DKH Destiny Farm

04/08/2026

Buck escape 5 months ago resulted in...13 does bred. 23 babies plus. 1 doe in labor and 1 doe bloated and died. 8 hours cam sure cause a lot of issues! Oh the Nubian buckling owes the most in kid support...he was very busy.

04/03/2026

On a day 5 months ago I came home to the all 4 of the bucks in with the whole herd of mature does. As of today there are 8 ladies in waiting, or maybe 9. 3 have kidded, 9 babies, 5 does and 4 bucks, all crosses. At this rate I will have 40 babies in the next week. None of these does were supposed to be bred. No babies were supposed to be born until May. ..

04/02/2026

Kidding photo video. Scroll on if you have a weak stomach.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EPM7k4rBJ/

03/30/2026

CL in Sheep & Goats — Article 3

What an Abscess Actually Is (and Why It Forms)

Most people think of an abscess as a problem.

A lump.
An infection.
Something that needs to be drained or treated.

But if you step back and look at it biologically, an abscess is something very different.

It is not just a sign of disease.
It is a response to it.

⸻

When the Checkpoint Can’t Clear the Threat

In Article 2, we talked about how the lymphatic system works like a series of checkpoints.

Material flows through lymph nodes.
It gets inspected.
And most of the time, it gets cleared.

But not every organism is easy to eliminate.

Some bacteria — including the one that causes CL — are particularly good at surviving inside tissues.

So when that organism arrives at a lymph node, the system faces a problem:

It can’t fully destroy it.

At that point, the strategy changes.

⸻

From Elimination… to Containment

When the body can’t eliminate a threat, it shifts to something else:

It contains it.

Instead of clearing the bacteria, the body begins to isolate it.

It builds a barrier around it.
It separates it from surrounding tissue.
It limits its ability to spread.

This is the beginning of an abscess.

⸻

The Abscess as a Containment Structure

From the outside, an abscess looks like a lump.

But on the inside, it is a structured environment:
• a central area containing bacteria and inflammatory material
• surrounded by layers of immune response
• enclosed within a firm capsule

Over time, this creates the thick, layered material often described as “onion-like.”

That structure isn’t accidental.

It is the body’s way of saying:

“I can’t remove this… but I can keep it here.”

⸻

A Controlled Standoff

Inside an abscess, something very specific is happening:
• the bacteria are still alive
• the immune system is still active
• and neither side fully wins

It becomes a kind of controlled standoff.

From the outside, it may look stable.

But biologically, the infection is still present.

⸻

Why Abscesses Persist

Because the organism is not eliminated:
• the abscess can remain for long periods
• it may slowly change over time
• it can recur or reform
• and under certain conditions, it can rupture

This is why CL is not a “one-time event.”

It is a persistent condition built around containment rather than cure.

⸻

Why This Matters

If you think of an abscess as just “infection,”
you’ll miss what’s actually happening.

But if you think of it as:

a containment structure built by the body

then a lot of things start to make sense:
• why draining it doesn’t eliminate the disease
• why it can come back
• why internal disease can exist without visible signs
• and why this condition is so difficult to fully clear

⸻

Where We Go Next

Now that we understand what an abscess actually is, the next step is to look at how this process begins:

How does the bacteria get into the system in the first place?

Because once we understand entry and movement,
we can start to understand how CL spreads through a flock.

03/29/2026

CL in Sheep & Goats — Article 2

How the Lymphatic System Actually Works

Before we can understand how a disease like CL behaves, we need to understand the system it lives in.

That system is the lymphatic system.

Most people have heard of lymph nodes.
Very few people have ever been taught what they actually do.

⸻

A Second Circulatory System (That Most People Don’t Think About)

When people think about circulation, they think about blood.

Arteries.
Veins.
The heart.

But running alongside that system is another network that is just as important — and much quieter.

The lymphatic system.

Instead of moving blood, this system moves lymph fluid — a clear fluid that contains:
• proteins
• waste products
• immune cells
• and anything that has leaked out of tissues

This fluid doesn’t get pumped by the heart.

It moves slowly through a network of vessels, eventually passing through lymph nodes before returning back to circulation.

⸻

The Checkpoint System

If you simplify the lymphatic system down to its most important function, it works like this:

It is a series of checkpoints.

As lymph fluid moves through the body, it is routed through lymph nodes.

