Lameness in Lambs

bobajob

Member
Location
Sw Scotland
Our lambs seem quite bad with lameness this year, and I think it's got worse since they were weaned.
Any tips on dealing with it. Going to try and get all lame ones into one lot.

Guessing there is about 100 ish of them and I would think it's CODD that's the main problem. Have been footbathing when they are in with formalin.
Do I just bite the bullet and get the vet in with micotil?
 

bobajob

Member
Location
Sw Scotland
Rotationally grazed on silage aftermaths just now.
Had been rotated on more permanent pasture type fields until weaning.

Some lameness in the ewes but they are not so bad- They get footvax once a year.
 

Gator

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Lancashire
Been having the same, jabbed with Betamox la and run through foot bath every other day. Just half a dozen wi a slight limp now out of about 50
 

JSmith

Member
Livestock Farmer
You’ve gotta bite the bullet and tip every one, when you do you’ll realise running through a foot bath is a waste of time if the effected area is covered over with dirt/shît!! I speak from experience, had terrible job this year with lambs, hundreds bad on multiple feet, only thing that touched it was isolating and treating individually with Terramycin spray and jab of trymox!! Run through foot bath every other day but fresh bath every time, as they get better remove from lane flock! You must clean the foot out first or your wasting your time, we didn’t run through bath in the end once I realised the effected area was covered over with rubbish!! On top of it now hopefully but it’s been a long demoralising summer I can tell you!! Good luck
 

Agrivator

Member
Any lameness in lambs is likely to be scad (scald) where abrasion by (mainly) grass leads to a bacterial infection. Even a small lesion is enough to cause lameness.

But formalin is an astringent (and carcinogenic?), and at normal concentrations can exacerbate the problem. The cheapest and safest way of treating it is to stand them in a Zinc Sulphate solution for a few minutes, and to let then stand on a dry surface for 30 minutes or so.

If that doesn't cure most of them within two or three days, it's time to get a veterinary opinion.

If a footbath containing formalin is allowed to stand for a long time, water evaporation reduces the volume, but increases the strength. So if you keep topping it up regardless, its strength will keep on increasing.

PS. In most cases, the bacteria involved in scad are not the same as the ones that cause footrot. You can free a farm of footrot, but you can't free it of scad.
 
Last edited:

Bob the beef

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scot Borders
You’ve gotta bite the bullet and tip every one, when you do you’ll realise running through a foot bath is a waste of time if the effected area is covered over with dirt/shît!! I speak from experience, had terrible job this year with lambs, hundreds bad on multiple feet, only thing that touched it was isolating and treating individually with Terramycin spray and jab of trymox!! Run through foot bath every other day but fresh bath every time, as they get better remove from lane flock! You must clean the foot out first or your wasting your time, we didn’t run through bath in the end once I realised the effected area was covered over with rubbish!! On top of it now hopefully but it’s been a long demoralising summer I can tell you!! Good luck
I make a point of running them through twice each time. First time to wash the feet then put the formalin for 2nd run . Not sure if it helps or not.
Worst season ever here fir feet and flys. Coincides with hotest driest summer in 100 years🤔
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Run through formalin at double concentrate (2l per 20 litre water) for 4 consecutive days, give them a day or 2 off and then 4 days again. Cured mine very quickly, any off their feet had Betamox LA.
 

Jerry

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Devon
I’ve given up with formalin and now use zinc sulphate./golden hoof.

Takes longer but it’s helped break the cycle here at last. Still a few needing a jab though.

Been worst year ever for limping sheep.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
I’ve given up with formalin and now use zinc sulphate./golden hoof.

Takes longer but it’s helped break the cycle here at last. Still a few needing a jab though.

Been worst year ever for limping sheep.
How much do you buy in though @Jerry ?
Everyone I know with bad lameness issues buy from marts or can trace it back to a ram that was bought… 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Jerry

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Devon
How much do you buy in though @Jerry ?
Everyone I know with bad lameness issues buy from marts or can trace it back to a ram that was bought… 🤷🏻‍♂️

Very little bought in these days and only 30 shearlings thus year.

Though the problem started a year ago when I bought a box full of ewe lambs in. They turned out to have terrible feet. Easy to spot them as they have large flag ear tags.

nearly every one has been lame more than once since they’ve lambed and before.

All from a big performance recorded flock with good reputation.
 

will6910

Member
Location
N.i
I’m having nightmare with feet in lambs and odd ewe and now rams. Not CODD or foot rot so assuming it’s all traces back to scald. Been using copper sulphate(blue stone) which works but doesn’t seem last long. Can’t use formalin as where my footbath is Is inside and no air flow and couldn’t cope with it and sheep weren’t to happy either. Not sure what’s left to use. Been worst year for feet here to that I can remember
 

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