Foot Rot in Sheep
My first thought is this is the most dreaded disease in the industry bar none. Whenever I purchase sheep, they have their feet trimmed and bathed in formaldehyde and isolated for 30 days from the rest of flock, feet examined and bathed again before introduction.
The formula for the bath is one part formaldehyde as it comes to 19 parts water and it’s a bath not a soak.
If a flock is infected, the eradication process is to trim all feet and bathe in formaldehyde and switch lots or pastures and repeat bath in 12 days and switch lots again. At that point, they can go back to the original lot. The disease does not live in the soil for a significant length of time but harbors itself on feet of the animals. Some animals with severe rot may need to be culled.
You can have scald without having foot rot but you can’t have foot rot without scald. Antibiotic treatment hastens recovery but does not eradicate the disease. Eradication efforts are best accomplished in dry and cold conditions. Zinc sulfate baths work but not as well and can be used strategically located to control disease until eradication is possible. Sometimes powdered zinc sulfate can be placed around water and feed sources to help minimize effects of disease.
Effective vaccine is no longer available.
Straight Talk
This is not about sheep but it is about farm animals and the negative image portrayed by well meaning but uninformed bureaucrats and educators. I at-tended the annual Leman Conference, a Swine Conference sponsored by the University of Minnesota in honor of Al Leman, a man that was very instrumental in developing not only swine veterinarians but also positive solutions to deal with the swine industry when it developed into a new paradigm. It is an excel-lent conference.
One of the sessions I attended dealt with flu and fairs. I don't recall the numbers exactly but at the 2012 Minnesota State Fair, six or seven people developed flu after attending the fair and they were able to match the virus to one that also infects pigs. Now whether they got the virus from a pig or another human is not known. I don't remember all the details but based on this experience and the previous experiences I, as a senior citizen, was advised to not enter the swine barn and for those people that did they should certainly wash their hands at the wash stations before leaving and for sure don't touch the pigs. I understand the flu thing, there is a lot of government money to be spent to protect us from something that might happen. In the mean time we fail to spend money on things that are happening.
We have been involved with promoting the swine industry at the fair and more than one of our employees has contributed greatly to the cause of explaining what we do and how we do it right and are proud of our accomplishments.
The wash stations are a farce. There is no way that you could accomplish an adequate washing that would compare to a surgical scrub that it would take to get rid of viruses and bacteria if in fact there were any animal pathogens that were a threat to humans present. At the Utah State Fair there was a dispenser similar to those in portable toilets that malfunctioned and I happened to be seated in the area. Continuously people were attempting to use it, difficult for me to understand. I would probably prefer sheep manure than having that crap on my hands.
Previous to this session, I attended a session that was entitled "rise up". In that session a gentleman was defending the use of animals in medical research. Basically his message was if you don't approve, the next time you need a prescription filled don't fill it because without animal research there would be no prescription medicine. He went on to explain that through polls he developed the most demographic opposed group, liberal Democratic women. He would then show them PETA presentations and then a breast cancer survivor with her lab animals of which she was affectionate to. There was also another factor, there was actually 101 in the audience and that person stood up and explained how animal research helped her survive cancer. The group came in 70% opposed to animal research and after her speech they left 93% in favor.
So what's the point? Likewise we in agriculture take care of our animals. We are proud of what we do. We too often accept the negative message. "RISE UP" confront the challenge. I did. I stood up at the flu meeting and introduced myself. I am Dr Kennedy. I am 78 years old. I guess I shouldn't have been at the fair, too old, senior citizen. I then asked "Do those 400 pigs at the Minnesota State Fair cause a concern that is greater than the 200,000 people that attend daily. They didn't have an answer. RISE UP and STAND UP!
On the personal side I recently had the privilege of judging the Open Class Sheep Show at the Utah State Fair. It was a good time. We will be going to New Mexico hunting mid October and then the North Star Sale last Saturday in October and I really feel we have an outstanding consignment of Katahdins. After that, Louisville. Then rams are out and ewe and ram lambs can be evaluated. Maybe shoot a pheasant or two. It is a fun time of the year.
A word or two about your rams. Not the time of year to neglect them. They need to main-tain condition and health to finish this year’s breeding season and be around for next year. If they are losing to much condition pull them out, rotate with other rams and feed to get them back to condition. Better to run one ram in good condition versus three in poor condition. In many situations there are too many rams and rotating them would be far more effective.
The lamb market is showing some strength at an unseasonal time. History is about to re-peat itself. We will probably get an uptick that will be sustainable until the market gets over-loaded again with heavy weight, over finished lambs. Decrease in numbers has been going on since 1943. You would think the major players would figure this out for their own survival or are we going to be where the goat people are today, no major players but a decent market based on smaller numbers.
I am a member of the ASI animal health committee and received an agenda that in a joint meeting of committees by conference call one of the resolutions called for support of NSIP and encourages its members to make use of this program. I have a great deal of trouble encouraging any one to use the program. It does not deal with numbers that are statistically insignificant in this country and there is no evaluation of conformation and soundness. Quite frankly people with less than 100 head have used this tool to sell sheep. If you are not in research or have a sheep for profit business there are more productive ways to contribute to your operation than jump through the NSIP hoops. Before you send me a nasty Email about how you disagree, this is my honest evaluation and my opinion and you are welcome to yours.
Bottle Jaw
Parasitism in sheep grazing pastures is one of the major economic losses in the industry. In general, young lambs grazing on pasture with their mothers are the most susceptible group to develop acute infections. Morbidity and mortality can be very high in these young lambs if left untreated. Sheep that graze wet pastures in warm regions are far more susceptible than sheep that graze dry arid pastures in the desert regions. Any grass that is wet with morning dew has the highest potential for containing infective larvae, and they are ingested as the flock grazes in the early part of the day.
Timing of treatment prior to going to a clean pasture, will delay the buildup of parasites on a pasture. Many producers use a pasture rotation system to help prevent buildup on pastures. The larvae life cycle outside of the ewe takes about seven to ten days and the larvae prefer temperatures above 50 degrees F, they can withstand moderate freezing and manage to overwinter in most climates. The main worms causing economic damage are referred to as the “HOT” worms. HOT stands for the three main classes of worms Haemonchus, Ostertagia, and Trichostrongylus.
Diagnosis of sheep that are becoming heavily parasitized are diarrhea, weight loss, slow movement, unthrifty, and bottle jaw or death. It is not possible for a standard parasite pro-gram that will fit every farm in every region of the country.
Pink-Eye
I am currently getting calls about sheep that have developed pink-eye. Pink-eye in sheep is often more prevalent in the winter months as pink-eye in cattle is more prevalent in the summer. Pink-eye in cattle is generally caused by Moraxella Bovis. The cattle vaccine doesn’t work for sheep. In sheep, it is caused by a Chlamydia species. It is not the same chlamydia that causes abortion or the one associated with arthritis. The organism is susceptible to tetracyclines. Treatment involves subq injection of LA 200 or it’s equivalent. We advise treating only the ones most severely affected. Individual eye treatment with antibiotics and steroids is time consuming and not very rewarding. Seldom, if ever, do sheep go totally blind permanently. They most always recover with time providing they can find feed and water.
Be sure in young lambs and an occasional older sheep you are not dealing with inverted eye lids, see the inverted eye lid post.
It may be advantageous to feed 500mg of Aureomycin crumbles per head or 1# of 2 gm AS 700 per six head for ten days.
