too early to rule it out.
This means that Holly must be quarantined from any other new goat that we bring onto the farm. Likewise, any new goat must be quarantined too.
It is heartbreaking when you discover that an animal has to be destroyed to prevent the spread of a nasty virus like this, particularly when you have become attached to them.
Now, we will quarantine any new animal when it comes onto the farm so that this does not happen again (or at least that the risk is much lower). This has been a hard lesson to learn.
