37+ bighorn sheep have died in a pneumonia outbreak at Montana's National Bison Range

[James Riley]

the biggest question here is who even eats domestic sheep? lamb chops, mutton? I'm 45 years old and I've never eaten either, where is this market?

Meanwhile old hunters die without ever drawing a sheep tag.............................

I've had that question for years. Who the hell eats sheep? I thought they must be around for the wool. Oh well, I'm the last person to get down on ethnic food but these maggots should go back to the middle east.

Question: Can alpacas transfer this disease? I'm starting to see lots of alpaca farms around. I hear the wool is better but I never hear of people eating alpacas. Maybe next time I buy wool I'll buy alpaca wool.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Question: Can alpacas transfer this disease? I'm starting to see lots of alpaca farms around. I hear the wool is better but I never hear of people eating alpacas. Maybe next time I buy wool I'll buy alpaca wool.

For anyone who may be interested, here's a link to the Bighorn Sheep Disease Research Consortium. You can find research and accurate information about bighorn pneumonia there. There is a lot of research needed to understand all the complexities of this disease.

There are several bacteria that can cause pneumonia in sheep, though Mycoplasma is so far the one most directly implicated in wild sheep. I don't know that anyone has examined any of those bacteria with regard to camelids (alpacas/llamas) and bighorn pneumonia.

 

[double_a85]

the biggest question here is who even eats domestic sheep?

I do. I prefer lamb chops to beef. My wife and I have starting raising sheep on our "hobby farm." We have a noxious weed problem in the area and spraying just became to costly and labor intensive. May as well have animals do it for us with a little return on the investment. We have put up good fence around our entire property, and are also no where near any bighorn sheep habitat or populations.

 

[MTGomer]

If you ever venture to Elko, NV go to 'The Star' and get yourself some lamb. Its a Basque (ethnic group from Spain) restaurant. You will then know why people eat lamb.

 

[JoseCuervo]

the biggest question here is who even eats domestic sheep? lamb chops, mutton? I'm 45 years old and I've never eaten either, where is this market?

Meanwhile old hunters die without ever drawing a sheep tag.............................

I love the Lamb Chops at the Star Hotel in Elko, NV. It is an old Basque boarding house, you sit down and eat family style. Pretty amazing food.

Also, the Lamb Chops at the Hotel Martin in Winnemucca, NV are also pretty amazing. Again, another old Basque boarding house.

 

[katqanna]

I believe most sheep meat is eaten by different ethnic groups onreligious holiday's and alot also goes to the east coast.

Which groups and religious holidays?

Jose, is that garlic all over those lamb chops? I have never studied or had Basque food before, though I have studied their non-Indo-European language and culture, will have to look into their recipes. I eat laqmbchops, but my father raised me to eat it topped with sauerkraut.

 

[JLS]

Lamb chops are excellent when done right. Greek marinade/seasoning and grill them rare.

 

[James Riley]

I love the Lamb Chops at the Star Hotel in Elko, NV. It is an old Basque boarding house, you sit down and eat family style. Pretty amazing food.
Also, the Lamb Chops at the Hotel Martin in Winnemucca, NV are also pretty amazing. Again, another old Basque boarding house.

I used to eat at a family style Basque restaurant all the time. Mountain Home, Idaho, back in the 90s. Some of the best food I ever et. But I steered clear of the sheep. :W:

 

[TWT]

Pretty much everybody in the world but us eats sheep regularly. Muslims, Jews, Asians, caribbeans, you name it. There's a huge demand and pretty decent money in it. The US imports more mutton than we produce.

 

[Rob Allen]

Pretty much everybody in the world but us eats sheep regularly. Muslims, Jews, Asians, caribbeans, you name it. There's a huge demand and pretty decent money in it. The US imports more mutton than we produce.

I bet they could be raised somewhere other than the Western USA AKA wild sheep habitat.

 

[TWT]

I agree with you. Just pointing out that there is a huge demand and that demand will likely keep growing.

 

[grandejuan]

If you are a Navajo, you love mutton stew. The tribe has had an auction tag over the years. With the large number of sheep on the "res", its surprising that there are any wild sheep there at all. AZ has seen sheep dying along the Colorado river in western AZ. It appears that domestic goats are are as much at fault as the fuzzy-wuzzies. Politics comes in big time. The Idaho sheep expermental station north of Idaho Falls has been essentially exempted from any controls. I guess we could boycott Pendleton shirts and blankets. Do like lamb chops medium rare done over coals. GJ

 

[Bambistew]

Who eats lamb? Better question...

