Whole flock approach to foot health
OVER the last three years our practice has changed its approach to treating lameness. Instead of treating individual lame sheep, we now look at the causes and hatch a plan. It has resulted in lameness falling from 15pc-20pc in flocks to below 5pc. There are no magic bullets and it takes commitment from both the vet and the farmer to stick to the agreed plan
Most of what we do is based around the five-point lameness control plan. The plan is based around building resilience, reducing the amount of infection in the flock and establishing immunity.
This is a peak-risk period for lameness as we approach housing after grazing in wet conditions. Housing allows infectious agents build up in the straw and allows disease to spread even further.
The first step is to identify lame sheep and segregate them. Then we go through each one to classify the cause of the lameness. With these records, we can work out much better control plans.
The most common types of lameness we see are:
scald in between the hoof, causing reddening inflammation; rot also affecting between the hoofs, causing more severe lameness and has a distinctive pungent odour; (contagious ovine digital dermatitis) affecting above the coronary band, causing reddening and sometimes bleeding; granuloma affecting the end of the toe, usually caused by overzealous paring; abscesses — these are small abscesses usually affecting the soft tissue inside the horn of the hoof; hoof is exaggerated growth of the horn.
The first four are by far the most common problems we diagnose. However, there are usually a number of these conditions contributing a flock lameness problem.
Having created a ‘ lame bunch’, we set about treatment. Keeping these separate while treating usually reduces the spread of disease and allows more focused treatments.
Treatments
usually just requires footbathing. I use 1kg of zinc sulphate with 10 litres of water. I usually recommend three passes over three days, with once weekly footbathing thereafter. We also look at any conditions that might contribute to increased levels, such as winter bedding and stocking densities.
rot usually requires injectable antibiotic treatments — you and your vet can decide the product and length of the course. It is really important to mark ewes that have been treated. Repeat offenders should be culled — three strikes and you’re out should be standard. Footbathing here can also significantly reduce the risk of spread — in some severe cases, we use antibiotic footbaths for the first three days and then return to normal footbathing.
will require antibiotic treatments and culling repeat offenders. Footbathing, in my experience, doesn’t have a huge impact on CODD, meaning accurate diagnosis of this problem is very important.
granuloma is where the horn of the claw is pared too much and the soft tissue underneath the hard horn protrudes out and becomes very sensitive and sometimes infected. We review paring techniques on the farm if we see a lot of this. Paring sheep should only be done where extremely necessary as it may significantly contribute to lameness and even spread infections in some cases.
diagnose foot abscesses less commonly and they usually respond to antibiotic treatments if there isn’t too much chronic tissue damage.
hoof is one condition where you can consider paring, but repeat offenders should be culled. This is true for any toe or horn deformities as they are difficult to get right long term.
Long-term strategy
Following a diagnosis and action plans being put in place, we review the flock lameness again one month after the first visit.
The second visit is about putting a long-term strategy in place, including:
new arrivals on farm and assess for lameness over the first three weeks. Any infected sheep should be treated aggressively before entering the main flock. This is an essential plan, reducing lameness long term in your flock, as the main source of new infections can be bought-in stock.
where foot rot is diagnosed has been very successful as a long-term control strategy. The use of footvax vaccine prior to risk periods and boosting annually can dramatically improve the sheep’s ability to stop new infections of fusobacterium or foot rot.
review treatments over time, carefully recording what treatments work and, more importantly. those that are not working. We also recommend the use of pain killers to fresh cases as, in my opinion, this helps with treatment outcomes.
look at housing strategies long term to ensure ewe comfort and reduce the spread of infectious causes of lameness.
have a distinct culling policy for repeat offenders to reduce the infection levels in the flock.
many flocks, we establish routine footbathing to eliminate the spread of disease, particularly if we identify risk periods for certain flocks. Anyone dealing with lameness incidences of over 5pc should consider a flock lameness investigation and the role-out of the new Knowledge Transfer schemes creates a new opportunity to tackle flock lameness.