Kansas Bluestem Nubians

On this page we display our disease testing. The most current results are at the top, and results get older as you scroll down, of each section. We do basic blood testing for CAE & Johnes through SEK Genetics in Galesburg, KS on a random group of goats, on a semi-annual basis. Kids are not tested until they reach six months of age, with nine months of age being the targeted minimum. Adult animals are tested at least once per year, prior to kidding season. We will generally test a small random sample in late spring as well. Periodically we may elect to send in a fecal sample or blood sample to Kansas State University to have the SEK results validated. We are aware of the possibility of inaccurate blood test results for Johnes, however it is the easiest and most affordable way to screen the entire herd. For this reason, we peridoically send a pooled fecal sample for our goats to KSU.

We have dealt with both CAE and Johnes in our herd. We are not going to hide it. Diseases are a part of livestock, and we’ve learned our lessons the hard way. If you want to discuss how we handled the positive animals in detail, please contact us.

We discovered the Johnes in October of 2020 and think we caught it before the infected goat began shedding bacteria in our pens and possibly infecting other goats. However, as a precaution, we left the pen she had occurpied prior to diagnosis unoccupied for nine months after removing all fecal matter and burning the pile. It is impossible to completely prevent all animal traffic through the pen (dogs, cats, wildlife, etc) but we did the best we could do. To this day, we have not had another animal test positive for Johnes, but continue to test diligently. We now claim to be a Johnes free herd.

We also discovered the CAE in October of 2020. In that testing round, we accidentally mislabeled the blood vials for two goats and one of our best does “tested” positive… however, her vial had been mislabeled and it was actually our buck who was positive. After another round of testing (May 2021) and observing our buck, the mistake we made became quite obvious. CAE+ does were culled from our herd by May of 2021, and CAE+ bucks were moved to an isolated pen, only used for short, 100% monitored breeding dates. We never had a buck/doe transfer of the disease. In January of 2023, we finally culled the final CAE+ buck from our herd and do not ever intend to bring it to our herd again. We now claim to be a CAE free herd.

We do not test for CL. None of our animals have a history of abscesses, and the blood tests for CL are very unreliable. Until we have a reason to begin CL testing, we will continue this practice. We do not claim to be a CL free herd, but do claim to have zero history of CL on our property or animals.