"Dave Bugg" > wrote:

> How does that prove that the USDA -- according to your post -- "threatened
> to ruin these people if they told anyone that USDA had killed all their
> sheep" ? I do not find that statement credible.

I can picture a circumstance where the USDA agrees to pay
compensation to the sheep farmers but only under condition
that the whole proceeding (including culling the sheep) is kept
confidential. Legal settlements often have confidentiality
clauses. That could, if one liked, be portrayed as
"ruining" the farmers if they talked about it.

Steve