Foot issue

[lilipansy]

My ram has a slight limp on his front right foot. I looked at the hoof and it looked fine. It wasn't dirty, there was nothing stuck to it and no hoof rot but I sprayed a 50/50 water/bleach solution just in case. I think he might have sprained it butting heads with the wether. He is still moving around and is always grazing so I don't think he feels bad but sometimes I see him not putting his foot down. Is there anything I can do for him? The local vet is not taking new patients so I can only hope this will work itself out.

 

[Latestarter]

I discovered my buck with a similar situation to yours and with careful exam, located a very small puncture wound right at the top of the hoof wall. Further exam I noticed the smallest bit of something protruding and when I removed it with tweezers, he had somehow stabbed a small stick into his hoof. I doused the hole with hydrogen peroxide and "filled it" with triple antibiotic and after several days, he was fine. He may very well have twisted it or sprained it as an option as well... IMHO, kinda keep an eye on him over the coming days and see if the situation improves or gets worse. Follow up will depend on what happens from here.

 

[Mike CHS]

Have you checked the gland right above the foot? Here's a link that explains it if you don't know what it is:

https://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/livestock/sheep/limping-thats-not-sheep-foot-rot/


We see that as a cause as much as anything else but like @Latestarter said it could be debris. I use a pocket knife and really scrape the inside of the hoof to make sure there isn't something going on.

 

[lilipansy]

When I checked him the day before his hoof looked fine and I didn't see anything wrong, although he had a slight limp. Yesterday he had his foot up and was limping pretty badly. Today he seemed fine. I'm guessing he must have sprained it while butting heads with the wether. I'll keep an eye on him and see what happens. Hopefully this will resolve itself. Thank you both for your replies. I guess I just have the 'new lammy mommy' jitters.

 

[Sheepshape]

Almost always one of my sheep is limping. Most times there's nothing to see and the limp resolves over a couple of days, making it pretty clear that the problem was a minor injury (pretty easy to do on rough, wet, frosty etc. ground).

The most important thing to do is to check the animal's hoof to ensure that the hoof isn't the site of scald/ early foot rot etc.

I always check mine within a day or two, or straight away if they suddenly start limping badly. A few years back I had a big, heavy ewe who was fine one day and unable to weight bear the next. She had a fencing staple caught between the cleats.
This example is exceptional, but has made me super-vigilant with regards to making sure all sharp things are collected up when mending fences.

 

[lilipansy]

So we wrestled him down today to get a good look at his hoof. All 4 of them had the outside walls separated from the middle and creating a pocket all around. I trimmed it as much as I could, scraped the stuff inside then sprayed it with a 50/50 bleach/water solution. The breeder tells me that this is due to how wet it's been. We've had a very unusual wet year. I'm going to try and trim them some more in a week or so. I was worried about cutting too much and making him bleed. Does this look bad? How far up can I cut the sides? He's the brown and black one in the picture.

 

[Sheepshape]

I'm going to try and trim them some more in a week or so.

Hi, good pics. The veterinary advice over here is that hooves should never be trimmed.....it's based on the fact that the 'nail' is protecting the painful part and has only grown like this due to the hoof not being fully used. This is certainly true in foot rot.
However, there are occasions when the hoof overgrows due to constantly walking on very soft pasture or when the animal gets minimal exercise as the hoof 'nail' grows throughout life. Under these circumstances the overgrown area (typical of your third pic.) traps soil, little stones etc. underneath it and is painful to walk on. Providing there is no inflammation underneath the 'nail', cutting back the overhang and removing the debris should help. Don't trim too severely and never right back to the 'pad'. Then get the animal onto a hard surface for a while, if at all possible, to wear off the nail naturally. Placing the animal on a concrete floor for a week would get rid of all of the excess 'nail'.
Good Luck

 

[lilipansy]

Aloha Sheepshape. Unfortunately our farm is 100% green pasture with no cement floor I could put him on. I'll keep an eye on him and make sure the pockets are removed so no crud is accumulating inside and keep spraying the 50/50 solution to dry it up and hopefully infection free. Interesting that the recommendation for your area is to not trim hooves. That's the first time I've ever heard of that. Where are you from again?

 

[Sheepshape]

Where are you from again?

Wales....usually utterly wet and muddy, so foot problems are common.

Veterinary advice on the so called '5 point plan for lameness', is that you essentially throw away the foot shears. It's a plan designed to eliminate foot rot in sheep and is welcomed as it eliminates long hours of foot trimming. However, most of us don't quite throw away the foot shears but use them to cut away the loose 'nail' bits which trap rubbish (which our own vet reckons is a good thing).

Over here we use a low strength iodine spray (various forms of 'purple spray') if there's any skin/hoof pad damage and for minor degrees of scald. With that lovely green pasture, which many folk will envy, scald is quite likely, especially when the grass is long and wet, and especially in lambs. This will show as a white area at the apex between the cleats and will settle with just an antiseptic spray if treated early.

 

[lilipansy]

Thank you Sheepshape for this information. I'll try to read more about the 'no trimming' approach. Always learning something new.