EHD in PA Video

I did a TV interview with channel 11 wpxi tv. I have given my thoughts on how this midge keeps entering the upper states where this bug is not native to. I feel that the reason that its getting here is the trucking industry delivering fruit out of the southern states as said in my interview. If anyone else feels that my thoughts are valid, I as a hunter and deerfarmer need your help to bring this to the attention of our Pa Dept of Agriculture and our PA Game Commission. There are studies that need to be done to find out the exact cause of the midge entering the upper states. These agencies keep using storms as reasoning for the midge entering the upper states. Also, they just shrug their shoulders and say a good hard frost will take it away until next year. For me, that's not an answer. I took it upon myself to have an interview with the television media and I cannot fight this battle alone. I need all the help I can get. Please contact these agencies and give your opinion that something more needs to be done to save our whitetails for the deerfarmer and the hunters.

Thanks.

Mick Goodman

Goodman's Whitetail Haven

724-493-1040

http://www.wpxi.com

mick you did a great job and you are correct the only way to get help and funding is by getting your voice heard come on people call your local agencies as not onl could it help you out but the next guy who may have no clue as to what to do or why hes to is loosing deer

i think mick your on the right road as i live north of you and there are no inerstates by me for miles and if its storms that carrie it why has it not been up this way i know many deer farmers up this way and have not heard of any deer lost from it as of yet so im thinkin that the trucking is a better reson on this than a storm bottom line is they dont know so lets blame it on a storm it wont make any work for them and as they said the frost will kill it that for sure aint the way to help us

I'm also a concerned PA hunter who's concerned about what EHD is doing to your penned deer as well as to the deer outside the pens. Who could I contact to express my concerns and to get agencies looking deeper into this problem? Do you have any phone numbers available to help hunters make their concerns known?

I dont know where the midges are coming from. But to your surprise probably we wholsesale produce for a main source of income. We have trucks coming from several différant states and never have had EHD. However our produce all comes in on enclosed refer trailers. I would b slow to blame it on that.

dclair said:

I'm also a concerned PA hunter who's concerned about what EHD is doing to your penned deer as well as to the deer outside the pens. Who could I contact to express my concerns and to get agencies looking deeper into this problem? Do you have any phone numbers available to help hunters make their concerns known?

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Your only real contacts are the Department of Ag (who we deal with for farmed deer issues and who are probably well aware of the problem) and the Game Commission (who deal with free-range deer). If the state doesn't feel like EHD/Blue Tongue are going to have a negative economic impact, they are going to be less likely to put much time or money into it. The only exception would be if a researcher received grant money to fund a study on it. It's too bad to put it like that, but that is reality in today's world. In the meantime, every day is a day closer to frost!

jeff i have to disagree thats why we vote and put our politcians in office they are there to hear our voice and support us when something needs to be done such as the issues we are having with ehd. so dclair contact your local county and state representative and express your feelings it cant hurt

I think what Mick was saying about the trucking industry is a very logical concern. Not ALL produce is delivered in enclosed refridgerated trailers, and even if it is, refridgeration is not the same as freezing.....which is what frost is. Freezing is the only course of eradication of the midge, not refridgeration



If you are a weather buff like I am, you perhaps have paid attention to the weather patterns this year. I can not recall not one time that we have had winds, storms or anything of the nature that have came UP from the south this year. The weather has been fairly consistant and went west to east all year. SO, how would EHD get to states like Indiana and Illinois without a little help. Espacially as early as it did this year.



Mick and I have talked about this several times over the summer. We both thought of the trucking industry and brought that up to each other in our conversations. It's funny how two guys from two different states can have the same theory. Whats even more wierd is that someone else out there thinks like I do.



We aren't saying that the truckers are the PROBLEM !! We are just saying that they may be encouraging the epidemic by increasing the pace that this problem spreads. Any one of us that go on vacation can be contibuting to the problem. Much the same way colds and flues are spread more rapidly around the holiday season, by human influence and traveling.

Department of Agriculture, Dr. Griswold 717-705-1626 or Dr. Schultz 717-783-2200

PA Game Commission: Southwest Region 724-238-9523

PA Game Commission Harrisburg: 717-787-4250



We all pay hunting fees and taxes to these agencies and there is money that can be used for research. It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but this is our wildlife at risk.

I had a call from a guy that agreed wholeheartedly with me on the trucking industry being the reason the midges are getting here. He said that he ordered mangos and when he opened the box, his kitchen was filled with knats. That call just reaffirmed my belief that this is the reason the midges are here and the Department of Agriculture should be looking into ways to prevent this or doing studies to find ways to solve this problem.

We all have a voice, it's our money...please call and let your voice be heard.

