Hefty Goat Holler Farm Records - Biosecurity - Update 2025

Kendra R. Shatswell
Sep 15
2 min read

While I've been posting on my Facebook farm page, I am also posting my biosecurity testing results here on the blog. Just a note this blog post was previously published in June 2024 but I added some MORE test results that happened later that year and WILL be adding more in 2025. Currently, I use UBRL to test the herd. I like this lab! Affordable but accurate. Wonderful communication. Clear, simple instructions. Please note that I am not affiliated with them - I'm just a fan! I do still have blood drawn at the vet or have the vet come out, in the case of whole-herd draws. I hope to do this myself soon, if I can get over my squeamishness about needles being stuck into the jugular... Just to recap. I do not bring in many new animals. If I do, they're almost always from herds that test as well. I test all new animals. I usually test for Johnes and CAE only. I do not do a blood test for CL on the whole herd because it is so inaccurate but I can say that I've never had a suspicious abscess on the property or in the herd, ever. If I did, it would be cultured, which is a much more accurate test. This test (or others) can be done at buyer's expense. Truthfully, a serum test for Johnes is not all that accurate either, as described here, but since it is POSSIBLE to catch it via serum test in the subclinical stage and because it is such a horrible zoonotic disease, I choose to test for it at least every other year or on new animals.

Testing is not accurate on young animals ( generally speaking, less than 6 months; some sources say 1 year for Johnes) so I generally wait to test until animals are at least a year old so not all animals might be tested in the same batch. I am currently whole-herd testing every other year or so and catching new or young animals as they come in or get old enough. 2022 - 2025 testing below!

Animals that were too young in fall 2022 so were tested later, as well as Faunette, who was new to the herd:

The new girls from GoGo herd, who arrived in December 2023. They were bred and I didn't get to test them until after they kidded in spring 2024:

2025 Update - I opted to just test for CAE last year on the whole adult herd (over 1 year of age) just because I've NEVER had even a suspicious test on Johnes or CL or any suspicious abscesses - the whole herd has always been negative. I did do the full panel on animals that were new or "mostly" new or on some of the adults that I listed for sale/lease. If a buyer is interested in additional testing, just reach out to me!