At each node:
• material is filtered
• immune cells evaluate what’s present
• and threats are identified and dealt with

Most of the time, this system works extremely well.

Bacteria, debris, and foreign material are caught and eliminated before they cause a larger problem.

⸻

Flow Matters More Than Location

One of the most important concepts — and one that most people never think about — is this:

The lymphatic system follows “flow paths”.

Fluid drains from specific areas of the body into specific lymph nodes.

For example:
• the head and jaw drain into one group of nodes
• the front limbs and chest into another
• the abdomen into another

This is why diseases like CL tend to show up in predictable locations.

Not because the bacteria prefers those spots — but because that’s where the fluid ends up.

⸻

When the System Works Normally

Under normal conditions:
1. Something enters the body (bacteria, debris, etc.)
2. It is picked up in lymph fluid
3. It is carried to a lymph node
4. The immune system recognizes it
5. It is neutralized and cleared

The process is quiet, efficient, and usually invisible.

Most of the time, you never know it happened.

⸻

When the System Can’t Fully Clear a Threat

But not every organism is easy to eliminate.

Some bacteria are:
• harder to kill
• better at surviving inside tissues
• or capable of avoiding complete destruction

When that happens, the system shifts strategies.

Instead of eliminating the threat completely…

it contains it.

⸻

Containment Is Not the Same as Cure

When the body can’t fully eliminate something, it often isolates it.

It walls it off.
It keeps it in one place.

From the outside, this looks like control — and in many ways, it is.

But biologically, something important has changed:

The organism is still there.

Alive.
Contained.
But not gone.

⸻

Why This Matters for CL

CL takes advantage of this exact behavior.

Instead of being cleared as it passes through a lymph node…

it establishes itself inside the checkpoint.

From that point forward, everything about the disease begins to make more sense:
• why abscesses form
• why they persist
• why they can come back
• and why they are so difficult to fully eliminate

⸻

Where We Go Next

Now that we understand how the lymphatic system normally functions, the next step is to look at what happens when a bacterium like CL:

moves into the system… and doesn’t leave.

03/29/2026

Fascinating https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ApJFzth3W/

CL in Sheep & Goats — Article 1

What This Disease Actually Is

If you spend enough time raising sheep or goats, you will eventually hear two letters spoken quietly and often with a great deal of concern.

CL.

Caseous lymphadenitis is one of those diseases that carries more confusion than clarity.
People know it involves abscesses.
People know it can spread.

But very few people have ever been taught what it actually is —
or more importantly — how it behaves inside the animal.

Before we talk about testing, vaccines, or what to do about it…

We need to start with a more important question:

What kind of disease are we dealing with?

⸻

Not a Fast Disease — A Persistent One

Caseous lymphadenitis is caused by a bacterium called
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis.

Unlike many of the diseases producers are used to dealing with, this is not a fast-moving, overwhelming infection.

It doesn’t typically knock animals down in a matter of hours or days.

Instead, CL behaves more like something that moves in… and stays.

A better way to think about it is this:

This is not a lightning strike disease.
This is a long-term resident.

⸻

A Disease of the Lymphatic System

CL primarily targets the lymphatic system —
the part of the body responsible for filtering fluid and monitoring for infection.

If we simplify this down:

Think of lymph nodes as security checkpoints scattered throughout the body.

Fluid passes through them.
Cells are inspected.
Threats are identified and dealt with.

Most infections pass through this system and are cleared.

CL does something different.

It doesn’t just pass through the checkpoint.

It sets up inside it.

⸻

Containment Instead of Elimination

Once this bacterium establishes itself in a lymph node, the body responds the way it often does with difficult infections:

It builds a wall around it.
It isolates it.

This creates what we recognize externally as an abscess.

But that abscess isn’t random.

It is a containment structure.

A better way to picture it:

The body is not winning the fight.
But it is preventing the spread.

Inside that structure:
• bacteria remain alive
• immune cells remain active
• and the two exist in a kind of controlled standoff

Over time, this produces the thick, layered material many producers describe as “onion-like.”

⸻

Two Forms — What You See and What You Don’t

CL shows up in two very different ways:

External CL
• Visible abscesses in lymph nodes
• What most people recognize

Internal (Visceral) CL
• Infection inside the body
• No visible abscesses
• Gradual weight loss, poor performance

This second form is often the more important one from a production standpoint —
and also the easiest to miss.

