Livestock Deaths in Idaho
The recent case of 43 cows found dead in a pasture may be a symptom of the times. Idaho State Department of Agriculture Veterinarian Dr. Bill Barton describes what seems to be occurring.
(Barton) “In fiscal year 2007, we had 246 animal care complaints that our division investigated, fiscal year ’08 we investigated 370, and so far this year, so that would be since July 1st of this year we’ve investigated about 180 complaints. So they seem to be on the rise. The majority of those complaints are involving equine, or horses, I think there are several things that play into the increasing number of cases that we see. Certainly feed prices are at an all-time high as well as we’re in an economic crunch as well as discretionary income is getting less and less for a lot of folks. I think it boiled down to a lot of people, am I going to feed the horses or feed my family. I also think that we have a lot of people who got into the horse business recently who didn’t understand what they were getting themselves into with owning an animal. It may have been purchased thinking I’ve got that grass on the back acre that would be a good lawnmower. Grass goes dormant and then you’ve gotta feed hay. That coupled with the fact that we still do have horses that for one reason or another have come to what some may say is their useful life.
