Management strategies for infectious disease control in a variety of production systems

Abstract

Strategies for disease control in goat herds should be individualized to account for the diversity in management type, risk levels, and owner factors. Goat herd type, for example dairy, meat, fiber, companion or other; intensive or extensive management; confinement, grazing or browse; as well as owner's experience level, beliefs and budget all must be considered in planning prevention and control programs for contagious disease in goat herds. Caseous lymphadenitis, caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus, Johne's disease, Mycoplasma spp infections, contagious abortion agents, and scrapie all should be considered in planning an integrated pathogen control program to address as many diseases as possible using the same critical control steps in disease management. Pasteurized kid-rearing programs, disease-specific testing and segregation, testing and removal or culling are strategies commonly employed for important infectious diseases. Optimizing and economizing herd diagnostic surveillance through routine necropsies and selective herd testing provide the basis on which sound, informed decisions can be made. Conscious decisions should be made whether to tolerate, control or eradicate each important infectious disease in the herd or, if not in herd, what resources should be committed to preventing the introduction of agents causing lifelong infection in the adult herd.