About two weeks ago I sent off blood from my ten goats to get tested for CAE. I don't know why I didn't test them for CAE earlier. ( Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis is a chronic disease of the joints which is incurable. More information can be found at:
CAE information USDA)I guess the thought of drawing blood sounded intimidating. I contacted the vet about how much they would charge to come to my farm to draw blood from the goats, their estimate was $12 per goat, not including the fee to come out to my farm (about $45). I decided that I could save money by not having the vet come out and draw the blood myself. I had never drawn blood from an animal before. Not much could happen, right?!? Soo I watched a video from Youtube
Perdue University Goat about 5 million times to see how they drew goats' blood. How hard can that be?? I ordered the supplies that I needed ( I will show a link at the end of the blog post for a supplies list). I know some people out there who are reading this right now may think that this is not a good idea to draw blood without help from a professional. I did it without needing a veterinarian to come out, but always make sure you feel comfortable with whatever choice you make. In the end It worked out well. I got the tests results. All came back negative. (yay!) So, how much money did I potentially save?
The
Vacuum tubes I bought costed $7.60, but I used only 1/5 of them: $1.50
10 syringe/needle combos from
Jeffers: $2.50
Cost for the CAE test ($4.75x10): $47.50
2 day shipping: $20
rubbing alcohol: $0.50
Total: $72
The large animal vet said it would cost at least $165 for all the tests to be done/sent out. I saved $93! Things can add up real fast.
I feel like it is important to learn basic herd-owner skills and put them to use! What do you think?
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