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Sheep Health Committee
April 5, 2005 

The Sheep and Goat Health Committee met on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM CST, during the NIAA 2005 Annual Meeting in St. Paul Minnesota, with 40 people present.  Dr. Cindy Wolf served as the Chair and Dr. LaRue Johnson served as the Vice-Chair.

The committee session focused on issues and diseases of interest to the sheep and goat industries.  The following speakers presented relevant information pertaining to these topics.

Dr. Susan McClanahan, Q-Fever: Q-Fever is a significant zoonosis of unknown prevalence in this country.  Known carriers are sheep, goats, cervids, cattle, dogs and cats. Animal and human cases were presented with the suggestion that we need to learn more about this pathogen.

Dr. Meg Oeller, Plans and activities of the newly formed Office of Minor Use Minor Species as it pertain to Sheep and Goats: Dr. Oeller reviewed the historical background regarding Minor Use Minor Species legislation and the formation of the office of Minor Use Minor Species. She explained the system and purpose of OMUMS and welcomed any suggestions for drugs that seeking approval for sheep and goat use.

Dr. LaRue Johnson, Overview of "foreign animal diseases" that potentially threaten sheep and goats in the USA including an orientation to the existing materials (CDs) dealing with the subject: Dr. Johnson cited the 3 most useful references for learning about and staying current regarding sheep and goat foreign animal diseases.  

•  “Gray Book” produced by USAHA and available online,

• “Color Atlas of Diseases and Disorders of the Sheep and Goat” Linklater KA, Smith MC; Mosby-Year Book Europe Limited, England. A very thorough color atlas of lesions

• Jim Reynolds PowerPoint presented at 2004 ADGA meeting. http://www.aasrp.org

Dr. Mike Bishop, Use of RFID in Sheep Operations, Sales and Shows: Tags, Readers and Computer Software: Dr. Bishop outlined the WLIC funded Sheep ID project. The objectives of this project are:  To date the investigators are testing 5 EID tags (134.2 kHz and 13.56 MHz) and readers. They will continue to investigate the function of EID in ewes and lambs including 600 show lambs.

Drs. Diane Sutton and Gary Ross, Review of the Accelerated Scrapie Eradication Program Activities: Dr. Sutton presented the Eradication Program statistics. Dr. Ross presented information on the DNA collection tags. He also presented the application of the handheld computerized field equipment as well as proposed refinements for the future (use of the digital pen looks promising).  Dr. Sutton distributed a USDA memo explaining details of the transition from Scrapie flock ID number to the NAIS premises number.

Vince Maefsky, A visit to a large goat dairy in the USA: Vince Maefsky chronicled the 40-year development of the Poplar Hill Goat Dairy. His slide-based farm tour and wit was informative and appreciated by all.

Dr. Cindy Wolf, UK Sheep Electronic ID activities: How the US can benefit from the UK experience: Dr. Wolf presented a brief synopsis of a fact-finding trip to the UK to learn about the UK’s EID/EDT field trials. It appears the EID/EDT technology needs improvement to be relied in an everyday farm setting. Continued communication with British colleagues in this field will be valuable. 

Old Business: None

New Business:

• The existing five resolutions were reaffirmed

• One resolution regarding Johne’s disease was developed and accepted

General discussion: None

Committee Session adjourned at 5:45 pm.