Ram yearling feet look weird

[trampledbygeese]

In another thread I talked about my Icelandic ram yearlings going off their feed... added salt and kelp meal to their pasture and they are much improved. However, during the last week, I've noticed that lesser ram is walking differently... wondering if you could help brain storm what it could be.

Instead of having his feet square to the ground, they twist inwards at the bottom, the joint just above the hoof, so that he's walking on the inner half (?) of his hoof instead of the whole hoof. Especially noticeable on his front legs. His left back leg has a stiffness to it this last week or so, which may or may not be related (wondering about selenium deficiency as it seems to start with a stiff back leg).

I thought maybe his feet needed trimming again, although the sheerer did it just over a month ago. There wasn't much growth, just a little bit near the back of the hoof. But what I did see is that the ... word for it? Fleshy bit in the middle that we don't cut when we trim their feet... was much bigger than normal, especially on the bottom of the outer half of the hoofs. It seems to be pushing out against the nail(?) side so that it's starting to bulge out. Much worse on the front legs than the back. Sorry for the lack of proper jargon yet, I'm still learning.

I had a look at his feet about 2 weeks ago, and nothing abnormal then.

Trimmed up his nails and cleaned out his toes, looked for anything stuck in the feet, nothing obvious. No bad smell or big cracks. Just swelling on the bottom.

They are on pasture supplemented with generic hay, a basic mix of grasses, &c., not too rich, not too tough. Also commercial mineral mix, farm salt, kelp meal and cobalt salt block. They get about 1/4 cup of grain once a week, or once every two weeks... or longer depending on what I need from them.
We suspect this fellow has or is likely to have a hernia as his twin died of it and the vet says it's hereditary. He's a companion animal for my main ram, and is scheduled for the freezer this fall or as soon as I can find a replacement companion. That said, I don't want him to have any discomfort during his time with us... so any thoughts on his feet?

It's dark out now, so I'll try to get photos in the morning.

 

[trampledbygeese]

Catching him is a bit of a problem this morning, as I think he's on to us. I don't want to bribe him with grain again if I don't have to, so I drew a picture of what the feet look like on the bottom.

Yes, I know I suck at drawing, but the general idea is there. Basically, it's an attempt to represent the padded fleshy part at the bottom, not the nail part that we cut with the clippers. His feet didn't look like that a couple of weeks ago.

Any thoughts on what I could be researching? None of the foot problems in the sheep books look like this. It's on all the feet, strongest on the front, so I'm wondering if it's dietary.

again, sorry for the poor drawing skills.

 

[Ruus]

I would think maybe an abscess, except that you said there was no smell. Did the hoof feel hot? Swelling of the fleshy part of the hoof sounds a bit like laminitis. You said he was only walking on one side of his hoof, is he walking on the normal toe or the toe with the growth?

 

[trampledbygeese]

No smell and not significantly warmer than normal.

He's keeping all his weight on the normal part of the foot (the inside toe), not the swollen part.

I'm wondering about laminitis too. Since it's on all four feet and came on in the span of about two weeks, it seems unlikely to be an injury or foot rot.

He is genetically inclined to have digestive problems (his twin died of a hernia) so that makes me think of laminitis. But his feed is quite low in protein. Just mid to low grade hay, fairly high roughage content, but thin easy to chew stems, not the really coarse stuff. Very seldom gets any grain.

No obvious swelling or heat from the skin just above the hoof.

 

[bonbean01]

No clue here...but will be following this thread as this may happen one day to one of my sheep and curious what becomes of his feet. Firstly thought it might be genetic, but since he didn't have this since birth, that wouldn't be it.

 

[trampledbygeese]

Before I show you some pictures of him standing, please know that even though I'm new to sheep, I have been trimming his toes at least once every 6 weeks. I try to do it sooner, but 6 weeks seems to be what I can manage. I'm saying this because in the photos it looks like he just has really long nails, but when I look at the bottom, the nails are flush or shorter than the fleshy centre bit. Besides, this fellow had a major trim from the sheerer when hew was shorn, which is more aggressive than I cut back, but not enough to make it bleed.

Anyway, I've mentioned that it's something more than just needing a trim, right?

He's the mostly black one.

His front feet, see how far it turns in? It's much worse today than yesterday night.

And his back feet, something similar is going on.

Sorry, those are the best shots I could get. Hopefully you can make the pictures bigger somehow. Still learning how this forum works. All the rest ended up being deep nostril spelunking pictures - he wanted to know what the camera was for, and what kind of food it might be made of.

Can't catch him today, too hot. He is amazingly stressed by being caught, starts frothing at the mouth and has trouble breathing - and that's before we flip him. I don't stress him when it's hot out. Yeh, I know, he's never been the strongest of beasts. But all I want for him is to live a good life until the fall when it's cool enough to 'process' him.

 

[trampledbygeese]

No clue here...but will be following this thread as this may happen one day to one of my sheep and curious what becomes of his feet. Firstly thought it might be genetic, but since he didn't have this since birth, that wouldn't be it.

I'm suspecting genetics too. If his digestion is off, then he's not getting something he needs for his feet to be happy? maybe...I don't know.

The shearer is coming buy in a few days, so I'll let you know what he says. Hopefully it's just something so simple that it's not even in the books. If it gets worse before then, I'll probably take him to the vet, but so long as he can stand, walk, eat, drink and poop, I'm going to try to fix it myself.

 

[purplequeenvt]

My guess is that he is lacking some nutrient. Don't have a clue what, but that's my guess.

I was given a goat kid a number if years ago that was in really rough shape nutritionally. His hair was falling out, feet were a mess (they look similar to your ram's feet), and he was really skinny. It took all summer to get him healthy-ish and a couple years to fix his feet.

 

[bonbean01]

I have one ewe whose back feet have always been strange...not the same as yours, but couldn't figure out how to make the pics bigger to get a better look. Our ewe's feet are striped white and brown...only sheep like that...and she needs her hooves trimmed 4 times more often than the rest do. Some would cull her for that reason, but she has the best and fastest growing lambs...plus she is a sweetheart. So far she has not passed on her bad feet to any of her lambs.

 

[trampledbygeese]

I've talked to some of the local livestock gurus and they all say it looks like founder symptoms.

Now my other(the one for breeding) ram has it starting this afternoon - he was fine this morning!

I just want to tear my hair out and scream! How can it be Founder?!?

They've been on the same diet for 8 months. True the pasture is slowly growing again, but not quickly. Free access to low to mid grade hay (the cheapest stuff they will eat - $10 a bale). They eat one to two flakes a day between the two of them, depending on mood and size of hayflake. Minerals, salt, kelp meal, cobalt lick. Sheep text grain maybe once every two weeks, and even then, it's one small fist full for the both of them (roughly 1/4 to 1/16th cup each, depending on how much I grab). About three months ago, I started feeding them one or two comfrey leaves every so often, about once every 10 days, if I remember.

Nothing I'm feeding them has changed! It's the same batch of hay, the same pasture, the same schedule. The only thing is the weather has gotten warmer the last month or so... but fairly gradually and they had their wool shorn about two months ago... not showing any signs of heat stress.

So what else can cause founder symptoms? Are there any plants that may be growing on my pasture that might do this? Any tests to know for sure this is Founder?

Also, is there genetics involved in Founder? So, if I fix this can I keep the lambs I hope to get off him in the spring, or are they best used for freezer?

Please help!