As I attempted to show in the article image, it’s like an iceberg. The single abscess you can see might just be the tip of the iceberg itself.

⸻

Why This Disease Gets Misunderstood

CL creates a unique situation for producers:
• Animals can look completely normal
• The infection can persist for long periods
• And the most visible sign (abscesses) is only part of the story

Because of this, people tend to oversimplify it into one of two extremes:
• “It’s no big deal”
or
• “It’s catastrophic”

In reality, it is neither of those things.

It is a management disease —
and understanding how it behaves is what determines the outcome.

⸻

Where We Go Next

Now that we’ve defined what CL is,
the next step is to understand the system it lives in.

Because once you understand how the lymphatic system works normally,
you’ll start to see why this disease behaves the way it does —
and why it can be so difficult to fully eliminate.

03/01/2026

1st 2026 babies. Lamancha/ Alpine. 1 buck/1 doe out of DUSK2DAWN LS SERENE SOLEIL and THE LEGEND OF LIGHT.
Buckling is available as a pack goat. Here is the tank and white flashy boy

02/22/2026

This could make me haul them all away to the auction.

02/19/2026

Sad lessons. UPDATE AND EXPLANATION.
Several years ago, 2019 to be exact. I sent some does out to be bred at a very trusted friend's farm. The does were there, bred and returned ultrasounded bred, with breeding dates and service memos. The doe kidded within 3 days of her due date per breeding records. 3 beautiful bucks out of exciting pedigrees, we have lots of messages back and forth between the buck owner, super excited about the pairing and myself with my daughter. Tons of pictures. Things were perfect! We used this buck as our foundation to our line of the breed, breeding up some rg does. Udders and conformation dreamy, we even kept a rg polled buck to use because his sisters were that nice. We were on track to have what we wanted not what someone else had done and we copied. LUCKY we are small breeders, just a hand full of does of this breed and we kept them close, none were ever sold, except the rg doelings to the dairies a couple of years that EVERYTHING was bred by this buck on a week day "outing".
Fast forward to late 2025. As I wait for this bucks first gen daughters to freshen and his 2 freshening daughters, I figured it was time to get all of the bucks DNA'd since I had them all collected. The polled rg son that I used heavily on everything came back really fast as verified as did every other buck that I submitted. Cloud was held up, I was worried. Then the letter came...
"Excluded as sire"...oh and since your buck has registered offspring and descendants you are on a probationary period of 1 year. Panic, freak out, OMG, what the heck, NO way! Well this is what happened and this is why it is so important to DNA PRIOR to breeding.
Through extensive records, pictures, text chains and then working with ADGA. It appears that the following happened:
The doe was penned with the sire buck, She was bred and noted by, held until the ultrasound at 30 plus days then returned home. She kidded 147 days from bred date. Kids are beautiful, life goes on...until it doesn't.
Next to that breeding pen in November of 2019, with a double fence, cattle panel and horse panel, was another buck. The doe was notorious for "picking" her buck but I never dreamed in a million years that she would go as far as to back up to the fence and get bred, especially when she had a service buck with her! How do we know this, the actual baby daddy does not have DNA on file but his sire does, there are matching markers. However the kicker is that ADGA cannot exclude the baby daddy via ancestor nor confirm because only 1st Gen DNA is accepted. Sucks for me and all of my hard work and pairings.
The lesson here is 2 fold.
1st and foremost, ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN!
2nd, DNA Your animals, even if you are just sure and oblivious.
Do I wish I had not done the DNA? Of course because I love what I have created. Would I do it again, of course because I believe in the system. Does it suck that my animals have a pedigree stain, obviously.
I however am not afraid of recorded grades, these are very nice animals. The actual baby daddy is just as spectacular and now the udders really do make sense. I will keep the semen, for now. The living polled buck will stay, he makes beautiful polled babies.
It is by some miracle that no breeding stock was sold and no semen was traded, so this affects noone else.
DNA YOUR ANIMALS, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. Goats will figure out a way every time.

02/07/2026

It has been such a mild winter. The greenhouse flowers look great. I have had to water them twice already. Next time I will be fertilizing

01/16/2026

We have confirmed bred does..the ones that I planned, not the ones the does and bucks planned.
Raya and Livingston will hopefully create something special for 2027 Nationals. Due June 19, 2026.