[Jacob-list] Hay; Scrapie; Halters; and OPP question

[Lynette Frick]

Hi all,
-*Hay*
The hay problem is pretty bad here in Southern California too. It's
available but you have to pay an arm and a leg. We luckily know some hay
farmers and get it at field prices but that's still 200 a ton since we're
also in a drought. I think we have gotten about *3in.* this year.  Small hay
farmers are getting the bad end of the deal too, with so many larger farmers
in the area the harvesters are cutting and bailing within a day or two on
small farms. They don't like "wasting" their time on those 45 acre
fields. That was ok when the weather was 110 but now its cooler and more
moist, screwing everyone with under 300 acres.
We went and looked at some premium alfalfa hay offered by a friend of ours
but the balers baled it so moist that the leaves looked bruised instead
of dry when we checked a bale. Thankfully he warned us ahead of time. Our
area is number one for # cows per dairy and has many 4,000 to 7,000 head
dairies so that's where most of our hay has gone and for the first time I
have seen more than  10 100+ acre corn fields in the direct vicinity of our
house... and LOTS of green chop. Add that to the superfluous amount of urban
sprawl and horses, and you get this sort of hay vortex, sucking in hay from
*Utah*  and beyond!

-*Scrapie Info.*
As for Scrapie, we are in the voluntary program because of the
flexibility offered. You can sell to anyone, whereas if you are in the
mandatory program you cannot technically sell to someone in the voluntary
program without resetting their status date completely (*we learned this
lesson already, its rather irritating so check where you buy*
http://scrapietag.aphis.usda.gov/reports/sisstate.php ). In CA the tags are
free, you just call your VS branch and ask for the tags and they will send
them in the amount and the numbers that you need if you are enrolled in the
program. They aren't fancy colors and they don't say your farm name but they
are readable and have all the necessary info.
         -*Setting up inspections*
The Inspections are free, you just call your state VS office and ask about
the voluntary scrapie program and set up an apt. with your regional vet.
They are very nice and extremely helpful. You do however need to have the
sheep moved to a small catch pen on inspection day. Our place does not have
sheep handling facilities either so it makes life a little interesting. Make
sure they are somewhere where they can't get a good running start, the vet
will get irritated if they cannot catch the sheep and as we learned last
year Jacobs are rather good at clearing 5 foot fences when they want to.* I
would definitely recommend that all flocks, no matter how small, join
the voluntary
program.*  It won't cost you anything more than a little extra time and the
state vets are extremely useful for more than just scrapie info.

On a another good note, we are proud to say that our flock is the *first* in
California to be switching to the Export Certification program. Which means
that instead of 5, it's 7yrs. and we will be doing 3rd. eyelid prion testing
on all adult individuals, and vet inspection on all culls over 14mo. We
already are in the midst of DNA testing  the whole flock, starting with
rams. Three more years and we will be US certified scrapie free. So in 5
more years we will be able to export hassle free to Canada!

-*Halter breaking*
We like to at least halter break our rams. We use dog collars now because
it's easier to get them on and off than halters. It sure does come in handy
when you have to do anything that requires a vet. We had surgery done on a
ram's eye and the veterinary staff were in awe of his good behavior. They
didn't even knock him out they just used local.

*Q)* How many flocks do whole flock tests or are even concerned about
OPP/CAE?
Just Curious

Its great to get so much input from all across the country, sorry to hear of
your hay woes. I apologise for the book! Hope its informative and not overly
redundant!

Thanks and good luck

Lynette Frick
IDEAL FARM
Jacob Sheep
www.idealjacobsheep.com
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