Research in Iowa

Wow Rhonda. I don't know what to say. Seeing that picture of your beautiful deer and the caption.... I had tears in my eyes. Good luck in these hard times!!

Thanks!!!

Rhonda,


I am so sorry, I know how hard this has been on you and Tom.  No words can make you feel better only time.  Its not right but had to be done.  Hopefully some knowledge will be gained from the testing. 

It's still BS, all the way around, but you will come out on top! Keep the Faith!

Rhonda Brakke966241409232777



Thanks everyone...heart aches but we are hoping justice will prevail in both the DNR and Ag litigations in District court. The USDA was good to us all around. It was the state politics that kept getting in the way. They have cured us of ever wanting to have livestock in the state of Iowa. For now, we will pick up the pieces removing interior fences, trees, waterers, fawn barrels, food troughs, feed bins, sheds, and trees. What cannot be burned will be removed as required. Once it no longer looks like our deer pen, things will improve. How's that go....kick me when I'm down......




Just crazy to think anyone in this country would have to go through this. I think i would be in jail myself. Payment is fine for a small part but will never replace the everyday lifestyle and enjoyment. I would lift roots and move to Texas myself! Has anyone seen what stockers sell for there that we cant get an even close fair price for here? LOL...Its crazy but kudos to them.   


Just a thought that i am sure i know the answer to....Can you even sell the wire to another farmer in your state or is that what they say is..Infected..and has to be melted down? So Sorry Rhonda and Family!

Rhonda Brakke966271409239320



Mike, All the wire and metal have to be melted down in recycling......




Go figure!!!   Just Amazed!!!!

They need to start testing all the hay exported from out west for prions. If a prion is found the entire crop should be burned along with all the hay equipment and the semis that were used to hall it with that ridiculous logic.

Rhonda, You are exactly right, that's what I've been thinking for the last 4 years as the numbers crash because of the gross DNR mismanagement. I've also always thought once they figure out that prions can travel in the feed matter and these other countries find out, it will be the end to the wild deer in agricultural areas. The high fence places will be the only ones left with "clean" deer. This is the reason I started raising them to begin with, to preserve for my kids what I've been able to grow up with before it's gone. The numbers in our state have hit the point of fawn recruitment being less then the number being killed every year by predators, human and wild animals alike. Once you start going backwards, it's nearly impossible to turn it around unless you completely stopped deer hunting and got rid of most of the coyotes and mountain lions and we all know this will never happen.

With the CFIA talking about not allowing grain movement out of endemic areas, this should be an eye opener to every one.  Also with the research paper out of U of W stating that prions can be uptaken in to corn and alfalfa also adds fuel to the fire.  The question will be soon asked,  "Can we afford the wild deer herd any longer?"  "Can we allow the wild deer to run willy-nilly across the landscape spreading prions on our richest farm land, threatening our food supply and export ability of cereal  grains?"  These wild deer could be polluting our farmland for over 20 years, according to the DNR.  Maybe ALL deer should be behind fences!!!!   At least our deer can be controlled and monitored behind a fence.


 


The articles that the Ryan Sabalow's have written can be flipped to condemn the wild deer herd to death.  They think they are cunningly writing investigative stories about our industry, trying expose "made up" or "hyped" threats that we may present.  But in fact they are building the case to condemn the wild herd to extinction. The trouble is Ryan Sabalow is too stupid to know that he may be doing the exact opposite of what he is trying to do.  Ryan Sabalow in fact maybe condemning the wild deer herd.  


 


Look what happened to the beef industry with just 1 case of BSE in the US over 10 years ago.  It took years to get our beef exports back from some of the Asian countries, in fact Mexico just started buying beef last year.  All this over 1 case in cattle almost 15 years ago.  What happens if these countries think our grain supply is contaminated with prions?  With politics in the world, being what they are today, don't you think other countries are just looking for excuses to embargo our products.  Our own outdoor writers and DNR's are making the case for them.  


Remember the cases in Texas, where the HSUS lady said, on 60 minutes, that she would rather see these animals go extinct than to be hunted?   She lobbied hard for the law to make it illegal to harvest these endangered animals from Africa.   HSUS wants to eliminate hunting.  If these people think the wild deer are also jeopardizing our food supply, don't you think they will lobby to get rid of the wild deer, thus also getting rid of hunting.  Killing two birds with one stone.


