EHD prevention misting systems

Give me a call. I have some info you may be interested in.

There are a few out there but here is a link to one that has been listed on buckstocker.com that is solar powered and motion operated if you are interested follow the link to check it out. Opt-To-Mist

I just purchased an A1 mister that goes in the back of a utility vehicle or a pick up truck, seems to be working pretty good for me. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call.



Tyler Schmidt

www.RockyMeadowWhitetails.com

717-805-3799

Issac, here is my view. I have a misting system that covers all my pens, as does a good friend of mine. In April 2012, we had an outbreak of EHD/ Bluetongue. Necropsy at Texas AM identified the virus as EHD 2. Both my fellow deerfarmer and myself lost over 50% of our herd. Yes, they were all vaccinated with the EHD vaccine. My friend even bought and tried the $500 injection treatment sold out of Texas with minimal success. After these heavy losses we have learned a few things.

1) sooner or later EHD/ Bluetongue will visit your farm

2.) Misting systems are effective but cannot keep up in an epidemic.

3) The vaccine is unproven and unreliable

4.) The $500 per deer treatment is unproven and unreliable

5.) Some deer die within 12 hours of showing symptoms and other deer survive with and without medications.

6.) All teatments we tried ,and we tried alot of different medications between both farms showed no pattern of success.

7.) The epidemic stopped after it went thru both herds.

8.) We installed cattle rubs soaked in diesel and premethrin.

9.) We bought and used a fogger that fogs a residual insecticide that we can apply to our property and spray across to the neighbors tree line.



Conclusion:

A misting system is better than nothing ( it only kills midges when it contacts them and does not have a residual efficacy). We observed midges on deer at 3 pm in the afternoon, so the dawn , dusk and midnite spraying had little effect on the midges at 3 pm. ,

The misting system and fogger are better than just the misting system because the fogger can reach parts of the pens that the misting system can not reach and has a residual (20 day) insect killing lifespan.

A cattle rub, misting system and fogger is the best possible intergrated approach to help decrease the midge fly infestation.



I have learned way to much about this virus in the last 60 days!!!!



If any of you have any questions about this discussion and EHD/ bluetongue you can PM me or call me at 337-322-2727

Ditto to third power!!! I was telling this exactly as you have to the farmers at our recent La. deer convention. Matter of fact one of the farmers boasting his success with the misting system lost his a$$ earlier this year. Sad but, he didnt agree with me then. But i bet he does now. Your deer are better off getting exosure and living through it to pass on the antibodies to their young. Keeping your deer in a (relative bubble) will do no good once you sell them to someone outside that bubble. I can only say this , because your post is the PURE TRUTH. Like it or not EHD kills and exposure is the only way that the animals we raise will likely live in preserves and unprotected breed pens. While i dont see anything wrong with doing what you can for your animals, no one will buy from you when your animal lays down the following year. Heartiness is parimount! The last few years i have been looking at bloodlines that cannot fight this at all. Some questions i have asked farmers is:

1- Have you ever had EHD present on your farm?

2- Has this particular animal contracted EHD?

3- Has this buck in which i am interested in buying semen ever had EHD?

I personally saw every animal (100% infection) to EHD type II last summer. I only lost ten out of fifty. I dont have a misting system. All deer had been vaccinated with the lastest and greatest vaccines for three consecutive yrs. Spraying constantly. Still 100% infection! My herd is HEARTY. This thinking should be on the top of all deer farmers minds who live in the south that are thinking about bringing in deer that have never been exposed. Its VERY EXPENSIVE LESSONS & RISKY. I feel breeding HEARTY does through AI is the way to go.



JASON SAVAGE

DEER CREEK WHITETAILS

318-791-9196

[email protected]

La. Bone Collector- have you found any lines that do better than others? A few years back a deer farmer friend told me his Texas line deer ( located in Louisiana) were hearty and were better able to fend off EHD/ Bluetongue and he lost over 30 head in 2009. So my conclusion is that Texas deer located in Lousiana are just as suspectible to EHD/Bluetongue as other imported deer. I do have a few native Louisiana deer in my herd and they fared much better during the epidemic that the imported deer. In fact, the native louisiana deer that we use in our urine collection business are going to be AI'd this fall to produce 50%Northern /50% Louisiana fawns.

Chris Patton- what is your opinion on this matter?

I have heard say thhat the Thunder line does fairly well down south? Have you seen one line fair better than another down there ?

W.s- my 2 thunderstorm does showed very little resistance and died with the virus.

Pdaddy, I will not genetically profile specifics on this forum . Please understand. I respect others genetics, however the collection of similarities on farms spreading from Minnesota to Louisiana seem reliable enough for me to formulate my list.

Is this a virus that is found in all species of deer or just whitetail?

Word is that the EHD/blue tongue has moved north from Louisiana and Texas into Oklahoma. Can any share what's going on in Oklahoma?

Southern Oklahoma is getting hit. Northeastern Ok hasn't had any hits yet that I've heard about. My prayers are with all of us "lucky" ones that have to deal with it. Good luck to all.

Fallows are not effected by EHD.

Can anyone help me understand the stigma associated with deer farmers havind ehd in their pens.i find some very reluctant to admit they are losing deer to ehd. In fact, if I had my choice to but from a farm that has had a recent outbreak or from a farm the advertises ehd resistant deer , I will always buy from the farm with the recent outbreak.any thoughts appreciated!

I imagine it's just a lack of knowledge about the disease. One should know that when this EHD happens in the wild the herd seems to be immune for a few years to that strain of the virus. This would also be true of our own domestic herds.

pdaddy I like your comments. We bought deer from herds that openly talked about ehd problems. These deer have been very tough and productive. We want our deer to be productive in the real world not in a protective bubble.