The foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain has become personal to a central Alberta farmer.
Little more than a year ago, Doug Hess of Mannville, sold a purebred Shorthorn bull to one of Scotland’s premier farms during Farm Fair in Edmonton.
This week the bull, 300 other cattle and about 1,000 sheep on the Scottish farm were slaughtered when an animal tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease.
“It’s scary,” Hess said.
The first calves from the Alberta bull were born this spring and the Scottish owner was pleased with the healthy calves running around the farm, he said.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The bull belonged to Hess’s daughter, Sarah, 14, and was out of her 4-H heifer.
“It was gentle as a kitten,” said Hess of the massive 2,000 kilogram bull.
“(Sarah) really cried when she heard her bull had to go down,” said Hess.
“It was just a damn good bull.”
Before the bull was shipped to Scotland, it was quarantined on their farm for two months after Farm Fair. During this time they drew semen from the bull for on-farm use. The bull was shipped last April.
Since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, Hess said they have begun to draw embryos from their cattle in case an outbreak hits Alberta and 20 years of breeding meets the same fate as British cattle.
Hess also anticipates British farmers will soon be looking for livestock to repopulate their herds . He will ensure his embryos are export quality.
Plan to restock
Bob Prestage, of Canada Livestock Services, said he is starting to get calls from British cattle producers wanting to restock their herds. A dairy farmer from England who lost his herd to foot-and-mouth wanted to buy dairy cattle immediately to start rebuilding.
“I told him it’s no sense until he figures out where he’s going to put them,” said Prestage, of Camrose.
After the British livestock are killed, an extensive farm cleanup begins. After the cleanup, pigs are let loose to roam the farm. If there is foot-and-mouth virus still in the soil, the pigs will pick it up quickly.
Prestage said on the Canadian side it takes about two months to meet protocol requirements and have cattle ready for export to England.
In 1976 when he began the export business, 100 percent of the livestock were shipped live by plane or boat. Now only about 10 percent are shipped live. Most livestock is exported as embryos or semen.
