Elk

[J Hoy]

So that is where my elk went? I hear that wolves really took care of the elk herd on Lolo in Idaho. Maybe you would like some of those too. Me and my neighbors would be willing to send you a couple dozen.

The wolves always get the blame, but Idaho's excessive use of the three top teratogenic pesticides is that cause birth defects and mortality in vertebrates according to studies, is more to blame than the wolves. If the elk don't produce viable young, the population goes down.

 

[mwj]

If the wolves do not eat they will die.

 

[Travlr]

Whenever a species of wildlife becomes too abundant and lacks natural controls, disease seems to step in and lower the numbers.

Except for human beings. But stay tuned on that...

 

[Silver]

The wolves always get the blame, but Idaho's excessive use of the three top teratogenic pesticides is that cause birth defects and mortality in vertebrates according to studies, is more to blame than the wolves. If the elk don't produce viable young, the population goes down.

Viable young and non viable young alike get devoured wholesale by predators. More predators make for smaller calf crops.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

I think I'd just as soon have wild hogs…

you must not have too many of those

 

[Ebenezer]

We don't have pigs here, but we are overrun with deer... and I will take them ANY DAY over wild hogs...
@kenny thomas .... meningeal worm, or Listeriosis , or CWD ?????

meningeal worm - likely

 

[Silver]

you must not have too many of those

Ya, in fact I said this in this thread:

Well, I've never experienced hogs. Hope I don't.

But if you've ever had 300 elk eating all your pasture and hay, smashing fences and destroying feed piles you might wonder which was the greater curse too.

 

[Mrcopier]

Ya, in fact I said this in this thread:

But if you've ever had 300 elk eating all your pasture and hay, smashing fences and destroying feed piles you might wonder which was the greater curse too.

That sounds horrible, hogs basically just ruin a good meadow/hayfield

 

[Silver]

That sounds horrible, hogs basically just ruin a good meadow/hayfield

I kinda think having to choose between the two is like having to make the choice between amputating your leg just above the knee or just below.

 

[kenny thomas]

Ya, in fact I said this in this thread:

But if you've ever had 300 elk eating all your pasture and hay, smashing fences and destroying feed piles you might wonder which was the greater curse too.

Our elk are in an old coal mine area that was reclaimed. Thousands of acres. A friend had lots of it leased and rarely fed unless the snow got deep. A couple years ago he was going to turn the cows into a stockpiled fescue area and when he got there all he found was 40 elk and no stockpile. They had eaten everything. He sold the cows because he had nothing to feed them. Mention an Elk around him and get a cussing.

 

[georgiabob]

Elk only have 1-2 calves, hogs have 12….

And more often

 

[farmerjan]

@Ebenezer that was my first thought.... BUT........ CWD ... has become a problem in parts of Va, and these are introduced elk.... and maybe a generation or 2.... don't know when they were introduced... just would be nice to know what it was... since all 3 cause similar symptoms... Oh well, we are just stupid amateurs what do we know????

 

[farmerjan]

That sounds horrible, hogs basically just ruin a good meadow/hayfield

And at least it is legal to shoot them when ever, where ever... don't think they are that kindly to people shooting elk like that...

 

[Silver]

And more often

But do they spread tuberculosis and brucellosis?

 

[farmerjan]

But do they spread tuberculosis and brucellosis?

Yes and Yes.... as well as being a vector for Lepto.....

 

[Silver]

Yes and Yes.... as well as being a vector for Lepto.....

Well that sucks

 

[Travlr]

@Ebenezer that was my first thought.... BUT........ CWD ... has become a problem in parts of Va, and these are introduced elk.... and maybe a generation or 2.... don't know when they were introduced... just would be nice to know what it was... since all 3 cause similar symptoms... Oh well, we are just stupid amateurs what do we know????

I found out from a career Wisconsin DNR deer biologist that a herd of Fort Collins captive deer in 1967 was the original vector for CWD. No one knew about prions then. It was thought by researchers that captivity itself was the cause for the wasting phenomenon. Sheep all have a prion called scrapie. Could have been a mutation. By 1994 we had the term CWD.

The people in charge released the deer into the wild as the best solution they could think of.

 

[Ebenezer]

"Sheep all have a prion called scrapie."

Not "all" just the infected ones and that is a limited part of the population and slowly going away.

 

[Ebenezer]

@Ebenezer that was my first thought.... BUT........ CWD ... has become a problem in parts of Va, and these are introduced elk.... and maybe a generation or 2.... don't know when they were introduced... just would be nice to know what it was... since all 3 cause similar symptoms... Oh well, we are just stupid amateurs what do we know????

You or someone said walking in circles. That was my clue. But I don't know.

 

[Ky hills]

Around 20 years ago I had sheep. At that time they were breeding for sheep that were genetically resistant to scrapie. I don't understand or remember it well enough to hardly describe, but there was a gene that determines susceptibility to scrapie if the sheep is QQ then it's susceptible. QR would be resistant but could pass on the susceptible gene. The desired gene was RR which I reckon would be homozygous and I bought RR rams.
Also if I remember right some breeds were more prone to scrapie than others but I don't know which ones.
My Suffolks never came back as QQ but just a small sampling.