http://www.karbonkountymoos.com/2007/09/30/brucellosis-revisited/ I'm physically incapable of making a long story short - and I've been making short stories long for years. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:42:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://www.karbonkountymoos.com/2007/09/30/brucellosis-revisited/#comment-25738 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:42:36 +0000 http://www.karbonkountymoos.com/2007/09/30/brucellosis-revisited/#comment-25738 KKM I didn't call the Morgans idiotic. I simply stated that "Maybe the vaccine isn’t 100% effective, but NOT vaccinating is completely idiotic." I guess if the shoe fits.... But I'm not calling anyone names. They are in a high risk area around Emigrant. Why would anyone want to take the chance of purchasing Unvaccinated cattle and bringing into a high risk area? Just because something is legal does not make it ethical. Why can't people use their heads? Not all of the State is in a 'danger' zone for brucellosis either. Seems to me that people surrounding the Park would want to take EVERY precaution available to them. Bringing in UNvaccinated cattle isn't being very cautious. I still feel that they were mistreated, in the fact that APHIS destroyed an entire herd. There are a lot of 'what-ifs' out there. I can't help but wonder if Karen would have pastured her cattle with them had she known all the facts. As has been stated before APHIS needs to be questioned on their policies. I can't see the sense in slaughtering healthy animals because of some minute chance. Why their personal Beef steer? KKM
I didn’t call the Morgans idiotic. I simply stated that “Maybe the vaccine isn’t 100% effective, but NOT vaccinating is completely idiotic.” I guess if the shoe fits…. But I’m not calling anyone names. They are in a high risk area around Emigrant. Why would anyone want to take the chance of purchasing Unvaccinated cattle and bringing into a high risk area?
Just because something is legal does not make it ethical. Why can’t people use their heads? Not all of the State is in a ‘danger’ zone for brucellosis either. Seems to me that people surrounding the Park would want to take EVERY precaution available to them. Bringing in UNvaccinated cattle isn’t being very cautious.
I still feel that they were mistreated, in the fact that APHIS destroyed an entire herd. There are a lot of ‘what-ifs’ out there. I can’t help but wonder if Karen would have pastured her cattle with them had she known all the facts.
As has been stated before APHIS needs to be questioned on their policies. I can’t see the sense in slaughtering healthy animals because of some minute chance. Why their personal Beef steer?

]]> http://www.karbonkountymoos.com/2007/09/30/brucellosis-revisited/#comment-25569 Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:40:55 +0000 http://www.karbonkountymoos.com/2007/09/30/brucellosis-revisited/#comment-25569 Debra, this is something that I have heard before - and I have heard quite a bit since May 18th. There has been much information, disinformation, speculation and rumor. Folks have picked up on a piece of info here & there & ran with it. Perusing the comments on any online Billings Gazette article (on any subject) proves that people don't read everything. How could we possibly read all that has been written? Especially those of us who work and do not have the luxury of sitting at the keyboard for hours? It's good for people to question things. Especially if they are honestly looking for answers with an open mind. However, many people have what I call the "I'm right, you're wrong, and I'm not listening to you" attitude. The Morgans and the Malcolms have always had vaccination programs in place for their cattle. You are calling them idiotic for not vaccinating. They <b>do </b>vaccinate. Yes, the Morgans owned some Corriente cows. They were "bought cows". Those cows were not bangs vaccinated before they purchased them. They cannot be vaccinated after reaching a certain age. You ask "How were they allowed to get away with that?". It was and is perfectly legal - what exactly do you believe they got away with? Do some research and you'll find that many cows in the state are not vaccinated. There were no laws blatantly ignored. My late husband insisted on a vaccination program, as do I. Many ranchers in Montana do not. Vaccinating for brucellosis is<b> not</b> mandatory in Montana. I have read and heard countless times since May that it is the law. That simply is not true. It is only a requirement if you are selling cattle out of state. There will be a few cows in most herds without a readable tattoo, she will not be able to be sold outside Montana, either. I have "neighbors" who do not bangs vaccinate their heifers. I have "neighbors" who do not vaccinate or worm their cattle. I have "neighbors" who might feed their cattle one mineral/salt block a year - whether they need it or not. Two years ago, during beet harvest, I left a message for a neighbor. I had seen one of my heifer calves in with some of his cattle. I gave him her tag number and asked that he keep an eye out for her. He runs cattle in Montana and Wyoming. On another Lovell parts run I spotted her again. I called and told him about her that time. Later that fall, Allan spoke with him, too. Shortly after that we ended up living at the hospital. Jim and Sandy did return a stray pair of ours at that time, but we never did find out what happened to Orange tag #14. These things can happen to us small operators as well as the big guys. Allan and I returned many strays to their owners. Can you say "Open Range"? <a href="http://sarpysam.com/archives/2922-Long-Run.html" rel="nofollow">Sarpy's calves</a> had a happy ending. We consistently "lost" one black bull every year from 2000 until 2004. We never found as much as a bone. Last November, I received a call from a neighbor that he had one of my pairs. How could that be? My cattle were at home. He is just north of the Wyoming state line. Remember Orange tag #14? She was all grown up and with her new daughter. Obviously not bangs vaccinated, since she survived in the hills on her own. And much too late now. This is simply an explanation on how a herd with a vaccination plan in place can have some cattle that fall outside that plan. The original "hot cow" was a bangs vaccinated Black Angus. It has been proven that the strain of brucellosis she had was <b>not</b> from a bovine source. We know that the bison are not passing this disease to livestock. The test for brucellosis requires a blood sample. This sample is checked. If there is a questionable reading there can be three subsequent tests done on that sample. The other six cows that tested "positive" - were only considered "positive" because of subsequent testing. Those numbers would not have been considered positive normally. They were called "positive" because they had been exposed to the original hot cow. They included three bangs vaccinated Black Angus, and three Corrientes that were not vaccinated. They were healthy cows with strong calves.