Liz accidentally woke me up at four this morning when she got up to go to the fair. (Frankly, it hurt.) It was not time to milk, but since I was up anyhow, I went to work at my other job.....the Farm Side. Deadline is today (not unlike every other Wednesday) and I didn't even have a rough draft. I started doing research on the new federal regulations on 7% iodine solution. I didn't find good news I'm afraid. Instead of being able to go to the farm store to buy a gallon, we will have to look elsewhere, probably a pharmacy, for this much needed medicine. The drug will now be sold only by entities registered with the DEA and records will be kept of its distribution. (I don't suppose that will make it any cheaper.) The law is changing because depraved drug dealers use iodine to cook methamphetimine to sell to their customers. They already steal anhydrous ammonia fertilizer; now they have their fingers in the farm medicine cabinet and their chicanery is taking away a much needed tool for calf, lamb, and kid health.
When baby critters are born, their navels offer a veritable highway by which nasty pathogens can enter their bodies, often causing a disease called joint ill, or navel ill. Dipping the newborn navel in strong tincture of iodine disinfects it and helps it to dry out, closing that germy autobahn into the baby body. Joint ill is a really nasty disease causing swollen, damaged joints and often death. Thanks to all those entrepreneurial drug cookers our calves will now more vulnerable to it, at least until we find an acceptable (and hopefully useless in making meth) substitute.
In the course of my pre-milking research I learned all kinds of stuff about laws, drugs (the bad kind), drugs (the medicinal kind) and public hearings. More than I had wanted to know, really.
Then after all that clicking and ticking away on the keyboard I changed my mind and wrote about this story instead.
About Me
- threecollie
- Embracing agricultural diversity, one species at a time. All rights reserved
This is pretty maddening. They can't make exceptions for people like you with legitimate needs?
ReplyDeleteBeyond that craziness - lies the fact that we're sharing the highways with kids that are ingesting this stuff.
Hi Cathy, I don't have any trouble understanding it, as I accepted the thing with sudafed. However, I hate that bad people make things bad for good cows...and their people. I hadn't thought about the road part of the insanity! Dang!
ReplyDeleteGreat article. I didn't know that you wrote for news 9. Cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know about the waking earlier than wanted or needed. I have a dog who does that for me.
Very scary about the guy and your barn. Yuck. How awful to be worried on your own property.
And thanks for the site with the critter sounds. Cait and I will have a lot of fun with that.
Are you freaking kidding me? This really ticks me off. First they took the lye off the shelves at the store. I used to make soap, not anymore. Now iodine? What a crock. Wish we would spend as much time fighting this war as we are in Iraq. Thanks for the heads up we are off to the feed store today.
ReplyDeleteAMWD, I am so sorry I wasn't clearer. I wish I did write for 9 but actually I write an editorial column (the Farm Side) for the Amsterdam Recorder. I just used the link to 9 to show that my topic was the mink release. Sorry for the confusion.
ReplyDeleteJoni, I knew you would get it right away. It is so frustrating. Everybody is too busy this week to run out and see if we can still get a gallon...I am hoping they aren't all gone. Betcha we will pay ten times as much at the pharmacy when we have to buy it there.
I didn't know they were going to start controlling 7%. I use it too for the same reason and for hoof rot. It seems they should be able to just keep it behind the counter like the Sudafed.
ReplyDeleteIf you can find the iodine crystals from a chemical supply, you can mix your own. I used to do this for my horse's thrush. This might be cheaper than buying the 7% by the gallon and I know you probably go through more of it than I do.