There are more than two million goats in the United States. However, there is no licensed vaccine in the US to protect goats from rabies. To provide some level of protection, many goat owners can now have their veterinarian vaccinate their goats using a rabies vaccine labeled for use in other species. But these vaccines are not officially approved for goats. Boards of health and fair boards in many communities do not recognize goats as being vaccinated for, or safe from, rabies - whether or not they have been vaccinated with an unapproved rabies vaccine. As a result, some localities across the country have banned contact between goats and the public - during farm tours, at county and state fairs, and at petting zoos.

How Goat-Lovers Can Help! Many Thanks to our Supporters! Research goats eating their grain.

A Possible Solution - get goats on the label The Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine collaborated with an established vaccine manufacturer to seek United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval to extend the label of their currently licensed livestock rabies vaccine to include goats. This effort was generously supported by the goat industry, goat owners and goat lovers and the Department of Agriculture and Markets of the State of New York. The aim of all involved was to protect goats and the public against rabies. The vaccine trial was conducted in 1999 and 2000. If it had been successful, the next step would have been to apply for official licensure and approval for use of this vaccine in goats.  The research goats for this vaccine trial were a mixture of Boer, dairy, and pygmy breeds. In the spring of 2000 they came to the end of the 12 month waiting period between vaccination with an intentionally low potency batch of vaccine and testing to verify that the vaccine has protected them from rabies. The vaccine manufacturer covered the costs of the very expensive challenge trial with live rabies virus. Vaccinated goats and unvaccinated control goats that had been housed with them for the preceding 16 months were all challenged with live virus. They were housed in a safe facility and observed for 3 months for signs of rabies. Unfortunately, even though a sufficient percentage of the vaccinated goats were resistant to the rabies challenge, not enough of the control goats developed the disease to meet the specifications for licensure. The trial proved that the vaccine provided significant protection compared to unvaccinated goats but this was not enough to meet the stringent government rabies vaccine standards. The drug company has not decided if it will participate in a second vaccine trial. Another group of goats would need to be assembled, vaccinated, and housed for a year. A slightly more severe viral challenge might be successful in achieving the necessary number of cases in the control group. On the other hand, it might be a better strategy to propose two vaccinations one month apart to increase the antibody response of the vaccinated goats and permit a higher challenge that would override the apparent partial natural resistance of unvaccinated goats to this disease. Until definite arrangements are made to begin a second trial, we at Cornell are not actively soliciting donations for this project. Do please keep us in mind in the future, as goats still need to get on the label!  The hay is always greener in the next pen!    Bleeding to check concentration of rabies antibodies in the vaccinated goats over the 12 month research period.