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- the bad tag
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- New correct ear tag
I am in the voluntary scrapie enrollment program. My farm is VT-56. I got my farm number after I registered my premise with the USDA and as such, my flock is identified in the NAIS database (national animal identification system). As a participant in the Voluntary scrapie program, our State Vet, Todd Johnson comes out to the house and takes an inventory of my flock. We count sheep and if a new sheep is born or purchased it is added to the list. Sold or sheep that have been culled or died are noted as well. I give him a list of where the sheep have come from and where they went.
This past year I purchased Ohio Dawn in New York at a sheep auction. She came from a producer in Ohio. When Todd came out in January we noted the new sheep and her tag. I thought that the sheep had come from a flock that was also in the voluntary program, but was not sure. My status in the program has an enrollment date that is changed if a sheep comes into my flock from a flock that is not in the program. So instead of the date being when I first enrolled, January 07, my date moves up to when I purchased a ewe from a non participating flock. In this case October 2007. To be considered Scrapie free, a farm should have an enrollment date that is 5 years old.
So the change in a couple of months didn’t bother me to much. I figured in the first year I could still purchase ewes to build my flock up then I would close my flock.
But then Todd called a couple of weeks later and told me that the tags in the ear of the sheep from Ohio did not match the tags from the farm I purchased the sheep from. And the tags in the ear indicated that the sheep had come from a farm that had been under quarantine for scrapie. UGH.
If true, then my flock would go under quarantine that would begin a process where the sheep would be tested individually for the disease and culled if needed. I would then continue to be in a mandatory monitoring program for several years. I would not be allowed to sell my sheep and I would have to close my farm down. Not because the USDA would make me, but because I can’t afford to stay in business if I can’t sell breeding stock. Lets be clear. The USDA would only cull sheep that were found positive for the disease. Not the whole flock.
There was another concern. I had sold two ewes from my flock and the sheep from Ohio had lambed prior to one of the sales. The other sale was of a second ewe that I purchased at the same time as mine, and that sheep had the same ear tag problem.
It turns out that the two shepherds in Ohio had called the State Vet to order ear tags for their flock. The tag company received the order, printed up the tags and boxed some incorrectly. Tags for one farm went to the other farm, the one where my sheep was born, and that shepherd didn’t catch the mess up when he applied the ear tag. A Federal number has the farm number taken from premise registration and an individual sheep number. Ohio Dawn is from farm OH1108 not OH0851. Her individual number is now 6049.
When a Ohio Vet inspected the sheep for auction, prior to leaving the state of Ohio, the tag mix up was still not caught. He looked at the sheep and noted the tag number that was the farm’s yellow number, not the Federal tag number.
Then at auction in New York, the vet that inspected the ewes prior to leaving the site for Vermont, still did not check the tag correctly. He took the registration number from the pedigree papers instead of actually checking the sheep’s ear with the tag in it. I didn’t look up the farm number either. There is a list on the USDA website, APHIS section that lists all of the farms enrolled in the voluntary scrapie program. There is a link on the blog roll.
The only one who got it right was our state vet, Dr. Todd Johnson. So here is a shout out to you Todd. Dawn is now correctly tagged #6049, thanks to your good work.
