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FROM the WEBSITE:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has elected to destroy a healthy flock of rare heritage breed Shropshire sheep at Wholearth Farmstudio, a Northumberland County farm that conserves heritage livestock genetics. If the 44 animals are killed, the breed will be several steps closer to extinction with only 107 registered breeding females, 38 ewe lambs and 16 rams remaining in Canada. At one time the Shropshire was the preferred sheep breed in North America, with over a half a million registered animals. The Wholearth flock bloodlines trace back to their 1882 descendants by way of the first Shropshire sheep imported here from England at the turn of the century.
Heritage breed farmer/shepherd Montana Jones has spent the last 12 years preserving their rare genetics and is alarmed that despite lab results proving her entire flock tested negative for scrapie, CFIA officials have decided to ‘depopulate’ all of her beloved QQ genotyped sheep. Sheep that have a QQ genotype are considered less resistant to scrapie, however that does not necessarily mean those animals would ever acquire it.
Almost extinct
CFIA recently destroyed 50 sheep at Coyote Acres farm in Alberta, after discovering a scrapie positive sheep there two years ago. CFIA’s investigation team has no definitive answers as to the original source of the Alberta farm infection, but is now targeting the Ontario farm flock because the Alberta case was allegedly found in a sheep born in the Wholearth flock more than 5 years ago. It was one of many tissues submitted for testing and concerns have arisen surrounding possible misidentification. Scrapie is not a human health risk but can affect the productivity of affected sheep and the CFIA mandate is to eradicate the disease.
FROM the WEBSITE:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has elected to destroy a healthy flock of rare heritage breed Shropshire sheep at Wholearth Farmstudio, a Northumberland County farm that conserves heritage livestock genetics. If the 44 animals are killed, the breed will be several steps closer to extinction with only 107 registered breeding females, 38 ewe lambs and 16 rams remaining in Canada. At one time the Shropshire was the preferred sheep breed in North America, with over a half a million registered animals. The Wholearth flock bloodlines trace back to their 1882 descendants by way of the first Shropshire sheep imported here from England at the turn of the century.
Heritage breed farmer/shepherd Montana Jones has spent the last 12 years preserving their rare genetics and is alarmed that despite lab results proving her entire flock tested negative for scrapie, CFIA officials have decided to ‘depopulate’ all of her beloved QQ genotyped sheep. Sheep that have a QQ genotype are considered less resistant to scrapie, however that does not necessarily mean those animals would ever acquire it.
Almost extinct
CFIA recently destroyed 50 sheep at Coyote Acres farm in Alberta, after discovering a scrapie positive sheep there two years ago. CFIA’s investigation team has no definitive answers as to the original source of the Alberta farm infection, but is now targeting the Ontario farm flock because the Alberta case was allegedly found in a sheep born in the Wholearth flock more than 5 years ago. It was one of many tissues submitted for testing and concerns have arisen surrounding possible misidentification. Scrapie is not a human health risk but can affect the productivity of affected sheep and the CFIA mandate is to eradicate the disease.
Last edited by Cathyjk on Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
