Dave Smith turned himself in to authorities for failing to protect his livestock from suffering and death.
More than 700 of his goats were dead and he couldn’t explain why.
Smith, a goat producer from Choiceland, Sask., said his local veterinarian couldn’t figure out the cause of all the deaths, but said chlamydia was involved.
“That shouldn’t be killing all of them and it’s treatable. Something else is wrong out there too,” said Smith, who recently expanded his operation, merging two other herds into his.
Read Also
Supreme Court gives thumbs-up emoji case the thumbs down
Saskatchewan farmer wanted to appeal the court decision that a thumbs-up emoji served as a signature to a grain delivery contract.
He called the Canadian Food Inspection Agency but was told the mysterious deaths were not its issue.
Smith said the CFIA representative in northeastern Saskatchewan said it wasn’t one of the 32 reportable livestock diseases that are easily transmissible or zoonotic so the agency didn’t need to become involved.
He phoned the provincial government, which suggested he consult a private vet.
After getting what Smith said was little or no help or even much interest in his dying goats, he turned to the provincial farm stress line.
“I was at my wit’s end. My goats were dying every day since May. We tried treating for chlamydia that might have arrived through the new herd. Nothing helped. The feds didn’t seem to want to help us either. Everybody said it wasn’t their mandate or they didn’t know much about goats.”
The stress line counsellor recommended Smith turn himself in to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals.
“I called the SPCA. I turned myself in. They called CFIA and suddenly we had action. Chris Clark (of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine) came out (Dec. 9) with a team to check out our problem,” said Smith.
The vet college is setting up a provincially funded disease investigation unit to support veterinarians and farmers who are facing unusual problems like these, but it isn’t running yet, said Clark.
“I can only imagine how frustrated this producer must have been. It would have been an awful situation,” said Clark.
All summer and fall, Smith’s 2005 crop of kids kept dying. Smith treated with tetracycline for the chlamydia but the deaths continued. Soon does began to die and then a llama and finally wild deer that lived in Smith’s pasture were dead. Nothing has been found to link or separate the deaths.
“If this thing isn’t transmissible, I don’t know what is. Mind you, if a chicken got the sniffles up here I think I’d have had 40 inspectors checking my farm for anything and everything. Just because it’s goats nothing happens? I’m not understanding how a farmer gets to find out what’s killing his herd if the government can’t help,” Smith said.
An official with the CFIA said if the disease is not one that is on a reportable list, the issue reverts to the province.
Smith said he couldn’t afford to keep treating his herd and pay consulting fees to veterinarians who specialize in goats. Smith estimates his losses at $90,000 and climbing.
“I’m going to be put out of business by this and yet it’s too much to ask for some help to find a solution?”
He said the support offered to producers who face this type of catastrophic disease loss is too little and too late.
“I’d get (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization) next year. Too late. I need to be able to feed my goats this winter. I’ve got feed, but I don’t have money for fuel for the tractor, that’s how bad this has gotten. You can’t afford to insure for this,” he said.
“If they were hit by lightning or something else, I’m covered. But this is bad and there’s nowhere to turn for help.”
Clark expects to have answers in a week.
