[Jacob-list] tags and tracking

[Debbie Bennett]

I originally enrolled in the volunteer scrapie program and was told I 
could borrow or bring in new rams without affecting my status. A year 
later, our state vet informed me that I could not bring in rams without 
affecting my status. I only run a couple dozen ewes, so rather than 
remain at year one forever, I switched my livestock to the mandatory 
scrapie program. I've never seen any information other than the federal 
guidelines, so, I was confused about the "new" ram regulations. Maybe 
there are individual state rules as well.
Debbie Bennett
Feral Fibre
Oakland, Oregon
On Jan 7, 2004, at 7:31 AM, Linda Bjarkman wrote:

> I doubt it, too.  Just passing on something I happened across.  That 
> particular goat
> list is just for Georgia.  Georgia DA standards do say, in regard to 
> scrapie, that
>
>> the state veterinarian reserves the option of applying rules that may 
>> exceed
>> the
>> minimum set forth in the Program Standards. (program standards 
>> referring to the fed
> regs)
>
> When I had the state vet out, he told me that he would not want to 
> accept some
> things that the federal government would permit - such as loaning 
> rams.  I assume
> that is where the goat people got the idea that you could not bring in 
> males from
> unenrolled programs.  I didn't enroll in the program at that time, so 
> I don't really
> know if the state vet was, in fact, applying rules that exceeded the 
> minimum.  I
> think we have a new state vet now.
>
> Linda
>
> On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 14:22:13 +0000, humbug7 at att.net wrote:
>> I doubt that the government can require skin scrapings for your flock 
>> done at
>> your expense.  Especially since this test is not accepted as a "proof 
>> of being
>> scrapie free".  I certainly have not heard mention of this and my 
>> most recent
>> inspection was December 23rd.  Most vets are not able to do this test 
>> due to
>> lack of training.  I certainly would not pay for this test.
>>
>> I'm wondering what the skin scraping is supposed to be testing for?
>>
>> Also, the USDA APHIS website specifically states that the likelihood 
>> of
>> scrapie being transmitted by the ram to the lamb via impregnation is 
>> highly
>> unlikely. Therefore, acquisition of rams (whether or not they are in 
>> the
>> voluntary program) do not affect your start date in the voluntary 
>> program.
>>
>> Ewes, however, are believed capable of transmitting scrapie to their 
>> lamb(s)
>> and will affect your start date.
>>
>>> The TV news stated that quite a number of cattle were to be 
>>> butchered to
>>> insure that the infected cow's calf would be eliminated as they 
>>> weren't sure
>>> which was her calf. A SC newspaper earlier reported that there was 
>>> an effort
>>> going on to locate the infected cow's calf "even though transmission 
>>> from cow
>>> to calf was unlikely."
>>>
>>> I'm sure I'm not getting the whole scoop on this, but something's 
>>> not right
>>> with those reports.
>>>
>>> I thought that the requirement for sheep to be tagged from point of 
>>> origin
>>> went into effect back around 2001.  If you had sheep on your farm in 
>>> 2001 and
>>> they left, they had to have your tags if they were not already 
>>> tagged from
>>> the previous owner.
>>>
>>> I read the following on the Goats list and wondered if anyone else 
>>> has heard
>>> of this
>>>
>>>> We received notice that under the Volunteer Scrapie Program, we 
>>>> will now
>>>> have to have our private vet come out and do skin scrapings on the 
>>>> herd and
>>>> send a letter to the state. In my case, this could be 
>>>> cost-prohibitive of
>>>> remaining on the program--is there anyone else that feels this way? 
>>>> Also, I
>>>> received another notice today about lower-status "rams" being 
>>>> allowed in
>>>> without affecting herd status under certain circumstances. There is 
>>>> an
>>>> inference in the notice that some herds have been allowed to 
>>>> purchase "rams"
>>>> not on the program without losing status--Does anyone know anything 
>>>> about
>>>> this?
>>>
>>> Linda
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:28:52 -0500, Neal and Louise Grose wrote:
>>>
>>>> The cow with BSE almost certainly was tagged and identified in  
>>>> Canada with
>>>> the same system. A beef cow would have been much more difficult  to 
>>>> trace.
>>>> As it was, the governmentS did a lot of shuffling feet and hum 
>>>> hawing
>>>> around. Can you say "consumer confidence?"
>>>>
>>>> Neal Grose ----- Original Message ----- From:    Mary    Hansson 
>>>> To: jacob-
>>>> list at jacobsheep.com Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 4:37    PM 
>>>> Subject:
>>>> [Jacob-list] tags and    tracking
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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