Iowa sheep producers are carefully tracking the investigation into a case similar to “mad cow” disease in the northeastern U-S. The U-S Department of Agriculture is looking into a fatal sheep disease, which may have been found in Vermont. Iowa’s state veterinarian Dr. John Schiltz says U-S-D-A has the situation well in hand.Dr. Schiltz says there is nothing in the case that should be cause for alarm to Iowa producers. He says ever since the outbreak of mad cow disease in Great Britain in 1996, U-S officials have been very watchful of our borders.Dr. Schiltz says there’s no chance any of Iowa’s flocks have been exposed to the disease.According to figures released by the Iowa Ag Department, there are 260-thousand sheep in Iowa, being raised by 47-hundred producers. In 1999, Iowa’s sheep industry had a gross income of 23-point-7 million dollars, ranking the state 6th in the nation in sheep production.
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