[Wee Noddy]

Hi All,

I took 6 of my sheep in to treat their feet a couple of days ago. As ground/weather is wet, I have decided to keep them indoors for a week just to give their feet a good chance to dry out.

They are all (hopefully) due in mid-March.

Do you think I would be better to turn them out again on a goodish day next week or hold them in till they lamb?

I prefer to have them out as long as possible but don't want to exacerbate any foot problems.

Thoughts welcome.

Thanks

[shep53]

You don't say if your sheep actually had a foot infection , keeping them inside will cause any infection to spread far faster than outside unless you can keep the bedding really fresh and dry

[twizzel]

In until mid March is a long time, they will probably be far happier and healthier outside.

[Wee Noddy]

You don't say if your sheep actually had a foot infection , keeping them inside will cause any infection to spread far faster than outside unless you can keep the bedding really fresh and dry

Hi Twizzle,

Yep, I noticed a few were limping so I penned them all (15) and took in the ones with bad feet. A couple were worse than others but not too bad. Fortunately I have both a big airy shed and quite a bit of 3yr old hay which I can use as dry bedding.

Inside in the short term is definitely better I think than the very very wet ground we had over the weekend.

The real reason for asking was due to an old hand shepherd once telling me that if you take them in after October be prepared to keep them in till March.

Whilst I would certainly say that is true of cattle, I personally would not apply it to sheep. So I was just wondering if there was anyone else who subscribed to that rule?

Thanks

[twizzel]

I had my sheep in for just under a week last week as work commitments meant I had to get them in several days before they were scanned. They enjoyed it I think, sorted out a few feet problems, turned everyone out again. We have had a lot of rain and last night was horrendous but they are all fine, happy and grazing this morning. They are due to lamb middle of feb onwards, they will probably come in for good at the start of Feb.


Not sure about using haay for bedding... it won't be very absorbent which could cause feet problems and old hay can be dusty.

[Anke]

Not sure about using haay for bedding... it won't be very absorbent which could cause feet problems and old hay can be dusty.

The "dust" is most likely mould which could cause all sorts of problems... listeriosis (esp if they try and eat it) or just plain coughing, leading easily to pneumonia.... not worth it. Though I have used old hay outside around feeders - it is very quickly trodden into the mud as they eat the good stuff - and I find I have really good grass in the feeding area the next summer!

[bj_cardiff]

I would turn them straight out without any hesitation. My experience is that foot infections are much more likely to happen indoors than outdoors. When its been as wet as it has, it does the foot a lot of good to just have a couple of days in the dry so it can dry out a bit.