Mick

724-493-1040

As far as the trucking industry goes, there needs to be regulations on shipping into other states. It might not be just in produce, the midge could be carried in any type of container. Whether it be fruit, produce, boxed steel, etc. I've recently talked to people in machine shops that have opened containers and have had large spiders and even snakes in containers shipped out of the southern states. I'm not just blaming it on one certain product, I'm just saying that the Department of Agriculture and the PA Game Commission need to work together to find out how this is getting here. They need to be more concerned about our Northern Whitetail before it is too late!

Mick

724-493-1040

Our son worked at a local major grocery wholesale business while going through college in the summers located in New Stanton, PA. He unloaded various types of fruits and vegetables off of flatbed tractor trailers out of the south (not refer containers), on a regular basis. This is one of the reasons that I feel the produce delivery out of the south is one of the major reasons this midge is getting here (just my opinion). I feel it is time that the Dept of Agriculture and the PA Game Commission looks into this. They seem to have money for all kinds of other regulations and laws so why won't they address this issue for the Whitetails well being?

Once again, as taxpayers and license holders, we are the resource for these agencies!

Mick

724-493-1040

Guys, The midge doesn't just live in the southern states, It has been here in the high plains of SD, ND, WY and MT for at least the 40 years that I have been alive. We have some years where it is so bad at my farm that you can't go hardly anywhere and not smell dead deer and other years I may only find 1 or 2. I have seen it happen on dry years and probably the 2 worst times were really wet years. Believe me, we have the coldest winters anywhere. I think you guys have probably always had the midge, just not the disease as much as anybody has really noticed or actually tested for. I've seen it bad one year and then hardly at all for the next 8 years. When I got into raising deer I knew I would encounter it and it was going to be something I would have to deal with but I really didn't think it would hit me this hard. 2 weeks ago I bought the ULV fogger and knock on wood, I haven't had any new outbreaks since I have been fogging. I have a stagnant stock pond in a pasture next to my enclosure that has both cows and horses using it and I'm certain this is the nesting area for the midge in my area, I've been fogging the edges so it drifts thru the pond, mud, catttails and around the pond and I'm certain I've about got the midges wiped out for now, again, find the source of a stagnant pond or any mud around and fog the hell out of those areas and you''ll slow the problem down or even stop it. I really believe that the midge returns to the water during the heat of the day and that you can really smoke em while they hide in the grass and mud around the pond during this time, but you still must fog your area in and out of your pen in the morning and evening and for what the chemical costs and your deer are worth and the little amount the ULV uses, a blast midday wont hurt either! I was going to shoot a video of the fogger this evening but didn't have time but will try soon. I also REALLY think mixing in the Tempo for the residual insect control is the way to go also, that way whenever they return to the area, whether it be the shade of the trees or in the mud, they are landing on the insectiside. Good luck everyone. If anyone has any questions, feel free to give me a call. 605-222-7407 cell



Cody Warne

Wild Prairie Whitetails

Warne Ranches

www.warneranches.com

This was just on our local news tonight, maybe someone will finally start to pay attention to this disease now. EHD infected cattle. Just think of the number of cattle that get hauled all over the country, cattle going south and going north all the time, thousands of em, 365 days a year. How many of them are carrying the disease from state to state?



http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/south-dakota-officials-report-sick-cattle-herds/?id=137135

Cody,



Thanks for attaching the link about the EHD in Cattle article.

Recently, in an interview with our local newspaper, I had stated that maybe if EHD hit cattle or hogs that the Department of Agriculture might do something about this. Now that the cattle herd is being affected, maybe they will do something. I have forwarded this link to the Department of Agriculture and will be talking to the guy that comes to pick up my samples tomorrow. We'll see what he has to say!!



Also, the fogger works great. We are fogging continuously and will keep doing so until we get a frost. Right now, knock on wood, 2 weeks plus without losing any more animals. The information you have passed on to me and other deerfarmers is greatly appreciated!!



Thanks

Mick

Goodman's Whitetail Haven

724-493-1040

Mick, Glad to here your not loosing anymore deer!! Knock on wood, since I've been fogging, I haven't had any new cases either. I don't think I've ever felt so helpless in my life as I did when my deer started dying. It's the worst feeling in the world and I know as deer farmers, we will be the ones to figure out this disease and the ways to combat it instead of just looking the other way. As far as it being a new thing around here and the deer getting immune to it in the wild, I don't know, I've seen it in the wild here for 40 years and we have years where the no-see ums are terrible and we hardly find any dead ones and then the next year we find thousands across the state, I've seen it the worst on wet years and I've also seen it bad on dry ones, you just never know, I'm still not convinced the midge is the only carrier. I wish they would spend as much money studying this disease that really does kill alot of deer instead of wasting all the money trying to blame deer farmers for CWD which I have never ever herd of anybody having an outbreak and finding a bunch of dead deer.



Cody