[Jacob-list] Thank Ewe!

[ranchrat at telusplanet.net]

Heel low:

I would like to thank all those who so kindly replied to my request for new 
Jacob genetics
oh my, what an overwhelming response and the selections to 
choose from
I wonder how the Canadian membership is ever going to decide.  I 
say lets bring ALL these Jacobs on over the border for some good ol’ Canadian 
hospitality!  I will have the membership look over all the responses and we 
will try to decide what will be best for the overall breed up here.  

Federal laws here stipulate that sheep imported from the States must be cleared 
of communicatible diseases (a vet is to inspect not only the individuals who 
are being exported, but the entire flock) such as scrapie, scabies and blue 
tongue.  It is “blue tongue” that is the hurdle right now in the testing 
department.  Blue tongue or Catarrhal fever is a viral disease of sheep and 
sometimes cattle, goats, deer, bison and antelopes.  It is not believed to be 
transferable to humans but may on occasion be lethal to the animals.  The 
pathogenic virus (rcoviridac family) is transmitted to animals though insects 
such as biting midges.  It takes only one week for incubation and symptoms such 
as high fever, excessive salivation, nasal discharge, and swelling of the 
tongue and face occurs in about a month.  Animals go off their feed and this 
may be the first symptom the owners notice.  For the warmer States, the E-LISA 
or AGID test is done twice if the animal is exported from Jan 16 to Oct 15 and 
only needs to be done once if exportation is done from Oct 16 to Jan 15.  
Between the two tests, the sheep is to be protected from biting insects and 
housed 200 yards or so away from all other ruminants.  I believe the test is 
done and then redone 30-90 days later
this is a fair length of time.  I have 
not yet done a test like this, so if someone here has, I would be enjoy knowing 
all it entails and the costs.

There are also tattoo and tag requirements to be met and when the sheep hits 
the border, there must be accompanying paperwork that a vet inspection was done 
within the past 30 days.  The importation of sheep to Canada includes a lot of 
interesting requirements and outlays of cash.  We have to have a Canadian 
federal vet inspect the sheep at their point of entry here and will be paying 
brokerage fees (it makes sense to find out in advance what broker will be 
handling the paperwork and forward that on to the people in the States to have 
them fill it all out except, of course, for the exchange rate).  The one good 
item is that sheep are not Goods&Service taxable (GST) so we are at least 
spared that seven percent fee.

With all the importation protocols, the Jacob Sheep Association of Canada may 
be forced to deal with Jacob individuals who posses thick skin, smiley 
optimistic attitudes and a vision of the great good that exporting Jacob 
genetics to Canada will do for the breed as a whole.  ;-)  I expect a few 
surprises, some hair (never wool!) pulling and a few good hearted gut felt 
laughs at the obstacle course cross border relations have to endure.  But hay, 
if we’re half as tough as our sheep, we got them all beat or is that bleat??

Please bear with me as I will try my very best to get back to all who posted me 
in regards to our call for genetics.  Wow what gorgeous Jacobs you Americans 
all have
right on!  I almost feel a twinge of guilt being able to go “shopping” 
amongst such quality!  Hee, hee
you guys rock!

Doggone,

Tara 
-- 
   ____(\                Tara Lee Higgins                  /)____ 
  (_____~>        Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE          <~_____) 
 ( ``  ``          ranchrat at telusplanet.net                ``  `` ) 
  \                       Alberta Canada                         / 
   )  http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ranchrat/index.html     (