Alaska Ag....Will ADF&G Outlaw Domestic

sheep and goats by Sunday?

That question is worrying all who stand in opposition to the Alaska Wild Sheep Foundation's push to remove our domestic flocks from the "clean list". 

Prop 64 is on the Alaska Department of Fish & Game meeting agenda this weekend. If you would like to speak up in support of your local farmers, ranchers, and hobbyists, you have until Saturday at 10:30 to sign up for oral comments. 

The meeting is being held through the 17th at the Lakefront Hotel, 4800 Spenard Road, Anchorage.

Over 360 fellow Alaskans took the time to submit letters in opposition to this proposal. 

The supporters are knowingly misleading the Alaska public, by stating that if the proposal passes, then folks can just get a permit, test, and be reimbursed for any stock destroyed as a result.  This is a lie. Not just an untruth, or a misstatement, it is a lie.

Direct from the State website:

In other words, the Board of Game has the power to remove species from the "clean list" If the animal is not on the clean list, then ownership is prohibited. Period end. 

Unfortunately, our local reporter was not as thorough as she could have been, when this was published by the ADN:

Permits for domestic goats and sheep?

The article does not go into depth on the lack of scientific data, how Dall sheep differ from Bighorn, what has occurred in the lower 48, under what conditions, etc.  After all, there have been domestic sheep and goats here for decades, with absolutely zero disease outbreak between domestic and wild stock.  ADF&G have not even identified habitat, yet the AWSF is intent on destroying a significant portion of animal husbandry in Alaska.  

If you can add your voice in support of local livestock (and food security!) in Alaska, it would be greatly appreciated.  This action is flat out fear mongering, has wide ranging implications (see previous entries on this subject), and serves no one but the pocketbooks of guides and outfitters, and their wealthy clients. Who, by the way, killed over 700 wild sheep last year alone. 

Alaska Ag.....All Hail The....

All hail the chief! 

Or the dictator. Or something to that effect.

Please do take a moment to click back on the previous blog entry, and read the comments.

Pay as much heed to Greg's demands as you like, to, as he puts it-"shut the fuck up and be nice".  Oh and make sure you pay homage to the man who "saved agriculture in the state" while you're at it *cough cough*

Followed by another obfuscation, allegedly posted by the MMM&S plant manager.  As the more public face of MMM&S, Shannon also posted on social media a screed referencing members of the ag community as "disreputable", and naming this blog author and another by name.  

Really, this is how you promote your business?  Take public sideswipes at your customer base?  Is that saving ag?  Why no, it is not.  But the overblown response is as puzzling as it is amusing. All that was done was to put together two *public* notices, of current sales prices (as of that date) at MMM&S.  And note that the advertised prices seriously undercut local Alaska raised, fed, and Alaska born livestock from other producers. Which is true, and they know it. 

They know because they cannot afford to do it themselves, and stay competitive. Not even with a feedlot masquerading as a "ranch", not with direct slaughter imports, not with any method.  So how are they offering these amazing prices?  Why, one only needs to look at their published processing rates to see the likely source of their "savings". 

Ag was not "saved" by the purchase of that plant.  Was it helpful? Of course, we all know that continuity of that facility is paramount to livestock producers.  But there are alternatives, other USDA plants that could have been used if absolutely necessary, or people could have gone back to custom exempt sales easily enough-and foregone the retail package sales altogether.  That said, the above attitude and way of doing business are just two reasons that Denali Meat Company invested in a mobile slaughter plant, and that the one at Pt MacKenzie exists today. 

Sometimes, having a monopoly is not as advantageous as one would think.