Wild & Wool

[Oak]

Glossy finish aside, this short film is a good introduction to the bighorn sheep disease threat posed by domestic sheep.

I think this particular link will only work for the next three days or so.

 

[Irrelevant]

Great share. I love the glossiness.

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[huronmtns]

Educational for me. Thank you for posting Oak.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

So whatever happened to the Shirts brothers? I can empathize with them, but I think it was the right decision to vacate the grazing allotment.

 

[Bambistew]

So at the end they talk about using antibiotics in domestics to clear M.Ovi. I distinctly remember listening to Dr. Wolfe explain that it wasn't possible to treat with modern medicine? That was a couple years ago, however. This is awesome if these trials pan out and its true that it can be treated.

 

[Oak]

So at the end they talk about using antibiotics in domestics to clear M.Ovi. I distinctly remember listening to Dr. Wolfe explain that it wasn't possible to treat with modern medicine? That was a couple years ago, however. This is awesome if these trials pan out and its true that it can be treated.

The experimental treatment referenced involves multi-day, intensive therapies for each individual, including sinus flushes with strong, high-dose antibiotics. As Helen says at 19:45, it's only a realistic solution for small-scale operations. In general, I think we should be wary of using antibiotics in this fashion due to the likelihood of the bacteria developing antibiotic resistance.

 

[Oak]

So whatever happened to the Shirts brothers? I can empathize with them, but I think it was the right decision to vacate the grazing allotment.

Frank Shirts is still in business. Ron lost his permits in 2007 and left the domestic sheep industry.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Frank Shirts is still in business. Ron lost his permits in 2007 and left the domestic sheep industry.

Where is Franks allotment at?

 

[Oak]

Where is Franks allotment at?

I'm not familiar enough with that area to answer. Some digging would be necessary to find what permits he has left.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I'm not familiar enough with that area to answer. Some digging would be necessary to find what permits he has left.

More curious than anything. It makes me wonder if Ron went out of business as a martyr, or the offered alternatives were truly unworkable.

 

[marshman]

Thanks for sharing this, really care about sheep. I wound up hunting deer on a sheep grazing allotment in the Sawtooths. Not really were you want to be hunting at all. The land and vegetation completely wiped out, there must have been thousands of sheep in there to do the damage they did.

 

[TheTone]

Skeleton weed seems to be doing great and expanding all the time in Idaho, those domestics must not be doing the job...

 

[Oak]

An article relevant to the ID domestic sheep industry:

Sheep industry in peril; Idaho poised to lose $42M in revenue

Idaho Wool Growers Association (IWGA) announces the Idaho sheep industry is in dire straits due to the pandemic and needs help.

www.idahocountyfreepress.com

One from UT last week:

How the coronavirus is devastating sheep ranchers

The sheep industry in Utah and across the United States has been hit dramatically from the coronavirus pandemic, which is destroying the markets for lamb meat and wool. Some ranching operations may not survive.

www.deseret.com

 

[Irrelevant]

An article relevant to the ID domestic sheep industry:

Sheep industry in peril; Idaho poised to lose $42M in revenue

Idaho Wool Growers Association (IWGA) announces the Idaho sheep industry is in dire straits due to the pandemic and needs help.

www.idahocountyfreepress.com

One from UT last week:

How the coronavirus is devastating sheep ranchers

The sheep industry in Utah and across the United States has been hit dramatically from the coronavirus pandemic, which is destroying the markets for lamb meat and wool. Some ranching operations may not survive.

www.deseret.com

I certainly don't like to see people's livelihoods disappear, but I've through the US needs to ditch sheep for a long time. Let Australia and NZ have the sheep market.

 

[Elkmagnet]

In general, I think we should be wary of using antibiotics in this fashion due to the likelihood of the bacteria developing antibiotic resistance.

I agree.
The counter argument is that large scale animal and dairy production is using imo. more antibiotics than most would realize.
Its common for a large dairy operation to cut Pfizer a check in the 100-200k range every month.
The meat production industry is estimated to use 70%+ of all antibiotics and the majority is feed to animals in a constant low doses to increase meat production not treat illness (this is perfect for creating resistance). Over the last 10 years the U.S. has taken steps to limit this practice by requiring it to be medically necessary and have veterinarian approval but these producers have veterinarian's on staff so it is only marginally effective.
Other countries like...China are creating resistant bacteria and bringing it here with reckless abandon. It is estimated china feed's 80 million lbs of antibiotics to swine and poultry a year.
This largely goes under the radar because there's a cooling off period before a treated animal can produce food. Making it safe to eat.
I don't say this to criticize meat/dairy. It is necessary to feed the population.

The key to minimizing resistance in the treatment of infection is to have a effective course of treatment and to follow the course exactly. You cannot stop treatment a day early, miss a treatment or give lighter doses. If you were to stop the antibiotic early you may have killed the easiest and most susceptible individual bacterium but left a few individuals who were best suited to survive the treatment. This will allow those individual bacterium to multiply and spread a more resilient strain.

I would say that an aggressive treatment of sheep would likely be irrelevant in the matter.