Shropshire breeders blame health care
COCHRANVILLE -
Acrylics, polyesters’ Many
agriculturists will site ar
tificial fibers as the primary
cause of the decline in the
sheep industry, but at least
one group, the Penn
sylvania-Maryland Shrops
hire Association feels that
veterinary scientists
through neglect have been
contributors to the troubles
of the sheep business.
These sheep producers
want to do something about
If you keep sheep, the next
tune one of your lambs dies,
you should think, “perhaps
this loss didn’t have to be,”
Annette Menhennett of the
PRICES SHOWN ARE GOODYEAR SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICES SEE ANY OF THE INDEPENDENT DEALERS LISTED
BUCK
Wenger Implement Co
Ph 284-4141
ELM
Shotzberger's Farm Machinery
Ph 665-2141
Penn-Mar
organization counsels
“You also should think
about the $7O loss to your
profit ledger,” she adds
“It’s dead lambs, culled
ewes, and barren ewes that
are literally destroying the
sheep industry because they
rob the shepherd of his
profits ”
Figures are hard to
document, but Clair Engle,
sheep specialist of Penn
sylvania’s Cooperative
Extension Service often uses
12 to 15 percent as the rate of
lamb losses in the Com
monwealth’s flocks A
survey done recently by the
Animal Health Economics
Unit of the University of
BELOW FOR HIS PRICE AND CREDIT TERMS
GOODfVEAR
Goodyear Tiros Distributed by P. Lebzelter & Son Co.. Lancaster
for many sheep problems
Pennsylvania's School of
Veterinary Medicine found
seven percent of the state’s
sheep population dies on the
farm each year.
Infertility, loss of con
dition or diseases cause the
shepherd to cull another 10
percent while 3.8 percent of
the ewes are barren an
nually.
These last three figures
represent a loss of 10,200
ewes each year or a potential
crop of 20,000 lambs. In
dollars and cents at current
market prices that’s a loss to
our sheep producers of
$1,300,000.
If 12 percent of the lambs
die before they can be
marketed, this is a loss m
Shrop
INTERC
ur:
C.B Hoober & Son
Ph 768-8231
LANCASTER
L H Brubaker. Inc
Ph 397-5179
P Lebzelter & Son
Ph. 299-3794
Pennsylvania of 7200 lambs.
These lambs would bring the
producers $504,000. Together
with the above losses sheep
producers have lost nearly
two million dollars.
The Shropshire breeders
want to change this
situation. Under the
leadership of Annette
Menhennett of Cochranvillc,
that group has been urging
the School of Veterinary
Medicine to add an ovine
specialist to their faculty.
On July 10,1978 soon after
the Shrop group began
making overtures to the
Dean of the Veterinary
School, Dean Marshak
acknowledged, “My faculty
are only too well aware of
IHANIC
Grumelli Farm Service
Ph 786-7318
ILL
R S Hollinger & Son
Ph 285-4538
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 6,1980—C31
our deficiencies in this
important area.”
Since then he has
repeatedly stated that the
ovine position is a matter of
high priority, but no funds
are available to initiate this
program. Similarly the
Secretary of Agriculture and
the Cooperative Extension
Service have been unable to
offer financial assistance.
In essence, Mrs.
Menhennett says she feels
these authorities are signing
the death warrant for the
sheep industry.
“You can have all kinds of
“Blueprints for Expansion”,
but they won’t revive the
industry unless the producer
can make a decent profit. ’ ’
One researcher. Dr
Michael Magno, who has
been doing cardiovascular
pulmonary research at the
Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania in attempting
to buy healthy lambs for his
project has found half the
animals to have pneumonia,
pleural adhesions or lung
abscesses.
These lambs may make it
to reproductive age, but
their longevity and lifetime
production will be
drastically shortened, and
more of the producer’s
profits will die with them.
Consider the baby lambs
that die, Mrs. Menhennett
urges. Pneumonia, star
vation, hypothermia (cold
stress) are all expounded as
the cause of death, and all
are related At least one
pathologist believes there
etnwt innH J
v.
►<"•,
v oo^V^
DARI-KOOL
USED TANKS
400 gal. Mueller
500 gal D-2Girton
600 gal D-2 Girton
600 gal Jamesway,
model (nice)
625 gal Sunset
625 gal Jamesway
665 gal Zero w/5 h p com
pressor 2 yrs old - like
new
Used 3 & 5 HP Lehigh Compressors.
For Diesel Set-Up ,
24 Horn; Refrigeration Service .
' ★ Work Guaranteed ★'
• PLANNING LAYOUTS • SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE
SHEIK'S FARM SERVICE
501 E. WOODS DRIVE. LITITZ, PA 17543
PH: 717-626-1151
• Bulk Tanks • Therma«Stor
Our Service Trucks Are Radio Dispatched
24 Hr. Service Offered
may be predisposing factors
like metritis (uterine in
fection of the ewe), sep
ticemia, malnounshment of
the fetus or vaginal in
fections of the ewe
If veterinary scientists
could study these lamb
deaths, new ways to prevent
them might be discovered.
Most large animal
practitioners acknowledge
that their knowledge and
training in ovine medicine
has been inadequate. In fact
87 percent of those surveyed
by the Animal Health
Economics Unit believed the
Veterinary School could
improve its services to the
sheep industry
There are 21 schools of
veterinary medicine in the
United States. According to
Don E. Bailey, DVM,
Secretary-Treasurer of the
American Association of
Sheep and Goat Prac
titioners, only 10 of these
schools have classes and
qualified instructors in
sheep and goat medicine.
“For many years
veterinary schools have
overlooked the importance
of the small ruminant, so
often students feel in
competent in small
ruminant practice and
refuse to look at sheep and
goats,” Dr. Bailey says.
This sense of inadequacy
is reflected in the sheep
man’s view of the
veterinarian. The Animal
Health Economics survey
(rurntoPageC32)
800 gal OeLaval
800 gal Mojonnier
1250 gal Girton
late 1500 gal Mueller w/washer
2000 gal. Mueller
(2) Dumping Stations
5 H.P. Coplematic
pressors (Like new)
Com-