 


I think the outdoor writers and DNR"s should tone down their rhetoric, or there could be consequences they never thought of.


 


Just something to think about.


 


Gary

Good morning Rhonda and it was great talking with you last week. Its really sad to see it end this way and having all your records and info in order for inspections get put through this. That nut case Singleterry with his smart as comments to you guys on the questionable deer management asso forum was way out of line and there is no apology you can make for a guy with a severe OCD self induced paranoid problem that only blogs and spams others info he pulls from the web, I stated one time and gave him open invite to sit inn a meet and greet media covered room and see how tough and smart he is with out his google search button to push and as always he runs and replies with a childish remark to redirect the attention. But I know we talked about feed and hay and several other subjects and the old sheep grazing that was done for years up your way from the 1800s to the 1950s and when I get some more complete time lines through archive research I will forward this info to you.  Hope that the samples taken are going to be used for more modern research and not based on  Prusniers method.

G O Whitetails966371409268642



With the CFIA talking about not allowing grain movement out of endemic areas, this should be an eye opener to every one.  Also with the research paper out of U of W stating that prions can be uptaken in to corn and alfalfa also adds fuel to the fire.  The question will be soon asked,  "Can we afford the wild deer herd any longer?"  "Can we allow the wild deer to run willy-nilly across the landscape spreading prions on our richest farm land, threatening our food supply and export ability of cereal  grains?"  These wild deer could be polluting our farmland for over 20 years, according to the DNR.  Maybe ALL deer should be behind fences!!!!   At least our deer can be controlled and monitored behind a fence.


 


The articles that the Ryan Sabalow's have written can be flipped to condemn the wild deer herd to death.  They think they are cunningly writing investigative stories about our industry, trying expose "made up" or "hyped" threats that we may present.  But in fact they are building the case to condemn the wild herd to extinction. The trouble is Ryan Sabalow is too stupid to know that he may be doing the exact opposite of what he is trying to do.  Ryan Sabalow in fact maybe condemning the wild deer herd.  


 


Look what happened to the beef industry with just 1 case of BSE in the US over 10 years ago.  It took years to get our beef exports back from some of the Asian countries, in fact Mexico just started buying beef last year.  All this over 1 case in cattle almost 15 years ago.  What happens if these countries think our grain supply is contaminated with prions?  With politics in the world, being what they are today, don't you think other countries are just looking for excuses to embargo our products.  Our own outdoor writers and DNR's are making the case for them.  


Remember the cases in Texas, where the HSUS lady said, on 60 minutes, that she would rather see these animals go extinct than to be hunted?   She lobbied hard for the law to make it illegal to harvest these endangered animals from Africa.   HSUS wants to eliminate hunting.  If these people think the wild deer are also jeopardizing our food supply, don't you think they will lobby to get rid of the wild deer, thus also getting rid of hunting.  Killing two birds with one stone.


 


I think the outdoor writers and DNR"s should tone down their rhetoric, or there could be consequences they never thought of.


 


Just something to think about.


 


Gary




Gary can you show where to go to find this info on CFIA and others not accepting grain from CWD states.  There are some that say there is no info to be found on this? Old news on BSE but not the CWD grain. Thanks!!

