Terry, I had a ewe that frequently came in 3-legged lame. She was very prone to "hangnails" - always breaking the hoof wall off above the sole. I trimmed her and in a couple of days she went sound again. She did this several times.
During wet times it is also not uncommon for my sheep to come in limping. They get clods/sticks mud stuck up between their toes with annoying regularity. Just clearing the foot out usually takes care of the problem, but sometimes it takes a day or two for the tenderness to go away. I have had absolutely no instance of hoof rot. In all cases it has been mechanical, but it's always enough to cause a worry. I would say Ernie will be fine - he probably just broke off a little too much hoof wall. Barb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 9:35 PM Subject: [blackbelly] lameness > okay, here is a question for all you more exoperienced sheepo > owners--- > > the boys got loose last week, and when they returned, i saw ernie > limping-- but > he was also walking with one toe on gravel and the other on a piece > of > plywood. I went out today, and noticed he was still limping with the > "same" > degree of affectedness-- so i flipped him and took a look at his > feet-- > > his feet had been trimmed about a month ago by the previous owner--we > have had > a lot of rain, and quite frankly, footrot and scald are something i > am > concerned about, as I do not really want to be dealing with those > issues so > soon into ownership of my fiorst sheep. Anyway, i found the hoof wall > had been > broken off-- but not beyond the pad of the hoof-- so I trimmed the > toes, and > cleared out all muck and stuff. I smell anaerobic smell-- but the boys > had been > browsing- their choice, in a more 'wetland' area today. I will be > taking the > vet kit out tomorrow and giving all four of Ernie's feet a good > cleaning, and > looking for any abrasions that could be an issue> this ebvening, I > could not > find any warm spots or other indications of an infection. the trimming > did help > ease up on the limping-- and he is really havoing no issue with weight > bearing. > The research I have done indicates the pasture 'should' be free of > footrot > organisms-- but do I need to go out and get some zinc sulfate > tomorrow? CArol, > I beleive you mentioned using some sort of pad at one point that yuou > had your > guys walk across avery day-- it was saturated with the solution for > treatment-- > > I DO NOT smell the foot rot-- a classmate did a research project on > that > organism, and believe me, I learned to recognize the smell-- but I > need to > catch things early, if need be.... > > Terry > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > > _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
