Footrot is a serious disease in sheep that almost defies curing.
For a small flock of grade ewes, selling out and starting over is the wisest decision.
Footrot is caused by two bacteria, Fusobacterium necrophorum and Bacteroides nodosus, that act together.
F. necrophorum is common in most manure. It is hardy and can live for years in manure. It contributes to footrot in cattle and causes thrush in horses.
B. nodosus lives only in sheep hoofs. It dies in soil in two weeks. It grows slowly, so the incubation period may be long.
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Foot abscesses may be caused by B. nodosus, but footrot requires the presence of both B. nodosus and F. necrophorum.
Moist soil conditions contribute to the cause and spread of footrot.
To control and treat footrot:
- Trim the hoof wall to the quick in all sheep.
- Soak affected hoofs for five minutes in a foot bath containing 90 percent water and 10 percent formalin (37 percent formaldehyde) or 10 percent zinc sulfate. Zinc sulfate is as effective as formalin and is safer to use.
- Isolate limpers and repeat one week later.
Turn seemingly cured sheep into an uncontaminated area. Doing so creates a problem, however, because some sheep thought to be clean actually still are infected. With time and moist conditions, they will reinfect other sheep.
- Re-examine all sheep and remove any limpers initially thought to be clean. Force sheep to move through a 10 percent zinc sulfate solution daily for 30 days. This has become the most successful treatment scheme.
- Sell persistent limpers.
If sheep are sold, wait three weeks before bringing in new sheep.
Footrot is one of the sheep diseases discussed in a guide posted on the internet by the University of Minnesota’s extension service.
The paper is designed to help in diagnosing, treating and preventing some of the more prevalent health problems found in sheep, such as pregnancy disease, caseous lymphadenitis, mastitis and scrapie.
The website can be found at www.extension.umn.edu/Documents/D/I/DI1877.html.
