Could use some advice on what to look for here. older (not sure how old, but she's my oldest) AB ewe shows up limping yesterday. I had planned on trimming hooves anyway so I penned her and trimmed while taking a look. No foul smells, no oozing, no discoloration I could see. No swelling of joints or apparent apparent break. Joints moved in the right direction and freely. Did not trim into the quick or make her bleed. I have done that once and seen a ewe limp for a few days, but in this case, was careful. She can grow some pretty long eagle claws for hooves, but usually only on her back feet. The fronts really required little trimming.
Today her limp is not better, and might be worse. In general, she does get up and move slow and might be developing Osteoarthritis. Incidentally, she's also mostly deaf. Not sure how to proceed other than to pen her for a week, feed her, keep her real dry (covered pen) and apply hoof drench? I have a splint I could vet-wrap onto the joints, but not sure if the hoof itself is what is hurting... I also could wash her hoof and inspect between the toes a bit better. Did not really do that. In general the sheep have dry, green grass pastures and are not in a manure and urine-filled muddy paddock, like some livestock can be. Our rain has been maybe 1/2" every 10 days lately. Never had a problem with any hoof-related diseases in 4 years and with 15 sheep and pygmy goats. -Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies. _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info