32 —laneasty Farming, Saturday, July 14,1979 Foot rot in sheep a hard problem to solve By KENDACE BORK Y DOYLESTOWN - “Foot rot in sheep can be a serious problem when it gets started m a flock.” With that statement, Joel Markeveys, instructor of animal science at Delaware Valley College, commenced on his topic as one of many speakers at the sheep seminar held there recently. Two organisms, he ex plained, Fusiformis nodosa and Spirchaeta penortha, are what cause the disease. The infection will spread under the “homy” tissue of the hoof, separating it from the soft tissue underneath it. Sheep foot rot is com pletely different from the foot rot of cattle, which is caused by another organism. The organisms that cause the foot rot in sheep are not able to live away from the host animal even under the most favorable conditions for a time over two weeks. Therefore the foot rot can be eliminated from a flock and a farm. However, the foot rot causing organisms can survive for months in the diseased or dead tissue of the hoofs of sheep. The first sign of the in fection is lameness in a sheep. The animal will exhibit soreness in one or more feet as they walk, and when at rest, remove the weight from the affected foot. If both forefeet are affected, the sheep may feed on its knees. At the earliest stage of the disease, the skin between the claws will become reddened in color and a sore area will develop Then the infection spreadis rapidly underneath the hom area of the foot, undermining the wall. Surface medication is useless without removing the protective deseased horn area The infection can not live in yards or pastures for more than two weeks. Collecting Pen The pen arrangement seen above is helpful for the treatment of foot rot. The size of the pens is determined by the size of the flock and the number of the infected sheep. ; BUCK TRACTOR PULLS^ J Top Pullers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware * 4> and New Jersey competing. J $ I PULLS EVERY SATURDAY WIGHT 6:30 P.M. | J SUPERSTOCK TRAC I uns- Modified farm tractors, up 3^- 1,000 HP MODIFIED TRACTORS— )f Any engine, any chassis, s charged etc up to 2 000 3f SS 4X4TRUCKS- Souped up 4 wheel drive trucks, up to 600 H P * REGULAR ADMISSIOh 3s* Adults ’4 00 w 6to 12 yrs U. 50 J * Loo 10 Miles south Of Lancaster J special events on Rt. 272 J SEE YOU AT THE BUCK! J Therefore, cleaning up any part of the premises requires having all sheep kept off those areas for more than that amount of time. The shepherd should decide which area or pasture he wants to clean first and keep his sheep out of there while foot trimming and treatment takes place The diagram shows a pen arrangement that is helpful for foot rot treatment. The size of the pens should be determined by the size of the flock and the number of the infected sheep. Each sheep’s feet should be examined carefully, Markeveys explained. Usmg a sharp hoof knife, a pen knife, or a good pair of foot shears, all the sheep’s feet should be trimmed. Those animals that show any lameness or have overgrown feet or evidence of dead tissue should have their feet tnmmed to the point where all the dead tissue is removed. This may mean trimming down into the living tissue. Then one of several medications should be pamted thoroughly over the hoof, covering all areas One of the following solutions can be used- 40 per cent formalin and glycerine, equal parts; saturated copper sulfate solution in pmetar; 10 per cent solution of chloram phenicol in alcohol; or commercial copper com pound such as copper-tox. Sheep that show no signs of infection should be walked thorugh a foot bath solution of formalin (10 per cent formalin, that is, two gallons of formalin to 18 gallons of water) or copper sulfate, a solution of 36 pounds of copper sulfate per 20 gallons of water. To make a foot bath trough, one can use a wooden trough at least eight feet long, eight inches wide at the bottom, being 12 inches wide .-en for "clean" sheep Foot Batn Pen for 8 ' +—^ infectei sheen at the top and about six in- ches deep. The foot bath should have enough treat ment solution to be about four inches deep in the trough. Usmg hurdles, all the sheep are moved through it. The use of excelsm or wood shavings or even old wool in the trough to filter the solution will help prevent soiling the fleece. Formalin solutions will not stain the wool during treatment. The sheep should stand for at least four minutes m the bath- Those animals that show no signs of infection should go thorugh the bath first. Any sheep with swelling or an abscess formation at the top of the hoof should get a tetracycline or penicillin injection. A veterinarian can help with this, as well as show how to do the radical trimming of the diseased feet and help decide which animals are untreatable, Markeveys advised. On the first day of treat ment, the “clean” sheep should be separated as their feet are trimmed. They are then put through the foot bath first and then turned out on clean ground, where no sheep have been for two weeks. Infected sheep are put though the foot bath after being hand treated and are kept separated from the clean sheep in a pen. They should be walked through the foot bath every other day. At the end of the first week, all of the feet of the infected sheep should be examined, and those that need it, retrunmed and hand treated. Those that appear to be healed should be put in a separate pen after the hand treatment During the second week, the infected sheep should be again walked through the bath every other day. Those that still show severe convalescent sheep Drain Pen Pen for infectec sheep Pen for clean S~(==>o lameness of signs of deeper infection at the end of three weeks time should be slaughtered. The convalescent sheep should not be put in with the clean sheep before they have had at least three treatments through the foot bath, one every other day. If the above method of treatment is not practical for the sheperd; that is, to separate the flock into three different groups, he can keep the clean animals on clean land and continue to treat them in the foot bath twice each week for four weeks. The infected and apparently healed group should be checked individually and hand treated for four weeks Comments on the report and the labeling questions raised in the Federal Register notice should be sent, within 45 days, to be executive secretariat, Attn Annie Johnson, room 3807-S, FSQS, USDA, Washington, D.C., 20250. Copies of the report are available without charge from the Office of In formation, room 3057-S, FSQS, USDA, Washington, D.C., 20250 m for USDA (Continued from Page 20) and walked thorugh the bath twice a week for six weeks. No matter which method is used, flocks that have been infected with the foot rot disease for a long time will have at least a few annuals that will not be successfully treated Those animals must be removed from the flock and slaughtered because they will otherwise con tinually provide a source of the disease for the entire flock. As a precaution against foot rot infection, before adding any new sheep to the flock, the sheep should have all their feet tnmmed, and be hand treated with one of the foot rot treatments listed above. If there is any visible signs of foot rot, they should be kept isolated until one is sure whether they are safe to add to the flock or can be returned to the seller. Foot rot is a slow- MH 30 <md SUCKER STUFF FOR TOBACCO NOW IS THE TIME TO GET APHIDS ON TOBACCO Material for Leafhopper Control on Alfalfa CONTACT JONAS S. EBERSOL ELI S. EBERSOL I‘4 Miles North of Bird-m-Hand R D #l, Strasburg on Stumptown Road >/« Mile South of Strasburg developing insidious kind of infection which will insure eventual destruction of any sheep flock as a profitable farm enterprise, Markeveys noted. Those that suspect that the disease is in their flocks, he advised, should begin treatment without delay and pursue the job until the disease is eradicated. If a flock is in fected, foot rot can be eradicated and kept off a farm by this hard, pain staking method. Careful examination and treatment of all sheep additions will keep it off. For a good reference on foot rot in sheep, Markeveys recommended the USDA Farmers’ Bulletin 2206, available from the Supt of Documents, Washington, D C. 20402 He added that it contains very good colored ? illustrations of foot trim-'- mmg and infected feet
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers