In Illinois positive CWD cases have increased from 2 in 2003 to 80 or more in 2004. They have gone from one county to eight counties in one year. Positive cases have been 20 miles from our farm. Both the Conservation Dept. and Health department have issued guide lines for handling carcasses from road kills or other reasons. County highway personal are instructed to leave them lay and let nature take it's course. They figure it's a good way to feed cyotes, wolves etc. If someone complains about a carcass they are instructed to haul it a little farther down the road and throw it in the ditch. So if Mr. Cyote avoids getting hit by a car during his repast he might drag parts of the carcass under the fence into my backgrounding pasture where it is likely to remain until it decomposes, providing I don't remove it. (which I try to do) This area is most certainly going to be grazed over by my steers which will be fattened for human consumption. The question is if that carcass was positive for CWD can cattle carry the folded prions all the way to the diner plate or do they somehow miraculously unfold themselves when injested by cattle? I have been told by both conservation and health department officials that I have no concern because cattle don't get it. My question is can cattle carry it? Anyone who has been in the cattle business long knows the difference between get and carry. So I was simply asking if any healthy cattle in CWD areas had been tested to see if possibly they had picked up some folded prions by comingling with infected wildlife or whether they are just presumed to be clean because they don't show symptoms.
