Lame lambs

harry blogs

Have a lot of lame lambs. - 8 - 10 seeks old - maybe 18 out of a total of 90
Ran then through a foot bath & pared them off
Same as last year - some with a bit of scald but mostly the hoof has rotted
Should not be happening in such young of animals
Injected then as well last year but would prefer to prevent this than having to cure it
Is it the ewe , or the land - please help

rangler1

harry blogs wrote: »

Have a lot of lame lambs. - 8 - 10 seeks old - maybe 18 out of a total of 90
Ran then through a foot bath & pared them off
Same as last year - some with a bit of scald but mostly the hoof has rotted
Should not be happening in such young of animals
Injected then as well last year but would prefer to prevent this than having to cure it
Is it the ewe , or the land - please help

We'd have them foot bathed twice by eleven weeks. you might just be leaving them too long without foot bath. I often brought in the lambs here and they wouldn't be lame and when they're footbathed they'd be lame, look at the foot and there'd be a scald.
If its footrot, the footrot bug only lasts 17days on land without sheep, so if you treat them and put them on land that hasn't had sheep in over 17 days and you'd eventually get it off the farm.
Regular footbathing cures most lameness and make sure they're left on clean concrete for up to an hour to dry in

supersean1999

rangler1 wrote: »

We'd have them foot bathed twice by eleven weeks. you might just be leaving them too long without foot bath. I often brought in the lambs here and they wouldn't be lame and when they're footbathed they'd be lame, look at the foot and there'd be a scald.
If its footrot, the footrot bug only lasts 17days on land without sheep, so if you treat them and put them on land that hasn't had sheep in over 17 days and you'd eventually get it off the farm.
Regular footbathing cures most lameness and make sure they're left on clean concrete for up to an hour to dry in

What injection do you use for foot rot. Its an awful pain in the ####. Iv sheep on different land this last year and there constantly getting it. 6-7 yr old ewes that were never lame.

rangler1

supersean1999 wrote: »

What injection do you use for foot rot. Its an awful pain in the ####. Iv sheep on different land this last year and there constantly getting it. 6-7 yr old ewes that were never lame.

Tetracycline LA is what we use, but wouldn't have to do very many, I hear Micatel being recommended lately too.
More grass around this year, we've had to footbath ewes more often this year and I'm blaming longer grass

AnFeirmeoir

If you believe what you read, you get lameness in wet or dry weather, soft or hard ground, also with stemmy or lush grass
Keep them off any grass and all ground and you'll be fine.

Touch wood i have very little of it at the moment. Maybe because i'm moving them on from field to field and as someone says the bug only lives a certain period in an empty field.

jt65

we have found using a mineral drench or bolus with a fairly high level of Zinc helps prevent a lot of feet problems both in sheep & cattle

razor8

Have a lot of scald this year too.

On ranglers advice last year I bought thermometer. I have been mixing zinc until I get a reading of 1.05 or 1.06 but when I check it a few hours later or next day it can be away higher, yesterday it was 1.09 or higher and it was really stinging the sore ones, do people wait a certain time after to take a sample or How do ye check it?

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

Have a lot of scald this year too.

On ranglers advice last year I bought thermometer. I have been mixing zinc until I get a reading of 1.05 or 1.06 but when I check it a few hours later or next day it can be away higher, yesterday it was 1.09 or higher and it was really stinging the sore ones, do people wait a certain time after to take a sample or How do ye check it?

It shouldn't change, it's either not mixed or the water evaporated off it, evaporation would take days of hot sun to make a difference.
Some zinc sulphate is very powdery (as opposed to being crystally like salt) and sticks to the bottom of the footbath, but we mix it in a separate barrel before we put it in the bath, it's even hard to stop it sticking to the bottom of the barrel despite the stirring

razor8

rangler1 wrote: »

It shouldn't change, it's either not mixed or the water evaporated off it, evaporation would take days of hot sun to make a difference.
Some zinc sulphate is very powdery (as opposed to being crystally like salt) and sticks to the bottom of the footbath, but we mix it in a separate barrel before we put it in the bath, it's even hard to stop it sticking to the bottom of the barrel despite the stirring

Ahh, knew there must be a knack to it, mustn't be mixing it fully and yes it's the powdery stuff, thanks