Author Topic: Lame ewe but no idea why? (Read 4532 times)

Hillview Farm · « **on:** December 01, 2014, 07:33:41 pm »

One of my Charollais ewes started to limp about two weeks ago. Nothing too bad just a little lame. I've been foot bathing before the tup went in beginning of Oct with formalin to harden the feet up as they are a little soft. Stopped for tipping to reduce handling and stress.

When she went lame on her front leg I inspected it, found nothing so gave it a spray in between her toes on case it was the start of scald. Few days later no difference so gave her betamox La for a few days and after talking to the vet when he was at the other farm I gave her some metacam too. No different!

No heat, no swelling or signs of infection! Any ideas? The vet said if she was heavily pregnant he would suggest it could be a trapped nerve but at only 8 weeks in lamb I'd be very worried!

Tim W · « **Reply #1 on:** December 01, 2014, 09:15:52 pm »

Only had Charollais for 18 months but I would rate them as complete hypochondriacs when it comes to feet
They limp along for a hobby but when you turn them over they have nothing obviously wrong!

I have just tended to let them be---if they recover (quit trying it on) then I forgive them. If they keep on with their limping then I cull them

Bought 34 last year, think I had 16 left to tup this year of the original bunch ----

Bionic · « **Reply #2 on:** December 02, 2014, 07:42:50 am »

I don't know anything about Charollais, only having kept a few Ryelands myself, but I posted a message on the forum a couple of weeks back about a lame ewe. She had been limping quite badly for a week or two before I posted. I checked her feet which looked good. No problem between the toes. I couldn't feel any heat in her legs either. She was eating well.
Unsure of what to do next I just kept an eye on her. It broke my heart to see her hobbling about though. Anyway, she now seems fine. Whatever the problem was has gone

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #3 on:** December 02, 2014, 09:07:17 am »

If there's no obvious indication of what's wrong I generally put it down to bruising and wait for it to go away.

shep53 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2014, 11:55:58 am »

While the causes of lame ness are many , the advice is not to over use formalin as it can make the hoof hard and brittle and can actually seal in any infection

ladyK · « **Reply #5 on:** December 02, 2014, 10:32:53 pm »

I also had a ewe limping for no apparent reason last spring - I could only check her rudimentarily at the time as she was heavily in lamb and didn't want to risk turning her over. The advice I got here was to leave alone and watch closely, as long as it wasn't stopping her from grazing. So I did - it was hard to watch but it cleared up by itself after a week. When I checked her feet properly after lambing (of course she was the last to lamb, by far

everything was fine.

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #6 on:** December 03, 2014, 07:10:43 am »

We have the vet here at the farm I work on today who is also my vet so ill ask him again. It's been three weeks now.

On sat I'll put her in side to rest. They are out on a large field so she's walking around following the flock so that's probably not helping. She's fine and eating well.

I've been very careful as she's in lamb so I've been picking her feet up like a horse with OH holding her. Once she's in I'll have another look.

Thank you everyone. And Tim they are so soft and very foot holdy!

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #7 on:** December 03, 2014, 12:31:33 pm »

By all means try stable rest - but IME, exercise is generally good for their feet, in fact BH makes sure he gets any lame ones moving good and proper at least every other day

I do find the Charollais type a little more hypochondriac than some of the others. But also, we do get sheep here who go lame and there's nothing to see for some time. Most get better on their own, but some do go on and develop something we can treat. Once it's 'come out', then cleaning up and topical and systemic antiobiotics generally sort it - but we prefer to not use a/b's when we can't see a problem, unless she's so lame she can't get about.

One thing is that if you don't let her fight any infection herself, she won't develop immunity. There is a view that you should cull any sheep that has feet problems at all, ever, but we tend to only cull repeat offenders - and we don't get a lot that repeat, so it would seem that they do develop immunity, on the whole.

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #8 on:** December 03, 2014, 08:08:50 pm »

she seems to be better!

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #9 on:** December 04, 2014, 08:37:34 am »

I Had a charollais x lleyn x Dorset. She did have a problem with her back foot and it took some time to sort out, she ws not a hypochodriact though, she was a fantastic mother and produced monster lambs, i had to sell her though as am focusing on breeding pedigree lleyns.