Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind the USDA's War on a Family Farm

By Linda Faillace

Summarized with permission of Chelsea Green. All rights reserved.

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On Feb. 16, 2001, Judge Murtha ruled against the Freemans and Faillaces, but ordered the USDA not to seize the sheep until an appeal to the second circuit court could be heard. The motion for a stay was denied. The federal appeals court said they did not have the legal right to stop the USDA from seizing the sheep, but they did agree to hear the Freeman and Faillaces case and to expedite their hearing. The appeal was scheduled for Apr. 10.

Following the seizure there were many letters and calls of support from all over the country. Some of the letters told of similar experiences of seizures by the USDA. One caller, a neighbor, offered them a vacation at her home in the Dominican Republic, which the family gratefully accepted. When the Faillaces lost their sheep, they not only lost their source of income, they lost their friends and pets, and the children lost their jobs. Everyone in the family had put their heart and soul into making their business successful and now it was gone. Francis was grumpy, Heather rebelled, and Jackie withdrew and refused to talk to anyone. Something had to be done, so Larry got the family together in an attempt to come up with a new family plan.

They were accustomed to using the Holistic Resource Management (HRM) method, which considers people, economics, and environmental health as inseparable for planning the future. The method consisted of each person writing down their own ideas and then later sharing those ideas. None of the children wanted to have sheep yet, but they did want to re-open the family store. Jackie wanted to make cheese again, and Heather wanted to sell cheese at the local farmers market. Francis wanted to finish the construction projects around the farm. Larry wanted to do it all including getting more sheep and starting an organic garden and Linda wanted the family to be happy. They made a list of all their remaining resources and four hours later they had the start of a plan.

On May 8, 2001, the Vermont Department of Agriculture sent a letter stating the remainder of the quarantine on the sheep was lifted. Nevertheless the farm had to be cleaned up and free of infectious material. All wood from the barn was required to either be sealed or incinerated. The Faillaces had to clean, wash, and disinfect everything else that was physically possible with a 2 percent chlorine solution. The solar barn which had housed the sheep had to be disassembled.

By Aug. 28, 2001, the store was open and cheese was being made. Drs. Wayne Zeilenga and Bill Smith arrived at the farm with Drs. David Taylor of Scotland and Richard Race from the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana to inspect their farm and offer recommendations regarding cleanup.

 

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