The trouble with beginnings is that you don't know what you don't know. That's why it's such a good idea to have an experienced mentor to guide you through the first stages, to help you avoid the avoidable. I knew that, but despite all my efforts, I didn't find my goat mentor until a little too late in the day.

That was because the only people I knew who had goats were some acquaintances who kept show dairy goats, and I was shopping for meat goats. One of the million things I didn't know was that the dairy goat world and the meat goat world are separate communities. Dairy goats are usually cosseted pets kept in pens. Meat goats are typically in pastured herds like sheep or beef cattle. Dairy goats have names, meat goats have ear tags. My informant didn't know squat about meat goats, but she had heard of someone. "She's the big breeder around here, I guess."

Unbeknownst to me, that big breeder had quite a bad rep in the meat goat community. I have yet to come across someone who has dealt with her who would do it again. I did realize on my own, after I'd gotten my sweet little goat children from her, that, she was unreliable and evasive, so I continued on in my search for someone to ask questions of. When I did finally find a local mentor, she told me I should get my goats tested for CL and CAE, two incurable and contagious goat diseases. She drew the blood for me and I sent it off, and it came back positive for CL in two out of the three goats.

Goats are a "minor species" in the US agriculture world, which means there is very little research done for them, and few vaccines and medications specific to them. Management practices are passed along over the pasture fence, so to speak. As you would expect in such a situation, it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad information. My new mentor told me I would just have to butcher my positive goats and start over, but I refused to believe her.

CL, caseous lymphadinitis, is a slowly developing, chronic but rarely fatal infection of the lymphatic system, which manifests mainly in abscesses, eventually giving rise to wasting. It is common in range goat herds, because the only way to control it is to test, cull all positives, and then vaccinate unexposed animals with sheep vaccine of dubious efficacy. In other words, it isn't cost-effective to do anything about it for goats that sell for around a hundred bucks apiece on a lucky day.

If, however, you are raising registered breeding stock and show goats, then it's important, because you are producing animals worth up to several thousand dollars. Nobody is going to appreciate plunking down that kind of dough for a sick animal who will infect their whole herd too.

My goats were bought from a Boer show goat breeder who also ran a weed-control service with grade goats; from the evidence of my own goats, she ignored CL in both her herds. And there were other things she probably didn't choose to tell me either. It's a little hard to believe, for example, that my doe who matured out a hair under a hundred pounds was 7/8ths Boer, a breed in which the does typically run about twice that.

In the end, after procuring and administering a specially-made vaccine and having the telltale abscesses emerge anyway, I admitted my mentor was right, and sold my two positive goats, Tule and Snowdie, to be butchered. I didn't get much more for them than I paid when they were small enough to carry in my arms. Now I can only pray that my current three goats, a Nubian doe I hope to milk come spring, my remaining meat doe Melba, and the Boer buckling I bought to cover my does and afterwards sell, were not infected by them. I'll be testing them soon.

Seems like, the way I learn is to stumble, sit there bruised for awhile, and then get up and start out in what looks like a better direction. Ought to be an easier way. You'd think.