Sheep slaughter by CFIA

This seems to be happening to family farms across Canada more and more. And it's tragic. The sad thing is that the CFIA doesn't seem to be considering other options other than killing farmers animals. These animals were healthy, and so were the ones they took before. It seems as though this poor lady is being bullied. I couldn't imagine. And the healthy meat on these perfectly healthy lambs goes to an incinerator instead of a freezer. Aweful all around.

I'm thinking of getting into a sheep farm and this makes me want to think twice.

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I've been following the story for awhile, its actually pretty terrifying. Whats to stop them from going after heritage chickens? Who's to say they dont decide that all Chanteclairs have gene sequences that make them suseptable to Bird Flu? There goes the ONLY Canadain created breed of chicken.

I sent an e-mail to the CFIA requesting information. Will be interesting to see if I hear back from them.

This was first discussed here:

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You guys do know that Scripe (sp?) is like Mad cow dessie. I am thinking about getting into lamb. And have decided that if i do i well get my sheep tested to detrime which ones are could get scraipe and cull those when i have replacements. This is a reportable dessise. And CFIA did offer a rare breed plan (and they have those plans). How ever the owner of the flock (first cull) did not take them up on that offer.


I have no symponthy for her....

And i have got this information from the federual minister of Ag.

I understand the seriousness of the disease, what was the plan that was offered to her? Thats what I'm currious about, if the plan was reasonable then I would understand.

Swamp Hen wrote:I understand the seriousness of the disease, what was the plan that was offered to her? Thats what I'm currious about, if the plan was reasonable then I would understand.

The Normal Heritage plan they have. I can't tell you what it is because i don't know. But i know she was offered well over MV (1200/sheep) and the rare breed plan. They were gonna work with her....

A long trail of information on this issue can be found on the net. The key is to find the unbiased sources.

I did receive a response, here's what they said.

"Thank you for your message.

Scrapie has been confirmed in the quarantined sheep flock. This is the second case of scrapie associated with this farm.
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Information on the protocols followed for all scrapie cases can be found at:
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Compensation may be withheld if there are violations of the Health of Animals Act or Regulations during quarantine or disease control measures.

Thank you for using the CFIA web site."


This is taken from the second link they added.
"All sheep and goats aged 12 months and younger that may have been exposed to an infected birthing environment are ordered slaughtered at an abattoir. Meat from these animals may enter the marketplace. According to Health Canada, there is no known link between scrapie and human health.

Research shows that sheep with a particular genetic makeup are more at risk of developing scrapie. Therefore, exposed adult sheep are subjected to a blood test, and those determined to be at high risk for scrapie are destroyed and disposed of. The animals considered to be at low risk for the disease remain on the farm.

Genetic profiles that can consistently predict a high risk of developing scrapie have not yet been developed for goats, therefore all adult goats on the farm must be humanely destroyed and disposed of.

When the CFIA district veterinarian determines which animals on a farm must be destroyed, he or she issues an "order for destruction." It outlines what is to be destroyed, as well as the method of destruction and what will be provided to you in compensation.

Common disposal methods include slaughter at an abattoir for animals less than 12 months of age, burial on the farm or at another site*, controlled rendering or incineration. Within scrapie control procedures, all associated destruction, disposal and transportation costs may be covered by the CFIA."

So. Im still a little currious why the four lambs were recently also marked for testing/destruction, were they offspring of the infected sheep that died? And I'm interested to find information on this "Heritage Plan," if indeed it was a reasonable proposal, she is completely in the wrong. I'll e-mail them back and see what they say.

Newest response regarding the "Heritage Plan" and as to why the four lambs were recently also taken.

"The CFIA can'r release details of about proposed arrangements made by an individual producer or discussions affecting quarantine status.

The following measures are applied to premises with scrapie, as outlined at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All sheep and goats aged 12 months and younger that may have been exposed to an infected birthing environment are ordered slaughtered at an abattoir.

