[Jacob-list] Starting off

[Neal and Loise Grose]

Robin and all,
    My guess is that this (Malignant Catarral Fever) is most certainly not common. Our sheep and cows are in nose to nose contact with each other. We have a large dairy herd with the sheep bordered on three sides by cows. [This gives some protection from dogs since the cows will not tolerate a stray dog in the pasture. Oddly, they did NOT pay any attention to the coyote I saw walking through the cow pasture.]
    We have a huge population of White Tailed deer. Several years ago, we blood tested the whole cow herd for several things. One fourth of the cows came back positive for Blue Tongue. This resulted in frantic calls from NC Department of Agriculture about the "outbreak". We have NEVER had a case of Blue Tongue. Sheep should have been a marker species for this disease. 
    
Neal Grose
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: rlynde 
  To: TGI: Alex Jimenez ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 2:28 AM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Starting off


  I hate to be the downer in this discussion of putting all your animals in one place. But I'll never put cattle and sheep together after our tragic experience. There is a virus called Malignant Catarral Fever that is fatal to cattle (and bison and deer) and is carried by sheep. My daughter's Milking Shorthorn heifer died of it a few years ago. I'm looking at the notes I took in talking to a vet from Wash. State:
  "Almost all sheep carry this. The virus is "normal" flora of domestic sheep.
  A bit sporadic. Cattle not as susceptible as deer and bison. Cows more resistant [than calves]. An isolated case here and there. Don't understand factors that determine which will get it.
  Passed by nasal secretions. All sheep shed it some. But there are high shedders that are less than 10% of the population. Some say it's more of an issue at lambing. Others say it's no different then. Lambs don't shed the virus until 6 months.
  A more virulent strain in Africa"
  In our case, the heifer was a few months old--a big, healthy one. She came down with this after letting her run with the sheep for a few days (week?). We eventually ended up at the UC Davis Vet Hospital. Since then I have talked to vet students who have said "Oh, you that was you? I remember hearing about that case". So it's by no means widespread. In fact our vet said that she would NOT change mgt practices based on this incident. But it was an awful disease and death. Our sheep and cattle are separate now and will not be put together again.

  There is (or at least was a few years ago) info about this at www.uwyo.edu/VETSCI/MCF_Q&A

  Robin Lynde
  Meridian Jacobs
  Vacaville, CA
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: TGI: Alex Jimenez 
    To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
    Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 7:50 PM
    Subject: [Jacob-list] Starting off


    Bear with me as I am very new to this. My wife and I purchased a small farm in Fall Creek Oregon about two years ago and we just purchased some Jacob sheep (actually I'm the one that wanted Jacob sheep, my wife wanted regular sheep, I find regular sheep to be too stupid, in fact they get my vote for dumbest animal on the planet. Jacob sheep on the other hand looked like bright, relatively intelligent animals). We are currently raising a small (6 head) herd of cattle and one cashmere nanny goat (my wife's pet). Can Jacobs' be mixed with these animals or will we have to put them in a separate pasture? We currently have two a rams and three ewes. At this time they are all in separate pastures with the rams being kept separate from the ewes. Do Jacobs need a larger flock? When would be a good time to put the rams and ewes together. 

    As you can tell by my questions, I'm somewhat new to this (my wife is a Minnesota farm girl, I'm a New York City street boy. I feel like I'm on Green Acres and unfortunately in the Eva Gabor role!), we've had some success with the cattle and feel we're now ready for sheep, and as I said before Jacob sheep just looked smarter than the regular sheep I see at the auctions. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. 

    alexj at tesseractiongames.com





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