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

In the mid-1990s Linda and Larry Faillace had a dream: they wanted to breed sheep and make cheese on their Vermont farm. They did the research, worked hard, followed the rules, and, after years of preparation and patience, built a successful, entrepreneurial business. But just like that, their dream turned into a nightmare. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told them that the sheep they imported from Europe (with the USDA's seal of approval) carried a disease similar to the dreaded BSE or "mad cow disease." After months of surveillance--which included USDA agents spying from nearby mountaintops and comically hiding behind bushes--armed federal agents seized their flock. The animals were destroyed, the Faillace's lives turned upside down, all so that the USDA could show the U.S. meat industries that they were protecting America from mad cow disease--and by extension, easing fears among an increasingly wary population of meat-eaters. Mad Sheep is the account of one family's struggle against a bullying and corrupt government agency that long ago abandoned the family farmer to serve the needs of corporate agriculture and the industrialization of our food supply. Similar to the national best-selling book, A Civil Action, readers will cheer on this courageous family in its fight for justice in the face of politics as usual and the implacable bureaucracy of the farm industry in Washington, DC.

In March of 2001 agents of the US Department of Agriculture descended on a small Vermont family farm, seizing 140 organically-raised dairy sheep imported from Britain by Linda and Larry Faillace, claiming that the sheep had been exposed to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, aka Mad Cow Disease. In this work, Linda Faillace tells the story of her and her husband's fight with the USDA over the seizure, in which they demonstrated that the sheep could not be infected only to have the USDA slaughter the flock anyway. The narrative is set within the context of the failure of the USDA to challenge big agro-industrial practices that do threaten the food supply with Mad Cow Disease and suggests that the USDA cynically seized the Faillaces' flock as a convenient scapegoat for Mad Cow fears that would not tarnish the US beef industry. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The page-turning account of a government cover-up, corporate greed, and a courageous family's fight to save their farm.

Linda Faillace is a writer, shepherdess, songwriter, and owner of a country store dedicated to supporting local farmers and locally grown food. She has studied mad cow disease since the early 1990s. A champion of organic and sustainable farming, farmer's rights, and strong local communities, Linda lives with her husband, Larry, and their three children in East Warren, Vermont.