Research shows that sheep with a particular genetic makeup are more at risk of developing scrapie. Therefore, exposed adult sheep are subjected to a blood test, and those determined to be at high risk for scrapie are destroyed and disposed of. The animals considered to be at low risk for the disease remain on the farm"

Not sure why they did not take the lambs in the first raid (where someone removed a large number of the condemed sheep, but apparently not these lambs?) But regardless.

What exactly did the CFIA offer the owner in the "Heritage Plan?" I find it strange that the CFIA will not discuss with the public any agreements to keep animals that might be harbering a horrible disease. I'm inclinded to think the offer was rather rediculous, like housing the animals indoors in stainless steel facilities for 5 years or something. But, again, if not, and the CFIA is indeed acting reasonably, why not tell people? I'll try e-mailing the flocks owner, see what she says about their offer.

P.s. If people have no interest in the outcome of my little research project, I can persue it on my own and not clutter the forum

Swamp Hen wrote:Newest response regarding the "Heritage Plan" and as to why the four lambs were recently also taken.

"The CFIA can'r release details of about proposed arrangements made by an individual producer or discussions affecting quarantine status.

The following measures are applied to premises with scrapie, as outlined at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All sheep and goats aged 12 months and younger that may have been exposed to an infected birthing environment are ordered slaughtered at an abattoir.

Research shows that sheep with a particular genetic makeup are more at risk of developing scrapie. Therefore, exposed adult sheep are subjected to a blood test, and those determined to be at high risk for scrapie are destroyed and disposed of. The animals considered to be at low risk for the disease remain on the farm"

Not sure why they did not take the lambs in the first raid (where someone removed a large number of the condemed sheep, but apparently not these lambs?) But regardless.

What exactly did the CFIA offer the owner in the "Heritage Plan?" I find it strange that the CFIA will not discuss with the public any agreements to keep animals that might be harbering a horrible disease. I'm inclinded to think the offer was rather rediculous, like housing the animals indoors in stainless steel facilities for 5 years or something. But, again, if not, and the CFIA is indeed acting reasonably, why not tell people? I'll try e-mailing the flocks owner, see what she says about their offer.

P.s. If people have no interest in the outcome of my little research project, I can persue it on my own and not clutter the forum

I don't find it strange at. IT could on a case to case basis. And CFIA does not want a to back them selfs in to a corner. They have a team of vets and scients. i am sure and there heritage plan would be based on what they tell them. Some time querntine could be an option. For how long that depends. You well be getting a biased opion from the flock owner.

I find it disturbing that there is no proof by the authorities or otherwise that this flock has scrapie. The flock was put under a three year quarantine. No scrapie. Animals have been destroyed and tested. No scrapie. I understand the severity of the disease, but there has not been a single animal on the farm that has been sick. The initial claim by the authorities said an animal sold from the farm developed scrapie three years after it had been sold. The path of infection could have come from the destination farm soil, as scrapie persists in the soil for many years, from the transport vehicle, from the destination flock.

I also understand the genetics part, and that may have made the transported sheep more suceptable to catching scrapie from the destination farm environment, but what about this. What if those large poultry corporations insert a gene into thier parent flocks that say makes the birds resistant to say avian flu. And then the authorities decide that this new flu resistant strain of poultry is safer and better, and demands that all heritage flocks be destroyed because they haven't had the gene inserted. If they are going to do that with heritage breeds of sheep that naturally have different genetics, is it really do far fetched that it's not going to happen with a future GMO chicken?

I look forward to hearing what Montana has to say.

Islandgal, I agree, it is scary. Even if an individual animal does not have the "resistant" genes, does that mean their entire genetic makeup is worthless? I'm not sure of the transmittion path of that particular gene, but a couple generations of carefull breeding should result in offspring with the "resistant" gene. Also, as I understand it, the gene only codes for resistance, not imunity.

