I've had a lot of trouble writing this because I don't want to focus so much on the problem, but on what solutions we can create to make this fibreshed healthy.
This post has been especially difficult. I've written and rewritten it at least once a day since this thread started. But each time, it shows how frustrated I am with the situation at hand and doesn't focus enough on the good things.
But I realize that this is a huge problem - one of animal welfare and many legal and quasi-legal issues that make it very difficult for farmers to give their animals the best possible care (and thus produce the best possible fibre). I think if this can be solved, everything else to make a wonderful fibreshed will fall into place.
I'm writing from my own
experience as a farmer and fibre artist. I'm also writing from my conversations with other farmers in the area and talking with numerous authorities on the topic including veterinarians, politicians, local animal rescue groups, and local police who are in charge of animal control (including protecting wild and domestic animals from abuse). What I write here is not the only way to view the current situation - as you will see later in this post - but I feel that I've accumulated enough evidence to suggest a solution that will help all points of view.
That solution is:
Easy and affordable access to veterinary care!
This solution is going to be the most difficult and most expensive to implement. Cats, dogs and horses are the most lucrative animals to treat. The replacement value of a sheep is only about $400 so most farmers don't want to pay thousands of dollars for treatment.
But they do need to know they have somewhere to go when the sheep need urgent care.
Also education. That's half of what the vet is there for, to educate the farmer on how not to need them - prevention and good animal husbandry. many small farmers in our area do not have any experience with livestock prior to getting sheep - no education, no experience, no understanding of what is normal, happy behaviour, and what is something that needs attention. Most of these farmers read
books, but others don't. Having an animal health care professional they can turn to would make a huge difference for these farmers.
Some examples of why a lack of vetinary care is harming our local fibre farmers.
My story:
At the moment, the nearest large animal vet is 2 hours (or 1.5 hours with a ferry ride) from my farm. For reasons that don't need going into, I refuse to use this vet, but if I did, the expense would be well above the replacement value of the sheep. The last time my friend used this vet, the cost was in the neighbourhood of $6,000 for a $200 animal. The treatment was a $6 'ewe
spoon' and 10 minutes training on how to use it. It also included a farm visit which was half the fee because the distance is so far... but still, an expencive bit of plastic.
When I first started, I had three large animal vets within in 10 minutes of my home. Since then, they have all retired or decided to focus on dogs and cats (where the money is).
I have no veterinarian in my area who can care for my sheep and other animals. This is a huge concern to me as I feel that the health and well-being of the animals is the most important part of being a fibre farmer. If the animal is healthy and happy, then their fibre will be of top quality.
When I first decided to keep these animals, I first spent a lot of time reading library books and learned the basics of identifying and preventing most ailments. I also sought out local farmers and choose the ones that had the healthiest animals. I made these people my mentors and learned everything I could from them. They are my first source of help when things go wrong, and most often they know more than the vet since these farmers have more experience dealing with day to day issues than the vet.
Before I got my own sheep, I spent 18 months caring for another farmer's flock, including two lambing seasons. I learned how to identify which sheep need what care before they got sick. Little things like identifying the difference between mineral deficiencies and a worm overload. How to assist with lambing, when not to. How to alter their diet at different times of the year. I learned to listen to my sheep and let them tell me what they need to be healthy. According to my gurus, my former vets, and my sheerer, my sheep are some of the healthiest around.
I had planned to increase my flock size, but without access to affordable and local veterinary care, I won't. I know enough now to tend this many sheep and keep them healthy, tending to emergency care and all that. But I'm not yet confident enough to keep a larger flock without the backup of a veterinarian.
A farmer who made me sad:
I got into an argument with a farmer once about sheep care. She had come to my farm to advise someone else about which sheep to buy. One of the questions she asked is "how many times a month do you worm your sheep?"
Worming sheep is basically using chemicals (not all that nice a
chemical either) to remove any parasites that might be bothering your animals. Parasites can be internal or external, but we generally call them 'worms' and the meds 'wormer'. There are three legal anti-parasitics we can use in our area. Two of them are off-label (not tested for sheep) and one of those is dangerous to use on pregnant and nursing mothers. In our area, there is a huge resistance to these three anti-parasitics. Usually, when we give the medicine, it kills 95% of the worms. But now, because of the resistance, it only kills about 40% of the worms. This happens from using the wormer when it is not needed and if a flock is resistant to all three wormers, then the sheep suffer.
A better way is to reduce the use of the worm meds, use methods of prevention like diet and environment, and only use the worm meds when they are needed and only the type that is needed (when I had a vet, I always did a
poop test before applying these drugs to make certain I used the right ones for the worms they had - I now have the kit to do my own test and am learning how). I have since learned that sheep are very good at telling you when they need this kind of medicine and I usually have one or two sheep that need medicine each year. Most of the others have what is called a 'sub-clinical worm load' which only damages them if they experience other stresses. My sheep tell me when they need something.
This is where the argument started. She was convinced that the only way to keep sheep healthy is to apply a double dose of anti-parasitic at least once a month (I have since learned that most commercial sheep farmers in my area apply this twice a year and still have trouble with resistance build up), but she does it more often because...long story... some is good, then more is better.
See what I mean? Different points of view.
Longer story, but the point is I really do think she thought she was giving her sheep the best possible care. Or at least the best possible care that she knew how.
I also think that if she had access to a vet, she is the kind of person who would listen to the voice of authority. She would see that the current situation is costing her lots of money and her sheep are not healthy. The vet could tell her what kind of environment, diet and minerals she could give her sheep to make them healthy and reduce the money she was spending on unnecessary chemicals.
Talking with former vets about livestock care in our area:
I'm very interested in talking to professionals and former professionals. One thing conversation that was enlightening was talking with a former vet who specialized in sheep care.
We talked about many things, but most of all what not having easy and affordable access to veterinary care meant for local farmers. In his opinion, many animals were suffering because the farmers didn't have access to what they needed. They didn't have the education or knowledge necessary for preventing small problems from growing into an urgent crisis. When this crisis happened, they didn't have a vet to treat the animal so the animal lived or died in suffering.
The ideal solution, he suggested, would be affordable and easy access to livestock veterinary care. Talking to other former vets, they say the same. They also said that there is nothing to encourage them to keep treating livestock. Between the cost, being on call 24 hours, and other issues, it made sense to stop.
What would a solution look like?
Could we entice more livestock vets to the area? I don't know how. But perhaps since this is an animal welfare issue, the local rescue agencies could become involved?
What about a clinic? A facility that offers free/affordable education in prevention as well as a small veterinary staff who specilaize in livestock? They could also provide more intense education for a fee. Maybe they also
sell equipment like one gets from the wool growers co-op. Or perhaps in associatiaton with them? Instead of $6,000 for a ewe spoon, we could pay $6 and maybe $25 for a 10-minute demonstration on how to apply it?
This kind of educational facility would take a lot of pressure off the vets, not only would they not have to do the basic "this is a sheep, this is the head, this is the place where the
milk comes out, it's not supposed to be blue" kind of conversation. The sheep and other farm animals would be healthier and the fibre a better quality.
Of all the things holding us back from having a thriving fibreshed, I really think this is the one that will make the most difference.