A Trent University biology professor is working on a project that could help goat producers protect their herds from scrapie.
It's a slow moving, but fatal, degenerative central nervous system disease in sheep and goats.
Professor Bradley White has identified the gene variant responsible for susceptibility to the disease in Ontario dairy goats.
Until now, the only way to test for the disease is after the animal is dead.
There's no treatment or vaccine available for scrapie.
Professor White is working with Ontario Goat to genotype 15 hundred animals in various goat breeds and herds for resistance and sensitivity to the disease.
That testing won't determine whether the animal has scrapie, but will show whether it is predisposed to getting the disease.
The project could ultimately result in breeding strategies producers could use to built herds of scrapie-resistant goats.
The suggestion is that it could also lead to increased use of genomics for selection in the goat industry to include traits for increased milk production and improved feed efficiency.
