Global Warming is Reducing Haggis Production in Scotland

The alarmists are now blaming increased sheep lung worm in Scotland on global warming. This is leading to reduced availability of sheep lung – a key ingredient in haggis.

The Telegraph UK reports in an article titled “Haggis At Risk From Global Warming” [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/08/eahaggis108.xml] “Haggis is at risk of dying out due to of global warming. Haggis is made from a sheep's stomach, which is stuffed with oatmeal and minced intestines. But butchers are finding it more and more difficult to get hold of the principle ingredient of sheep's lung, as so many are infected with lung worm. … the veterinary centre manager at the Scottish Agricultural College in Thurso, said the parasite was thriving because it is able to survive in grazing all year round in the warmer climate. … it was a struggle to source lung from Scottish farms so butchers are turning to Ireland instead.”

This is rather bizarre considering that Ireland is warmer than Scotland. The following figure compares the annual mean temperatures of Aberdeen (Scotland) with Belfast (N. Ireland).

The following figure shows the annual mean January temperature in Aberdeen. Recent January temperatures are getting up to those in the 1930s. But the lung worm problem is recent?

The Telegraph article later notes that “lung worm has increased because new technologies mean farmers are only medicating animals that are shown to have traces of other diseases, rather than treating all animals on a regular basis.”

Oh, so maybe it’s not all due to global warming?

The British publication “Managing Internal Parasites in Organic Cattle and Sheep”,

[http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/psweb.nsf/e8c12cf77637ec6c80256a6900374463/9b6462f643709eaf802574b2005863f2/$FILE/techguide_parasites.pdf] says ” the larvae are highly susceptible to desiccation, they are capable of over-wintering through freezing conditions … the use of the lungworm vaccine declined during the 1980s in favour of routine anthelmintic, given as a drench or ruminal bolus. It is thought that this almost wholly suppressive approach may have reduced the opportunity for animals to develop a natural immunity and led to a resurgence in lungworm cases, even in adult dairy cattle.”

The following figure compares the annual mean temperature anomalies for Aberdeen (blue) with the AMO. Looks like this oceanic cycle is causing the warming in Scotland. While atmospheric CO2 just increases, the temperature trend follows the AMO fairly closely.