Preventing and Treating Lameness in Sheep or Goats

​​​Regular inspection of the sheep's feet

• If you are bringing a mob into the yards for some reason, any sheep with foot problems (that may not always be easily seen by you as you are mustering) will tend to be towards the rear of the mob as it enters the yards. Running these "tailenders" into a separate yard and inspecting their feet will give you a good indication of whether you have any foot disease in the mob.
• Sheep in high rainfall areas will need to have their feet inspected more regularly than those on dry ground. How often will depend on the specific conditions on your property. However, as a general rule, sheep's feet should be checked during the summer or autumn so that there is time to deal properly with any feet in poor condition before winter.
• Sheep owners should be proactive by inspecting the feet of a sample number of sheep even when there are no "visible in the paddock" signs of feet problems. In other words, don't wait until lameness appears. Prevention is usually much less time-consuming and costly than cure.

Paring or trimming the sheep's feet

• Proper footrot or foot paring shears are essential to do the job properly. The ordinary, manual shears are not expensive and make the task so much easier. Air compressor driven shears are an option for people with large numbers of sheep or contractors.
• In the past, some people used a sharp paring knife. In general, this is a lot harder work than using proper footrot shears. More importantly, it is much more dangerous for both the sheep and the person doing the paring.
• Foot paring can be back-breaking work if there are a lot of sheep's feet to pare. There are various types of sheep handling equipment that can "hold" the sheep in a good position so that the stress on the person paring can be reduced. However, for small numbers of sheep, it is usually enough to tip the sheep up and sit it on its rump, as you would for crutching.

• The task will be many times more difficult if the sheep's feet are not cleaned first. Providing the sheep are not in the last third of pregnancy, have lambs at foot or are in poor condition, you should keep the sheep on grating for a few hours beforehand, with enough room for them to walk around, as this will clean their feet.
• If it is not appropriate to keep the sheep on grating for a few hours, and you have to pare the feet "fresh off the paddock", running them through a footbath containing just water will help clean the feet.
• If neither of the above are possible, you may have to clean each foot before paring. Have a bucket of water and a stiff brush (a shearer's brush is ideal) handy. A quick swipe of each foot just prior to paring will help make your job easier.
• If you wear glasses for reading, you should wear them when foot paring. It is most important that you can see in detail, otherwise you may overpare the sheep's foot and draw blood.

• Unless the foot you are paring is already infected, you are doing it very wrong if you draw blood.
• The aim of paring a healthy but overgrown foot is simply to restore the shape of that foot. This means cutting away the extra growth. Maintaining the sheep's feet in good condition is the most effective way of preventing most feet diseases in your animals.
• If the sheep has Shelly Hoof, the horn that has "come away" from the hoof should be removed. The major problem with Shelly Hoof is that it encourages the build up of compacted soil and dung in the cavity formed as the horn "comes away", and this exposes the animal to infection. If you cut the outer wall of that cavity so that it doesn't quite touch the ground when the sheep stands, it will mean that, as the sheep then walks on dry ground, the action of walking will help keep the upper part of that cavity clean and help heal any inflamed or exposed tissue.
  
• If you are not experience in foot paring, the general rule is to trim away only a very small amount at a time. This will enable you to see more clearly and avoid cutting into the soft tissue (which will bleed and expose the animal to infection).
• A common mistake in foot paring is to try and do the job too quickly. Paring is a job that must be done properly rather than quickly.
• If you come across a sheep's foot that is infected or diseased, you should disinfect the shears before paring the next sheep.

• If your sheep have footrot, it is usually better not to try paring the sheep's feet until you are confident that the disease has stopped spreading. The reason is that the action of paring an infected flock can actually help spread the disease further. It is therefore recommended that the first action you take when you diagnose footrot is to footbath the entire flock - before foot paring.
• Once you have stopped the spread of the disease, you should pare the feet. Feet that are not infected should be pared as above (ie with the aim of ensuring the foot is in good shape). Where a foot is infected, the aim of paring should simply be to help the footbath chemical penetrate the infection. This requires minimal paring only. Radical paring is cruel and should never be undertaken.
  

Footbathing

• Use a registered product. Your rural merchandiser can advise what products are available.
• In preparing your footbath solution, it is essential you follow the manufacturer's dilution recommendations. If you make the solution too strong, it can cause significant damage to otherwise healthy feet.
• Also, make sure you follow the manufacturer's recommendations about the time the sheep should be standing in the footbath.
• If your footbath is outside, remember that hot windy conditions can dilute some types of footbath, by evaporating some of the water, and any rain falling into the footbath weakens the concentration.
• If you are footbathing your sheep "fresh off the paddock", there may be enough urination by sheep while they are in the footbath to reduce the concentration.
• As you run sheep into and out of the footbath, try and move them slowly. If they rush, they will inevitably cause splashing, which will not only waste the chemical, it may also cause the chemical to get into your and/or the sheep's eyes. And that will sting !
• After footbathing, hold the sheep on grating or on a concrete floor for a period immediately after they come out of the footbath. Then ensure that the sheep are put onto clean pasture, preferably without walking through muddy yards or laneways.
• Many footbathing chemicals are corrosive, so if your footbath is made of tin, drain the chemical immediately after footbathing.
• Some footbath chemicals will cause any sheep that has a mild foot infection (ie was not noticeably limping before going into the footbath) to suffer a stinging pain as the chemical reaches the infected area. As a result, the sheep may limp for a short time after it leaves the footbath.

Buying f​ootrot resistant sheep

• British and European breeds are less susceptible to footrot. Most Merinos are particularly unsuited to high rainfall areas because, under such conditions, they are especially susceptible to footrot.
• Many leading Merino studs have been selectively breeding for resistance to footrot.
• The Footrot Vendor Declaration Scheme is a voluntary program designed to give sheep buyers the opportunity to make informed decisions about the risk of footrot entering their property on bought sheep. In short, the vendor makes a written statement about the footrot status of his/her property and on what actions have been taken to prevent footrot in the last year. This statement is no guarantee that the sheep for sale are footrot free, so potential buyers still need to inspect the sheep's feet themselves. However, it does indicate that the vendor is serious about the risk of footrot and it normally provides, in effect, a money-back guarantee if the new sheep are found to have footrot within 14 days. If you wish to know more about this scheme, discuss it with your livestock agent or an NRE Tas stock officer.

​Special information for hobby farmers and people with pet sheep or goats