Thanks for your reply, Adam. I appreciated hearing about your experiences.
I live in Saskatchewan, Canada. I did some more inquiring and found out that the disease I had heard about is Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF). I found a fact sheet put out by the government of Saskatchewan here:
http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=7191becb-e394-4d97-bf05-99201e91359f
Here is a quote from that source:
Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF) is a viral disease mainly of ruminant animals such as cattle, bison, deer and moose. It is usually fatal in highly susceptible species such as bison. Unlike bison, cattle are very resistant to the MCF virus. However, occasional cases in cattle do occur and, when they do, the outcome is usually fatal.
MCF is caused primarily by two different herpes viruses, one type which is found in wildebeest and a different type which is found in sheep. Although these animals can be carriers of the virus, they do not suffer from any ill effects. The wildebeest virus is rare in North America, since animals here exist only in zoos or exotic animal collections. The sheep-associated virus is very common in North America to such a degree that it is assumed that most sheep are carriers.
The virus is shed in the nasal secretions of carrier sheep. Cattle become infected with the virus through direct contact with carrier sheep or their secretions (i.e. contaminated feed bunks or water bowls). While the airborne virus can infect the highly susceptible bison, there is less of a risk for infection in cattle. Cattle are dead-end hosts; that is, cattle with MCF do not spread the virus to other animals.
... There is no vaccine and there is no treatment for this disease.
There are some photos that show the effects of the disease. Maybe this is more of an issue up North than where you are.
Tim
