[moprabbit]

One of my ewes has very bad shelly hoof. I have cut back the loose hoof to try to get rid of the pocket that can harbour stones and mud. She's very tender on her feet and I suppose she will be until the hoof begins to grow back. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas about how to protect her feet?  My brother suggested boots!!!??? Although I know cows use to wear boots at times - I'm just not sure about sheep!! Thank you.

[Maureen]

Yes you can get sheep boots - I will find out where and get back to you

[moprabbit]

Thanks Maureen!  I shall be interested to see them.

[TheSmilingSheep]

I'd be interested to see the booties too!  We have horrid problems with shelly hoof (I wouldn't dare post pictures!).  Our last case had to have the lamb indoors for about 10 days (though he was much tamer by the end of it!).  I've found it very frustrating - if I cut back all the pockets sometimes they'd have no hoof left!  Good luck!

[Womble]

If you want to go down that route, how about dog booties?  I've seen Huskies wearing them to protect their feet when racing on ice:

[moprabbit]

Thanks for that Womble! I'll have a look at the web page.

[Maureen]

I could only find American sites selling the sheep boots - just type in 'protective sheep boots', but the dog ones should do the trick.  I suppose they would be easy to make out of old leather gloves - anyone willing to have a go 

[kelly58]

The dog ones are not cheap   

[Marches Farmer]

Our sheep occasionally have shelly hoof - mostly wet mud getting packed under the leading edge.  I trim back only the front of the hoof wall if the hoof is overgrown. I now never trim up the "bulb" at the back.  If the hoof wall is free all round it enables the pocket to get bigger and bigger.  SInce doing this the shelly hoof may make a tiny pocket but it grows out by early summer. I also make a point of using Southdown rams with striped hoof horn - it's much thicker than black and far stronger.  It's a minor showing fault but since we don't show .....
Keeping sheep with bad shelly hoof in the shed is the only way I know to get the hoof dried out and strong enough to bear weight.  If they limp a lot at this time of year it will impact on their ability to graze and may compromise their overal health and that of the lambs if they're pregnant.

[Maureen]

Sheep boots are available on Jeffers website at 13.95 dollars each -  I think about £7.00 each
www.jefferspet.com

[moprabbit]

I've looked at the dog boots (thanks Womble!)  and the sheep boots from the American site  - thanks Maureen! At the minute my ewe seems less tender on her feet but will keep these ideas in mind!
I was interested to read your post Marches Farmer. But wasn't quite sure what you meant by the 'bulb at the back'? All my ewes have striped hooves, but suffer from shelley hoof quite badly. I asked my vet what he would recommend and he advised biotin, which I use but still it doesn't make much difference. 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Can I ask what shelly hoof is? Is it like scald or is it worse?

[CarolineJ]

Two of mine have gone lame with it in the last week and both were sound again about 48 hours after treatment, so you may find you don't need anything.

Shelly hoof is like white line disease in horses - the outer hoof wall separates from the rest of the foot and mud, grit, stones etc. start to force their way up into the gap, making it larger and forming pockets. 

[Womble]

Can I ask what shelly hoof is? Is it like scald or is it worse?

This:

[Marches Farmer]

I was interested to read your post Marches Farmer. But wasn't quite sure what you meant by the 'bulb at the back'? All my ewes have striped hooves, but suffer from shelley hoof quite badly. I asked my vet what he would recommend and he advised biotin, which I use but still it doesn't make much difference.

You can see from the very clear photo above, which shows the "bulb" at the back of the hoof, where the horn grows under.  Once this is trimmed back there's nothing at all to hold even part of the hoof wall under tension.  Breeds vary in horn colour and thickness and this is something we've noticed with Southdowns. Our Badger Face have only black horn so it's not an option for them.

We're on heavy clay and just keep them moving around the fields when it's as wet as it has been for the last couple of weeks.  We also move the lick bucket every day - bare ground is the worst thing.