20pt;(0,128,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serifMajor grain organizations oppose CFIA's control zone approach to chronic wasting disease
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(0,0,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serifIn the June newsletter, we reported that  CFIA has proposed using a control zone approach to control the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). This would restrict the movement of cereal grain screenings within and out of the primary control zones, those being all of Saskatchewan and parts of southern Alberta. Since CFIA did not consult the feed industry or any of the key grain industry stakeholders before developing the control zone proposal, a broad range of negative, and presumably unintended consequences have emerged during subsequent analysis by industry.
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(0,0,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serifTherefore, over the past several weeks ANAC has teamed up with other stakeholders including the grain elevator, milling and malting associations to prepare a joint submission to the Minister of Agriculture to delineate the negative economic and logistical impacts of CFIA's proposed control zone approach.
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(0,0,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serif CFIA as the developer of the proposal has not provided the scientific and risk-based evidence to support these extraordinary measures to control CWD. Thus, our letter to the minister emphasized the fact that restrictions on the movement of grain screenings would be a misdirected attempt to halt the spread of the disease, given the improbability that screenings are in fact a significant disease vector associated with CWD.
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(0,0,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serif We also highlighted to the minister that Canada's reputation as a reliable supplier of grains and oilseeds will be undermined if CFIA's proposal is implemented.  Western Canada supplies cereal crops valued at over $7.0 billion annually to the export market, with the annual value of exports from Saskatchewan and Alberta exceeding $3.6 billion and $1.4 billion respectively. Moreover, the proposed restrictions would adversely affect at least 7 categories of grain businesses at both the international and domestic levels, including wheat milling, oat milling, malting, ethanol, feed manufacturing, seed cleaning and grain handling. 
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(0,0,0);'Times New Roman', Times, serifCFIA's control zone proposal is also unanimously opposed by the cervid farming industry. Farmers are in agreement that the spread of CWD needs to be controlled, however they support the use of a farmed-based risk management system, which is more consistent with CFIA's mandate to deliver outcome-based solutions. We are hopeful that the joint submission, signed by the major players in the feed and grain industries, will prompt CIFA to propose an alternative workable solution to control CWD.
 





 

I agree, I was pretty ticked at Outdoor life magazine which I have read since I was a kid and have kept every issue since 1970 to see a short story in the first couple of pages portraying him a staged photo shoot with camo gear on and  lab next to him. Liberal journalism has taken over in alot of our outdoor lifestyle in the past 12 years and this sorry POS trying to play the blame game and use liberal media tactics to promote his status is just a joke. Let him try and do some real world reporting on infection rates on free range animals and some of the stupid stuff that get done by state agencies moving deer around a state or out of state with out any health checks when the captive industry has to provide documentation and 100 % testing before any movement. It was the last issue Outdoor Life I will ever buy.

In regards to grain uptakes of prions, Research I have done myself in the past 4 years shows that in areas of the Midwest and parts of Canada where Alfalfa are grown and are located in areas supposed to be in zones that are considered cwd possible or confirmed zones, Deer and Elk that graze in these fields and have been doing so for years have the ability to transfer the prion via urine or fecal matter deposits buy the animals into the soil.The plants are only transfer units for macro /micro nutrients in your soil. Proins can be uptaken into the alfalfa this way.


 


So all that crap you hear from the questionable deer management asso  bunch and people with out first hand info making statements that cwd gets transported in the back of trailers and trucks!!! Well its clear it can be done by transporting it in the form of Alfalfa and some grains from across state lines or border territories . If buying hay make sure when you buy it comes from a area locally that you know is safe and no disease presence . Be careful to look at places in western states that raise alfalfa or cereal grains in cwd zones and pass on importing hay from that area.If in your feed mixtures please take time to find out where your mill or provider is getting his alfalfa or grains from that may go into your feeds. This was something that was not really taken into consideration a few years back. And is a strong possible vector of transmission. Also I have been working on the sheep migration and use on open range parts of the west and upper Midwest and reviewing Scrapie outbreaks and other disease relates illnesses and die offs from the early 1800s till now along these routes .


Its not yet complete as I still have a lot of work to be completed but yes Sheep moved for years and were bought and sold and shipped via rail cars and also moved over land to new areas and grasslands  for over 100 years. This is also another strong vector of transmission we are looking at and hopefully put a stop to the blame game played by the Questionable Deer Management Asso and others. I informed Rhonda about some of the research we are conducting and connecting the dots. But accessing old live stock records and rail shipments from a century ago is a long task but a worth while one and we are making head way. You don't see any of these so called private conservation groups doing this . Also to add, I researched the Questionable Deer Managements donations list in there tax reviews and note this You hear them always ask for donations to fight cwd, but they use those donations for media publications and press releases and in 10 year they have not donated a dollar to any independent lab for cwd research. Or a facility to look at what can be done to help combat the problem.  This blame game with them and their left hand groups has gotten old and need to be brought to attention of the public and all the misinformation that has been spread from them as well as HUSA ,PETA, Camo Coalition and liberal news paper groups. Its time to get the science based facts straight.