Canon Ranch Sheep Hospital Shed -- Ranching Heritage Center, Lubbock TX - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The Canon Ranch Sheep Hospital Shed, a critical facility during the decades that screwworms were present in Texas and Mexico, is on display at the Ranching Heritage Center, on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock TX.

An interpretive sign nearby reads as follows:

“CANON RANCH SHEEP HOSPITAL SHED
c. 1920

In the 1920s, the canon Ranch in Pecos County, Texas, built this sheep Hospital shed to aid in the battle against the screw worm infestation prior to the 1962 screw worm eradication program along the Texas/Mexico border, the worms were killing hundreds of head of livestock every year. The cowboys on the ranch carried medicine in their saddlebags to treat wounds on animals in the pasture, but there is only so much that could be done to help in the pasture. More severe cases of infestation were brought to the hospital shed where the livestock could be protected from flies while the wounds were treated.”

Friendly advice: DON'T search for photos of screwworms <-- DISGUSTING, AND EXTREMELY DISTURBING.

Suffice it to say: Screwworms are very very horrible and destructive parasites that afflict animals. They are eradicated in the US and Mexico, but the worldwide fight goes on.

Group that erected the marker: Ranching Heritage Center URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 3121 4th St Lubbock, TX

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   08/06/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it