Robur Dairy Farm has changed its goat rearing practices at its Sassafras farms to eradicate caprine retrovirus, or caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE).
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Caprine retrovirus causes arthritis, encephalitis and pneumonia in goats.
Robur Dairy Farm has introduced a remediation system to deal with caprine retrovirus where kids are cleaned, bathed and given pasturised colostrum immediately after birth.
This intensive care and high hygiene system is used for all goats born at the two Sassafras Tasmanian Food Co (TasFoods) properties where the goats are farmed, Tasfoods chief executive Jane Bennett said.
“We have a high-care system for the [kids’] first 48 hours with heat lamps, sawdust and they are fed colostrum,” Ms Bennett said.
Once the kid goats reach two weeks of age they are moved into a small shed with four other babies, an autofeeder and heat lamps.
“This is to ensure we keep them CAE free. It’s a very labour intensive start to life,” Ms Bennett.
“So long as we use high hygeine practices we can eradicate CAE.
“CAE causes issues mainly with the health of the animal. Kids born to CAE mothers get a rough start to life too,” she said.
Biosecurity Tasmania’s website said goats affected with caprine retrovirus become lame, have a rough coat and gradually lose weight.
Kid goats can also be affected by the disease and can develop encephalitis between two weeks and five months of age.
“[Encephalitis] shows as lameness, incoordination, progressive paralysis and finally death. This form of the disease has only rarely been seen in Tasmania,” the Biosecurity Tasmania website said.
“Pneumonia is seen in some infected goats, mainly adults. These show respiratory distress and loss of weight, and progressively become worse. There is no response to antibiotics with any of these forms of [caprine retrovirus],” the website said.
The intensive care system introduced at Robur Dairy farm is part of TasFoods’ plan to develop the state’s largest and best bred dairy goat herd.
Farm manager Leon Lolkema organised the herd of around 350 into five kidding groups, which means they will give birth every month between until December.
“[Leon’s] got these big, healthy goats. Our goats are now significantly bigger,” Ms Bennett said.
“The North-West coast has great conditions. The quality of their milk is outstanding,” she said.
Robur Dairy Farm intends to set the standard for dairy goat farming in Tasmania.