Scrapie and predation top goat raisers' concerns

By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition

Dr. Gary Svetlik addressed the 11th Annual Meat Goat Association's Conference in Huntsville, June 15. Svetlik, a USDA veterinary medical officer, discussed scrapie and the identification program for goats. -Staff photo by Briskin

June 20, 2002 -- The American Meat Goat Association hosted its 11th annual conference and sale in Huntsville on June 14-15. The event featured speakers, a goat show and wrapped up with a sale. Dr. Gary Svetlik, a veterinary medical officer with the USDA, spoke to participants about scrapie and the state and federal requirements for identifying sheep and goats.

Svetlik explained that scrapie is a fatal degenerative brain disease that affects both sheep and goats. "One of the biggest mistakes that was made with scrapie was when it was introduced into the U.S. from Canada in 1947 we did not get aggressive in eliminating the problem," explained Svetlik. "Had we taken aggressive action we could have eliminated the disease in this country."

Scrapie is most often transmitted through fluids and tissue during birth, but some older animals can be exposed. It develops slowly and most animals do not show signs of the disease until about 18 months of age. Symptoms include weight loss, tremors, loss of coordination, swaying, or wool pulling. Quite often an infected dam will shed the infection during birthing without showing any clinical signs of the disease.

According to a brochure published by the Texas Animal Health Commission and the USDA the incidence of scrapie in goats has been extremely low in the U.S., so slaughter sampling will not be conducted at this time. This practice will begin in the near future for sheep. But goats are susceptible to scrapie and when they are commingled with sheep, premise identification must be made in the form of an ear tag.

"There needs to be some way to track these animals," explained Svetlik. "If an animal comes up positive for scrapie we need to be able to track where it came from."

As of November 2001 the USDA requires that certain classes of sheep and goats have premise identification ear tags attached before they are moved from the farm to be sold in interstate commerce or commingled with sheep and goats from another farm. According to the USDA, identification requirements cover:

-All sheep 18 months of age or older.

-All breeding sheep regardless of age.

-Sexually intact show or exhibition sheep and goats.

-All goats 18 months of age or older that are or have been commingled with sheep.

-All breeding goats that are or have been commingled with sheep.

Svetlik explained that tattoos may be used to identify registered, meat and dairy show goats, but the animals must be accompanied by their registration papers.

"As badly as we do not want to find an infected farm, if its there we better deal with it as early as possible," said Svetlik. "If we don't deal with this disease early on we will never get rid of it. With a disease like this you are not going to be able to hide it; we've tried it for years and it doesn't work."

Svetlik continued by stating that due to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk this is a big issue. "The sheep and goat industry does not need another nail in the coffin and scrapie is one of those things," he said. "We can eradicate scrapie in just a few years but we have to have participation and cooperation from goat producers."

To obtain a premise identification number and order ear tags call toll free 866-873-2824. For information on the voluntary scrapie certification program contact Texas' USDA-APHIS-VS office at 512-916-5552 or visit www.tahc.state.tx.us.

Bob Sims, district supervisor with the Texas Wildlife Damage Management Program spoke to conference participants about predation and ways to protect their goats.

According to Sims the most common goat predator is the coyote. "The last sheep and goat production survey in Texas showed that roughly 20,000 head of sheep were lost to predation in 2000-2001," stated Sims. "In 2000 there were 97,000 head of goats and 2001 only 66,000 lost. I don't know if that speaks well of our service or people taking care of their livestock, but the numbers did go down."

The coyote, according to Sims, is responsible for approximately 47 percent of the predation of goats in Texas. "In the year 2000 our service took 16,500 coyotes," he said. "The bobcat was responsible for 15 percent of the predation losses and the red fox and gray fox took 6 percent."

Sims also explained that feral, free-roaming and domestic dogs pose a huge threat to the goat population. "They roughly represent around 20 percent of the predation problem," he said.

Sims emphasized that by checking the dead animal and the surrounding area a livestock producer can get a good idea of which predator is presenting a problem on his property. Droppings, footprints, kill tactics and method of entry on to the property are all clues to the culprit.