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Could This Be Footrot?

How to spot a genuine case of footrot on your sheep...

By DNRE - 28th October 2002 - Back to News

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Lush spring pastures (where we have them) and warm moist weather, are the right ingredients for footrot to show up and to spread. From now on farmers will be thinking "Could this be footrot?" whenever they spot a lame sheep.

There are many causes of lameness in sheep and a few of them, such as shelly hoof and foot abscess, can be easily confused with footrot. In some cases, a lot of time and money can be spent treating a non-existent footrot problem.

Footrot is a contagious disease of sheep and goats, caused by a bacterium called Dichelobacter nodosus. The bacteria cause separation or "under-run" of the horn of the claw from the underlying soft tissues. Where the horn is under-run there is usually a foul smelling greyish scum, but never any pus.

Footrot always starts and progresses in the same way. The first sign is a moist reddening of the skin between the claws. This is followed by under-running of the horn tissue, which commences at the heel of the claw, and progresses towards the toe.

To further complicate the picture, there are hundreds of strains of footrot bacteria and these vary in "virulence" or their ability to damage the feet. Footrot strains can be grouped according to virulence into two broad categories:

· Virulent footrot – Strains which are moderately to highly damaging.

· Benign footrot – Strains which cause little or no damage.

Before taking any action, it is very important to determine the virulence of the strain you are dealing with. This is very much a job for your animal health adviser. It’s well worth spending a lot of time and money on the control of virulent footrot, but it is usually not warranted in the case of benign footrot.

So how do you tell the difference between virulent and benign footrot? The following are the main features of the two syndromes:

Virulent footrot.

During favourable seasonal conditions, such as in spring, a high percentage of sheep (often more than 30 per cent) will have infections which progress to severe horn under-run.

The development of under-run during favourable seasonal conditions is rapid. The infection progresses from slight reddening of the skin between the claws to severe horn under-run, within 2-3 weeks. Sheep are commonly affected in more than one foot and both claws of each foot are usually involved.

Only a small percentage of infections tend to "self cure" as the pasture dries off. Many infections progress to a chronic stage, with the horn becoming overgrown and abnormally thickened.

Virulent footrot causes serious production losses and its control and eradication is highly desirable.

Benign Footrot.

Benign footrot looks the same as the early stages of virulent footrot. The skin between the claws is moist and reddened and there may be slight horn under-run at the heel. However, even when seasonal conditions are ideal, less than 1 per cent of sheep will have infections which progress to severe horn under-run. Compared with virulent footrot, the under-run is slower to develop. Most infections will "self-cure" as the pasture dries off. Very few infections progress to a chronic stage.

Benign footrot is a common disease of sheep and is evident in all areas of moderate to high rainfall in southern Australia. The effect on production is minimal. It is difficult to eradicate benign footrot with our present technology and in most cases, it is not economically warranted.

A suspicion of footrot is no longer cause for dread or panic. With modern treatment techniques, the disease can now be very effectively tackled. But before taking any action, it pays to be certain that virulent footrot is the problem. Keep the suspect sheep isolated and seek expert advice from your animal health adviser.

MARKETS AND CUSTOMER NEEDS TRAINING.

The Rural Industry Skills Training (RIST) Centre in Hamilton, in conjunction with the EDGEnetwork is offering a course on Markets and Customer Needs for meat producers in Gippsland.

This workshop will help participants to understand Australian meat industry product description systems and the specifications for different market segments. Participants will be able to develop a customer focus for their business to ensure they are providing the product the market requires and optimising the price received.

At the conclusion of the course, participants will be able to identify customer needs and prepare detailed market specifications for target market categories.

The cost of the course is significantly reduced for eligible farmers through FarmBis subsidies, to $70 for individuals or $100 for a farm business. The course will be run at McMillan College Warragul Campus and Radfords Meat Works on Thursday November 21, 8.30am to 3.00pm.

For more information, contact Steve Walsh at NRE Ellinbank on 56 242207 or Gaye Cameron on

56 235454.

Beef Cheque Focus Farm Report – September/October

The following information has been collected from BeefCheque focus farms to assist Gippsland farmers with grazing management decisions. This information is for the September/October period.

Variable rainfall across Gippsland during September and October has resulted in mixed responses in pasture growth. Most of Gippsland is experiencing a below average spring. Many farmers are using nitrogen to boost pastures to ensure pasture is available for fodder conservation.

The Stratford farm received 7 mm rain for the period, resulting in average pasture growth rates of 9.4 kg Dry Matter per hectare per day. Average pasture cover is now 1430 kg Dry Matter per hectare, resulting in 125 Dry Matter tonnes of available feed or 49 days feed ahead at current consumption.

The farm is currently carrying 11.9 Dry Sheep Equivalent per hectare or 311 cows and calves and 8 bulls on 291 hectares. Bulls are still out.

The Yarram farm received 58 mm rainfall, resulting in average pasture growth rates of 15.8 kg Dry Matter per hectare per day. Average pasture cover is 1422 kg Dry Matter per hectare or 53.5 Dry Matter Tonnes available feed, giving 30 days feed ahead.

The farm is carrying 19.0 Dry Sheep Equivalent per hectare or 198 dry cows on 127 hectare.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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