Thanks everyone. This morning was frosty outside, and she looked worse and more tender than ever. This evening, the temps in California are about 65F and sunny, she was moving fairly well. I have not had time to treat her, and plan to go get some hoof drench and some Penn, just in case. I'll pen her up and take a look tonight or tomorrow.
_Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 5:28 PM, Mark Wintermute <winterm...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > > ---- > Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Limping ewe > > > -Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies > > Hi Michael, > > When I have a ewe come up limping I set them on their butt and totally clean > up their hooves with my knife. I have some common scenarios: > > The hoof has separated from the pad and hurts. This can be very deceptive > to the eye. Take your knife and really clean out ALL dirt where the pad > meets the hoof. I have found dirt gets compacted up into the wound to the > point everything looks 100% normal. You will know when you have found the > wound when the ewe jumps with pain and goes beserk!!! Of course if you find > the wound you still have to clean it out very well. I usually cut loose the > separated hoof section since it is essentially dead and will have to be > regrown anyway. By removing the hoof section that is separated the dirt > will no longer compact into the area. > > Or the hoof has a slight tear into the pad (think torn fingernail). Again I > cut loose the torn portion so it quits snagging which gives the ewe relief. > They will still limp but for fewer days. > > And finally thorns. My property is loaded with Osage Orange (Hedge) trees > that have thorns capable of penetrating any tire or shoe. These are very > hard thorns and are best pulled out with needle nose pliers. I rather doubt > you have a thorn issue but maybe your ewe has something (splinter) in her > pad. Again, I take my knife and scrape everything off the pad. If you hit > the sore spot you will know it! > > > Any ewe I grab for limping gets every hoof put into perfect trimmed > condition. I pretty much know that the minute I release this tortured ewe I > will not be catching her again anytime soon! It is amazing how all four > legs work just fine when I release them when they could only walk on three > when I caught them. > > Hope this helps. > > Mark Wintermute > > _______________________________________________ > 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
