Organic fiber.  It sounds good - -warm and fuzzy.  What's not to love?  But is there more to it?

If organic wool can only come from sheep or other fiber critters that aren't

vaccinated against common diseases -  - as was recently suggested in a popular magazine for hand-spinners, or maybe doesn't have its umbilical cord treated with iodine at birth, or isn't treated for parasites, is that humane?

Vaccinating sheep against diseases that can cause a miserable and painful death such as tetanus is a good thing.  Treating a lamb's navel with iodine at birth is a simple way of avoiding "navel ill" or "joint ill."

Some fairs and exhibitions of livestock require vaccinating sheep against rabies - - a sensible protection of the public.

Wormers and decoquinate are used to prevent death and permanent stunting of

lambs due to damage to their intestines by parasites.  Decoquinate is a very safe

treatment and won't hurt horses or donkeys that might get into treated grain.  Wormers are also used in adult sheep to prevent death and debility. Overuse of wormers or antibiotics is expensive and needless, however the wormers we use today are far different from those used a few decades ago.

Ivermectin is very safe even in pregnant sheep and is used in humans to prevent River Blindness - - a major problem in parts of Africa.  Levamasol, another category of wormer, contains a chemical used in human chemotherapy and is believed to stimulate the immune system in humans. Adult sheep are somewhat resistant to parasites.  Lambs, however, take time to develop a resistance. Heavily parasitized lambs or sheep can develop a weak spot in the wool, suddenly lose all their wool or even die.

In some areas of the United States there are so many deer that brain worm, a parasite carried by deer, can infect llamas, alpacas, sheep or fiber goats. Nothing but monthly doses of ivermectin or similar treatment will keep the domestic animals safe - - unless the animals are kept off all pasture that deer could have access to. Infected sheep become paralyzed first in the hind end and then gradually lose the ability to walk.

Twenty years ago sheep were still being treated with organophosphates, phenothiazine, and even with nicotine by the folks who felt it was "natural."  Some people do not feel ivermectin is a safe drug because it is harmful to some dogs.

Chocolate is harmful to all dogs - - but great for people!

We raise Finnsheep.  This breed is native to Finland where the sheep were mostly kept in small farmstead flocks.  They have large litters and marvelous wool.  One of our ewes had quintuplets last spring and another set of quints the fall of the same year.  She couldn't afford to have a worm infestation that damaged her intestines nor could she have had all those lambs if she had been stunted by parasites.  She needed all her energy for herself and her lambs.

I have not raised the issue of antibiotics because with the exception of anti-coccidia measures, sheep are not usually routinely treated with antibiotics unless

they are sick.  In that case the treated animal could either sold out of the organic flock or its wool and lambs might held back from the organic marketplace for a

certain length of time.

Why not use "organic" treatments for parasites?  Some suggest using wormwood (which the FDA considers unsafe due to its neurotoxic potential) or other herbs or even Shaklee's Basic H,( a household cleaning product said to be good for cleaning everything from grills to aluminum and which the company say is not tested on animals) - - and which has not been evaluated for safety in food producing animals.

Glossing over the realities, farmers are told to accept higher lamb losses and slower growth rates when using organic techniques.  The reality is farmers may need to get used to finding dead or dying lambs when they go out to the barn or

look out in the field.  A lamb is not a carrot or a turnip or a tomato.  A blemish on an organic apple is no big deal.

A stunted, dead or dying lamb is something else entirely.

It is possible to raise organic sheep according to USDA standards - - which do not exclude vaccines and other some other interventions - - but not all breeds can be raised that way and probably not in all locations in the USA.

It seems a shame to encourage hand-spinners avoid buying wool from small intensively raised flocks with tremendous varieties of wool types because the wool doesn't meet this extreme definition of organic.  A greater shame would be to lose sheep or lambs to a slow, painful death for want of a vaccination or parasite prevention.

When we domesticated our fiber animals thousands and thousands of years ago, we took responsibility for their lives.  We have come to learn through scientific

research and common sense that animals that are comfortable are more productive.  It doesn't make sense to throw that away due to a knee jerk response to a buzzword.