I would like to say at the start that I am not against immunizations. I am saying it is not what works best for our farm and I would like to explain why. This is something I strongly suggest each person researches and speak with their vet to decide what would work best on their farm. I implore each person purchasing from me to make the decision themselves and I cannot be held responsible for their decisions in this regard. A good place to find out the recommended immunization schedule if you decide to immunize is https://goats.extension.org/goat-vaccination-program/. That being said, this is why we do not immunize:

1. We try to do everything as organically as possible on our farm. We have a rare immune disorder and can react to many items which is why we started farming in the first place. We prefer our milk and meat stay as chemical free as possible. The ingredients in immunizations are frequently cancer causing or worse.

2. As far as prevention, we have seen animals that are immunized die from the disease they were immunized for and we have seen animals die that weren't immunized die from those diseases. Now the reasoning behind immunizing would be to lesson the number of deaths from those disease. I have a friend that is a commercial meat goat farmer. They immunized some years. Some years they don't immunize. They have since completely quit immunizations because the death rate was similar so the cost of immunizing that many animals to have the same amount of losses just seemed pointless. That being said, we have never lost a goat from any of the diseases CD&T treat for.

3. The potential harm of the vaccine itself. I will admit I am on ALOT of goat forums and spend my free time reading about goats. I have seen over and over again an entire group of goats die or get deathly ill from a defective batch of vaccines. Is that very likely to happen? I don't know. But I do know that it is not very likely to loose one animal from CDorT but to loose that many at one time is almost impossible.

4. I truly support survival of the fittest. Goats in the wild do not have to be immunized and yet they still survive and thrive. I think alot of this comes from breeding practices in America (and I am going to be in trouble for these comments!) but a healthy animal is going to kid more healthy animals. What happens in the wild? Weak animals get sick and die, they get eaten, etc. This way only the strongest and the healthiest reproduce. We put animals on medication as soon as they are born, we load them up with chemicals (antibiotics, cocci "preventatives", wormers, etc), and immune depressants (immunizations). These animals that would have not survived in the wild are now sold as breeding stock. I am NOT against the use of some of the above items if needed. We love our animals and we will do anything we can to keep them alive and healthy. We WILL use antibiotics or wormers or antitoxins if we NEED them. But we only use if we NEED them and not as a preventative. If we do have to use commercial meds on an animal frequently, then that animal WILL be sold or culled. We only keep animals that are more worm resistant, are not prone to infections, do not have hoof problems, etc. Our goal, even above milk production and udder quality, is a healthy animal.

5. This really goes along with number 4. The support of the natural immune system in the animal. We think the first most important thing you can do for a goat is make sure they get their dams colostrum. The second is help build up their immune system naturally by keeping clean and dry living quarters, mold free hay that is in a feeder off the ground, a good loose mineral specific for goats, a nonGMO properly ratioed feed, herbal supplement/wormers, selenium/vit E supplementation, and copper bolusing. Also, all injuries should be cleaned, soaked if able, properly maintained, and we use the burdizio for wethering to avoid open wounds. We think maintaining these items is more important to the health of a goat and they allow the goat to build up a healthy immune system so they are less likely to be infected with any sickness.

Now, with this, is there a risk that one of our animals will get CDT and pass away? Yes. Is there a chance that if said goat would have been immunized they may not have passed. Yes. But is there also a chance that the immunization itself could cause issues. Yes. Is there also a chance that an immunized goat could get sick and die from CDT also. Yes. The majority of the breeders I know immunize. The majority of the vets I know say to immunize. We did not make this decision lightly and I have spent weeks researching and speaking with breeders and vets before we decided what we were going to do on our farm. I know we are in the minority but I strongly feel that not immunizing is what is best for our herd. I hope you come away from this with a better understanding of why we choose to avoid immunizations because we do understand if why you immunize if you do. We all love our animals and want to do what is best for them. We just have different ideas on what is best, and that is ok.