Hi Grace,
I wanted to make some comments after reading your article. I haven't read
the article by Judith Mackenzie Macuin, so can't comment on her point of
view.
I don't worm my herd of goats (five different breeds) or my sheep routinely,
nor do I vaccinate. I do dip navel cords because I am currently overcrowded
and conditions in the barn not as clean as I'd like. When I move this Fall
to a larger barn, I'll set up kidding/lambing pens and probably won't dip
cords -- or use a milder concentration of iodine. The 7% that used to be
recommended does cause tissue damage.
My animals are all rudely healthy (with one recent exception, which has
nothing to do with vaccines or antibiotic use so I won't go into it here)
and live to be a ripe old age. They are vigorous and growthy, and I've
never found a dead or dying anything at any life-stage.
It is interesting to me, in paying close attention to the experiences of
other goat and sheep producers over the years, that the presence of
clostridial diseases seems to be every bit as problematic, if not more so,
in flocks/herds that are routinely vaccinated with CD&T. The timing and
dosage is so critical to conferring immunity that owners and veterinarians
alike differ in their recommended approach, only to struggle anyway with
repeated episodes of entero. I've never had a single case of entero, and
prefer to prevent outbreaks by focusing on diet and healthy rumens. I do
keep on hand C&D antitoxin and antibiotics for use in an emergency, but
haven't had to go that route, ever, in almost fifteen years.
I'm pretty sure most shepherds would use antibiotics in case of a bacterial
infection. I'm always surprised, though, at the number of folks who still
don't attempt to ascertain that an infection is indeed bacterial in origin
before automatically administering antibiotics, though.
I don't think it's a secret that anthelmintics are too often overused and/or
inappropriately used. I think it could be considered inhumane to routinely
dose an animal with a toxic anthelmintic when not needed. As Holly pointed
out,
there are other ways to manage parasites that can be used instead of, or at
least in conjunction with, appropriately used anthelmintics. I use fecals to
determine what, if any, parasites are a problem. My goats/sheep graze on a
tiny bit of pasture also grazed by horses. They are essentially dry-lotted
the rest of the time, and fed hay from mangers. When I have more pasture,
I'll be learning the ins-and outs of pasture rotation as well as finding out
which parasites are problematic in my (new) area, and continuing to raise
animals that are resistant.
I feel that blindly trusting "science" is every bit as naive as having a
knee-jerk reaction (either for or against) a buzzword like "organic". We
shouldn't forget that our chemically-dependent approach to raising livestock
(and agriculture in general) did not arise because of any concern for the
comfort
of the animals or concern for the environment -- they arose in response to
intensive farming pressures/methods that didn't consider comfort of
individual animals at all, but were entirely production-driven. If you look
closely at the current state of purpose-driven scientific research and the
funding thereof,
it's difficult to feel comfortable with conclusions of any particular
studies without close scrutiny. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit more
than common sense to navigate the complexities of current scientific
research, and even then it's best, I think, to remind ourselves that we
just don't really know what we're doing!
Microbiologists estimate that there are somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000
microbes in each teaspoon of soil -- tiny animals, plants and fungi, many
unnamed, many not yet even counted. There hasn't been enough scientific
research on
the long-range effects of of toxic pesticides on soil biota. We do know,
though, that the healthier and more diverse those microbes are, the
healthier plants are and the better they grow. I believe it is incumbent
upon any responsible farmer to use chemicals as infrequently and as
prudently as possible. That goes, of course, for any so-called "natural"
methods, too.
Margot Grim
Grim's Faerytale Farm
Woodinville, WA
_________________________________________________________________
Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN
http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm
To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
