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Foot and Mouth in the UK
                                                    
Our Hearts go out to all who are affected by the Foot and
Mouth outbreak in the UK and Ireland
It has struck the very heart of Scottish Blackface Country
and is endangering many rare breeds.
It must be just destroying a vast number of people's
Life work and many very special bloodlines in all stock affected.   
 We wish we could do something for you Farmers
in the heart of this disaster.   You are in our hearts and prayers.
May better times be soon upon you!
Sincerely yours,
James and Beth Maxwell Boyle
The Rams Horn at Thistledown Croft


  Facts on Foot and Mouth Disease

  For Updates on this crisis check
Sheepdrove
- much information about F&M from Peter Kindersley

The Guardian, London
World Reference Library Laboratory
For Foot-and-Mouth

Royal Agricultural College

   Sheep Veterinary Society
Division of the British Veterinary Association
This site has pictures of what the disease looks like
and really great information for farmers.  Be sure to have a look here!



VETS ON VERGE OF MUTINY
TIM REID, TIMES, LONDON: Vets accused the government of needlessly
slaughtering thousands of cattle out of stubbornness, and gave warning that
Devon was on the verge of "civil war" over the official handling of the
foot-and-mouth outbreak. A network of vets in Devon has written to the
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food fiercely opposing both the
culling policy and the proposed vaccination programme. "We have been telling
MAFF that it has been pursuing the wrong policy since the start of the
outbreak," Wendy Vere, who runs a practice near Crediton, said . . . The
letter, written by Roger Cunningham, a Devon vet drafted in by MAFF as a
temporary veterinary inspector, represents 50 vets in practices covering 90
per cent of the area in the county actively affected by the disease.
They say they have been calling for a fundamental change in the policy of
culling cattle on farms neighbouring infected herds, known as "contiguous"
culling. They want all the resources now devoted to slaughtering cattle on
contiguous farms to be devoted to culling sheep. The vets argue that if
sheep roaming fields were killed quickly, cattle in winter barns could
simply be monitored for signs of the disease. "Many thousands of cattle are
being needlessly slaughtered," Mr Cunningham said. "But our pleas have
fallen on deaf ears."  . . . ASSOCIATED PRESS: More than a hundred
protesters barricaded entrances to a farm run by learning disabled people to
prevent the slaughter of their stock of healthy animals. The 100 sheep and
60 dairy cattle bred at Oaklands Park Farm in Gloucestershire were earmarked
for slaughter after the highly contagious disease was found on a neighboring
farm two weeks ago . . . Protesters say that, a week from now, the animals
will
have been shown to be free of the disease for two weeks, the incubation
period of the disease, and should therefore be left alone.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-
US Department of Agriculture
Foot-and-Mouth Disease

USDA ESTABLISHES TOLL-FREE FOOT-AND-MOUTH
DISEASE CALL LINE

      WASHINGTON, March 16, 2001 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established a toll-free telephone center to
respond to questions from the public, industry, and media regarding USDA's response to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease in Europe. The toll-free number is 1-800-601-9327. International callers can reach the center by dialing
01-301-734-9257.
      The phone center is staffed by veterinarians and import/export experts from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service who can explain the restrictions and regulations impacting people and products arriving at U.S. ports-of-entry from
foot-and-mouth disease affected countries.
      Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, highly communicable viral disease of cattle and swine. It also affects sheep, goats,
deer, and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. The United States has been free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929.
USDA Reminds Livestock Owners And Private
Veterinary Practitioners to Report Unusual
Animal Health Symptoms

THE PROTECTION OF THE CATTLE

    Grassy meads aneath your feet,
    The friendship of God the Son to bring you home
    To the field of the fountains,
         Field of the fountains.

    Closed be every pit to you,
    Smoothed be every knoll to you,
    Cosy every exposure to you,
    Beside the cold mountains,
         Beside the cold mountains.

    The care of Peter and of Paul,
    The care of James and of John,
    The care of Bride fair and of Mary Virgin,
    To meet you and to tend you,
         Oh! the care of all the band
         To protect you and to strengthen you.


    COMRAIG NAM BA

    Faileagan feile fo 'r casan,
    Cairdeas Mhic De dh' ar toir dhachaidh
    Gu faiche nam fuaran,
         Faiche nam fuaran.

    Gum bu duinte duibh gach slochd,
    Gum bu sumhail duibh gach cnoc,
    Gum bu clumhaidh duibh gach nochd,
    Am fochar nam fuar-bheann,
         Fochar nam fuar-bheann.

    Comraig Pheadail agus Phoil,
    Comraig Sheumais agus Eoin,
    Comraig Bhride mhin's Mhuir Oigh,
    Dh' ar comhlach 's dh' ar cuallach,
    O! comraig gach aon dh' an chomhl
    Dh' ar comhnadh 's dh' ar cuanadh.
An Ancient prayer collected by Alexander Carmichael
and translated from the Gaelic



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