Who wears merino wool?

 

[katqanna]

Better question... Who wears merino wool?

This is a huge part of it. About 2 years ago I read an outdoor magazine at a friends house, Montana Sporting Journal, Big Game edition 2014. There was an article, "Documenting the Mountain Goat". Just before this, I had assisted with Dr. Bruce Smith's (retired USFWS) presentation on Mountain Goats, the threats they face like Bighorn Sheep, so I knew the disease factors involved.

The following article was on Helle's Duckworth (merino wool) and it's expansion. I also found Helle's articles in other places talking about growing the wool industry here in Montana. I posted all this here that fall. I shared all this with a hunting friend, Dr. Bill Mealer, who was with Safari Club, we were having numerous discussions on Bighorn health. Bill bought a copy of the magazine, published by Schnees, went to talk with the owners to show the correlation, all the academic papers I had, on domestics and the threat to our wild Bighorn and Mountain Goat populations. Schnees sells Helle's Duckworth merino wool products. He got banned from ever shopping at Schnees again.

I knit and weave, use alot of merino wool, it's softer, but I buy it from areas that don't interfere with our Bighorn/Mountain Goat populations. So many outdoor recreation companies promote merino wool products, that the demand is growing. I wonder how many users are aware of the threat some of this production poses to our wild populations?

 

[James Riley]

I knit and weave, use alot of merino wool, it's softer, but I buy it from areas that don't interfere with our Bighorn/Mountain Goat populations.

Have you ever used alpaca? Any comments on how it compares?

 

[katqanna]

Yes, I spin and knit with alpaca/llama. I have found that the warmth/insulation (semi-hollow core) is far superior for llama/alpaca/guanaco/vicuna- camelids, than any wool. It is also bloody expensive compared to merino, but I had a family source given to me.

 

[James Riley]

Yes, I spin and knit with alpaca/llama. I have found that the warmth/insulation (semi-hollow core) is far superior for llama/alpaca/guanaco/vicuna- camelids, than any wool. It is also bloody expensive compared to merino, but I had a family source given to me.

Cool. Supply and demand, I guess. If the camelids are not as bad for wild sheep, then maybe "we" should be buying their wool and that would help bring prices down. I have a friend in Wyoming who owns an alpaca ranch?farm? I never understood the economics of it myself, and it had a certain "Amway" smell to the whole deal, but apparently it is a worthwhile investment. I couldn't say. They treat them like queens and I would have thought they could handle a Wyoming winter with no problem, seeing as the country they come from is high, cold and brutal, but she keeps them in a barn a lot.

The aren't native, but at least they are from the Western Hemisphere. Better than middle eastern stock I reckon.

 

[katqanna]

The paleontological and genetic record shows North America did have native camelids, but they were heavily preyed upon by early humans and did not survive. There have been camelid fossils here in MT. The South American varieties today are descendants of those originating in North America.

Before I moved to Montana, I did some research to see what would be good, not just for fiber, but for pack animals and guarding, that's when I found out they originated here. My aunt raises them in a barn setting in Oregon, many breeders do, the pedigree is money to them. Those that use them for guarding, they are out in the cold with other stock.

 

[1_pointer]

The lamb chops dinner at the Star in Elko is super worth the drive! Start with a Picon Punch or two them move to wine for dinner. Hecks, BOY and I made a 3+hr drive down there just for that after an early end to a sheep hunt north of there.

IIRC, what is now WY has had a large number of camelids discovered there. I want to say the number 18 species, but it's been a long time since I read about it. In my limited looking into the rules regarding use of llama's on public lands, since they carry the same diseases as domestic sheep they often get lumped with them on management decisions. That said, I've never came across an article/study that specifically looked at the transmission from them to wild sheep. Probably due to the few numbers of llamas.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Which groups and religious holidays?

Jose, is that garlic all over those lamb chops? I have never studied or had Basque food before, though I have studied their non-Indo-European language and culture, will have to look into their recipes. I eat laqmbchops, but my father raised me to eat it topped with sauerkraut.

Yes, garlic on the lamb chops. It is optional. Usually served with a green mint jelly.

Northern Nevada, Southwestern Idaho, and occasionally Eastern Oregon will have good Basque restaurants. The good ones are crowded, consistently. The Star in Elko is probably my favorite, and is regularly written up in national articles.

They also make an amazing Picon Punch, which is a Basque cocktail.