[MiriMaran]

Hi, I've not been on this forum for ages, but am in need of some advice please.

I'm fairly new to sheep owning and have 4 Jacob Ewes that I've owned for just over a year are in lamb for the first time.

Last year a couple of the sheep had feet problems during wet weather. Their hoof seemed to separate from the soft part of their toe and mud would get impacted between the two.  It seemed to sort itself out when the weather dried out.

However last week Martha was lame and when I checked her half of the hoof had split and was hanging off. I trimmed and washed the hoof and sprayed it with Terramycin. I then shut her in so she could be on some solid ground.

2 days after, she was standing on that foot fine but had gone lame on a front leg. When I checked she had the impacted mud, as described above, but because she was in it had dried hard which is why I'm guessing it had got sore. I tried to clean it as best I could and then sprayed it. That was 2 days ago and although Martha is putting weight on it she is still lame.

So my question is, would should I do please? Is this a common problem? Does it have a name so I can do some research? Any help would be great please and sorry for such a long post!

[CarolineJ]

That sounds like shelly hoof/white line disease, I think?  You need to scrape the mud out of the pocket that has formed between the foot and the hoof wall and then carefully trim away the hoof until you get back to hoof that's flush to the foot - if it's not flush, then when the hoof grows down again, mud will start getting back in and pushing the hoof wall out again.

[crobertson]

One of my ewes had this, we scraped out any mud, trimmed back the hoof, washed out with diluted hibbiscrub and sprayed with net-tex footmaster did the trick perfectly but we did keep her out in the field on softer ground.

[Womble]

So that's the treatment. My question is, what's the cure?  My vet was very vague when I asked, and just basically said "it happens".


Has anybody managed to successfully prevent it from recurring in their flock?  If so, how?

[SallyintNorth]

So that's the treatment. My question is, what's the cure?  My vet was very vague when I asked, and just basically said "it happens".


Has anybody managed to successfully prevent it from recurring in their flock?  If so, how?

Cull sheep with recurrent foot problems.

[Marches Farmer]

Don't trim back the "bulb" at the back of the clee as this keeps the horn layer under tension and limits the opportunities for a big pocket to form.  Move troughs and field hayracks every day in wet weather (we're moving the rack daily and the troughs twice a day at present) as churned up mud pushes in much more quickly.  If there's a bloodline in your flock that has a thicker horn on the foot (striped horn in the case of my Southdowns) bear it in mind when selecting replacements.  If a sheep is persistently lame with Shelly Hoof I keep it in the shed until its foot can bear weight well enough to go to market then cull it.  Otherwise the horn generally grows back sound by the end of the Summer.

[MiriMaran]

Thank you everyone for your answers.

[shotblastuk]

You could try golden hoof. I use this on a regular basis as a preventative rather than a cure.

[Red]

We've had Shelley hoof and around all water troughs and entrances we have put stone flags so the sheep can scour their feet naturally and this has really help all round with hoof problems ... You can get them free from your local free cycle