Have a look at this beautiful Shropshire flock…the ewes parading in their early autumn fleece and the newly-shorn mothers with newborn lambs cavorting in the barnyard (background sound of spring peepers <frogs> in the nearby ponds and wetlands) . If CFIA destroys this rare heritage flock, Canada will be one step closer to losing another endangered livestock breed. These farmyard scenes will just be memories…
CFIA News Stories
Toronto Star newspaper Dec 8th, 2011
by Alyshah Hasham/Toronto Star Staff Reporter
She raises the rare heritage breed at no profit in a bid to protect the bloodlines tracing back to some of the first sheep on Canadian shores.
But the fluffy romance of 12 years has become a nightmare, with more than half of her flock of 75 slated for the chopping block for no reason, says the farmer.
Her Wholearth Farmstudio in Hastings, near Peterborough, was put under quarantine and listed as a possible source of infection after a ewe she sold to an Alberta farmer five years ago was diagnosed with scrapie.
Every sheep in her flock tested negative to a live tissue test for the disease, which affects the central nervous system of goats and sheep and has no cure. It’s considered a “reportable disease” by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and any animal infected or suspected of being infected is destroyed.
Since the new live tissue test is only about 85 per cent accurate, the CFIA determined the sheep were still potentially infected and are following their procedure to do a conclusive brain tissue test, she said.
“It’s absolutely ludicrous that they’re doing this,” said Dr. Tom Hutchinson, a professor at Trent University and former chair of Rare Breeds Canada. “They’re getting rid of one of the seriously important sheep that could make a comeback,” he said
The 44 sheep targeted are the ones most genetically susceptible to scrapie, and make up a large portion of Jones’ breeding stock, including five rams. There are only about 132 Shropshire breeding ewes and 21 rams in Canada, said Jones.
The CFIA cannot comment on specific cases but “when rare breeds are concerned, there may be other options available to the producer that may allow for delayed destruction of susceptible animals so as to allow preservation of rare breed genetics,” said CFIA spokesperson Guy Gravelle.
Jones said this means she could sign up for a two-year pilot program to salvage some of the rare genetic material of her flock by mating her sheep with a ram that has low scrapie susceptibility. At the end of the two years, the 44 sheep would be killed anyway.
A case in 2009 where 409 goats and sheep were euthanized was recently documented by Bev Greenwell, the former head of the British Columbia Sheep Federation — the names and location of the farmers were kept secret at their request. No case of scrapie was found in their herd — a common result, she said.
The consequences of a scrapie scare last far longer for the farmers though, she said. “If you get a whiff of getting tested all of sudden your business is gone.”
Also, all the sheep sold by the farm for the past 10 years have to be tracked down and tested as well.
There are very few cases of scrapie in Canada — 11 flocks were diagnosed with the disease in 2010, six were in Quebec.
A $4.5 million national scrapie eradication plan was launched by the federal government in 2010 to determine the prevalence of the disease in sheep and goats in Canada.
Meanwhile, Jones is launching a campaign to persuade the agriculture minister to give her a rare breed exemption.
“I can’t imagine failing to stop CFIA, when they pull up to kill all the sheep,” she said. “I can’t imagine just standing by for it.”
It is an outrage to slaughter such a healthy looking flock. Sick sheep look sick. I breed Shropshires in Australia along with a few other breeders. Fiona Chambers having the largest flock which is now I understand, under the National Trust of Australia. So rare here in Aus I am having trouble getting a ram to breed with for 2012. Someone over in Canada, needs to rethink this ridiculous decision.
Marilyn, perhaps I could better answer what the animal welfare was/is like on the farm where the positive ewe was when she died. It was and is my place. To cast aspersions without even having half the facts is pretty good. If you are this easily swayed then perhaps i could sell you some ocean front property in the outback.
It is so easy to sit on the other side of the world and pass judgement and question my animal husbandry, but I don’t expect you would like me to question yours.
If you would like more facts, this was not the first ewe that died from the group that i bought from Montana. What is more, I never asked Montana for any guarantee, or any compensation. The fact that you are so uneducated to the facts of scrapie and yet so willing to express your opinion, really makes your opinion pretty questionable. Where did you ever get the notion that scrapie is caused by improper care? i would sure like to see the literature that information comes from.
Do you even realize how stupid your statement of if the sheep tested positive for scrapie within 2 or 3 days of her being sold, is? That would mean that the sheep was in the advanced stages of scrapie, and thus the buyer would have to be pretty stupid to purchase a sheep in such condition. I am not that stupid. If you are talking of the live, rectal biopsy or third eyelid tests, then why the hell would anyone not have that done prior to purchasing (if they were going to have it done) than 2 or 3 days after buying the sheep. Once again, they would have to be pretty stupid.
Sick sheep look sick, so by that extrapolation you should never get any disease unless you buy sick looking sheep. Hmmm.. the Australian problem with Johnes comes to mind. Surely you have better stockmen than that. I mean how could it have spread unless your Australian stockmen were buying obviosly sick animals? I know and you know, better than that. Not all diseases or symptoms of a disease are immediately shown, some take time to incubate or develop. So you might want to think it over before you spout off without knowing the facts. To attempt to lay the blame on me, and to slander me is very unethical.