Let's discuss bio security

Bio security what  does this mean to you personally as a livestock producer, one who rises sheep or goats? How many of you have experienced losses in your animals  from diseases that  you innocently brought on your property:

·        through the purchase of already infected animals,

·        by visiting a farm, a livestock auction, a livestock show

·         through the purchase of feedstuffs

·         perhaps through the shearer

·         by bringing in kittens for mouse  control

·         perhaps you have no idea how your animals became infected.

·        Purchasing animals that have a genetic predisposition

When this happens the losses can be devastating .  There re  many common diseases of sheep and goats that a producer must be particularly vigilant . Some of these diseases are:

·        Johne's disease

·        Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis

·        Enzootic Abortion

·        Orf

·        Q fever

·        Scrapie

·        Caseous Lymphadenitis

Bio security is a word conjured up by possibly academics or governmental people that describes measures by which a producer can prevent these devastating diseases. One can be cynical about the use of these terms but this cynicism is quickly lost when a producer becomes a victim to one of these problems.

Many of these problems have far reaching implications as to the viability of the operation involved.

The reason why I am sending out this e-mail to all my contacts and posting this on my blog www.theamazinggoat. blogspot.com is to try and promote this concept of bio security and a healthy discussion about what  you as sheep and goat producers think should be done to prevent these diseases from occurring. Also one has to consider the some of the programs recommended in the prevention of these diseases can be quite costly to the producer. This raises the question who should be paying for some of these procedures. The majority of sheep and goat operations are small and do not have the resources that the large pig and  poultry producers have to implement strict bio security measures