This is taken from Wikipedia's entry on Scrapie. "Breeds such as Cheviot and Suffolk are more susceptible to scrapie than other breeds.[11] Specifically, this is determined by the genes coding for the naturally occurring prion proteins. The most resistant sheep have a double set of "ARR" alleles, while sheep with the "VRQ" allele are the most susceptible.[12] A simple blood test reveals the allele of the sheep, and many countries are actively breeding away the VRQ allele."
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If I'm reading the first link right, there was one confirmed case at the farm. "April 27, 2012: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the presence of scrapie in a quarantined sheep flock in Eastern Ontario. The disease was confirmed in a sheep that recently died on the farm" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Call Ducks: If thats true, the plan stipulations should be available to the public. That kind of closed door policy making often results in the general public loosing out. If the CFIA offers a plan based on science and veterinary advice, would other producers not benifit from it? The more information about controll proceedures that is available, the more likely people might be to be in a better position to weather an outbreak.
From what I have read (all biased in favour of the flock) the flock had been under quarenteen for quite some time.
And as for Biases, thats why I'm contacting both major parties.

If testing had proven without a doubt that there was the existence of scrapie in these animals, there would not have been this huge public outcry. We can all understand the need to destroy diseased animals in order to save the larger population. But in this case there are too many unanswered questions. Destroying uninfected animals is a horrible tragedy, and these are indeed rare genetics we are talking about.

I guess I have a bit of a personal interest in this because the flock owned by Montana Jones - the Wholearth Shropshire flock was established by my husband's relatives, John Miller and his son Robert who first brought them to Canada in 1882 from England. 4 generations of Millers have continued the work with this breed on the original home farm, refining and perfecting them. Robert Miller was inducted in to the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1980 for "his incredible work in enhancing the breeds of sheep, horses, cattle and pigs and his efforts in breed education and selection". If anyone is interested in reading a bit more about this, there is a good write-up here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I think its good to be reminded of the personal side of all this scrapie politics and the media circus surrounding it.

Sadly, Robert Miller has now passed away. While he was alive he would write us long letters and we enjoyed his occasional phone calls from Ontario. When we were married he sent us a beautiful set of his hand-carved wooden egg cups for a wedding gift.

Traditional Rare breeds are not like commercial animals. They are not disposable or replaceable. We are talking about generations of families, spending lifetimes pouring their hearts into a specific breed. That is not something to throw away without proof beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I agree that any person is going to have their own version of the truth.

However, having grown up through the PVYn potato debacle, I am certainly not willing to blindly accept the CFIA explanation either. A lot of farmers lost their operations due to that mistake.

Alberta has a mandatory sheep tagging program and premise identification program. It was instituted without any input from the producers. As of January this year, it is now in effect. Any animals transported must have a radio frequency ear tag which can be monitored from a remote viewing station. If a small farmer sells a few ewes to his neighbour 5 km away and delivers those sheep without an ear tag and they are caught along the way by the ear tag police, a rather large fine can be issued. Along with the ID tagging program, now all abattoirs and livestock handling facilities (auctions) cannot accept animals not tagged with the ID program tags, which by the way are very expensive. (Initial reimbursement of some cost was offered to offset the new tags).
This mandatory tagging system is projected to extend to all livestock. Implications are enormous for a small producer. In the USA it is NAIS and it is being fought by many small farmers. We should be fighting it too here in Canada.

Where would I find information about this program, Fat Ewe? My new Shetlands all arrived double ear tagged and this spring I will need to know where to get all this extra equipment.

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That is the website for Alberta Lamb Producers and the link to the program plus information.

I have refused to join the program, boycotted the ID tags, and refused the premise identification as well. I am trying to find feed directly from the farmers so I do not have to give my name and address (another tactic to control producers).
If you are interested in complying Sue, you can find information on the link above. Good luck with that.

I know about the premise ID. Is the ear tag program linked to that? If you are not signed up to premise ID does the ear tag program still apply?

Hmm, maybe this should be in a thread of its own.

Premise ID is not officially linked to the mandatory sheep tagging. Sheep were just the first animals chosen, but the proposal is all, ALL, like every breed, of livestock will eventually be in the program. It could extend easily to radio legbands for poultry and waterfowl. Currently the premise ID is tracking those who purchase livestock feed, not just for sheep, but all livestock. Canadian Woolgrowers in Lethbridge is selling the official tags.
I am sorry for getting off the topic. There is lot of information available. The protest date for the program has come and gone. Funny, but I did not receive a reply to my protest letter.