Take the pain out of footrot with expert advice

Experts are urging sheep producers to use a qualified professional to identify and treat footrot to avoid wasting time and resources with an incorrect diagnosis or treatment plan.

Footrot is a bacterial disease, with many strains that present with a wide expression of signs from mild lameness in the case of benign footrot to very severe lameness with virulent footrot strains. It often takes an experienced operator to identify exactly which strain is present and to devise the best course of action.

John Webb Ware_smallVets John Webb Ware (pictured) and Pat Kluver are training contractors to help sheep producers control this devastating disease in the most cost effective manner. The training is a collaboration between the McKinnon Project at The University of Melbourne and Livestock Biosecurity Network, together with the Livestock Contractors Association and GoTAFE.

“Footrot is a costly disease on individual farms, and in the high rainfall zone of southern Australia it’s still a very important disease. It can cost producers up to $3-4 per head per year to manage the disease, and is in fact one of the most costly diseases that we deal with,” Dr Webb Ware said.

“It’s in the interest of producers and the industry to control it for the financial and welfare implications, but it’s the virulent strains that we are concerned about that cause economic losses, restrict trade and affect the welfare of sheep.”

Dr Webb Ware said it was essential to correctly identify the strain of footrot present, which could be difficult for the untrained eye – in the early stages benign footrot can look very similar to the virulent strain but won’t develop any further.

“It can take quite some time and repeated inspections by someone who knows what they’re looking for to confirm that the diagnosis is benign,” he said.

“On the other hand, if it is found to be virulent then the next step is to design a control and eradication program, and that can take up to a few years to achieve.

“There are also a number of other conditions that can cause lameness and be confused with footrot, but for an experienced operator it’s a fairly straight forward procedure to rule these out and confirm the right management steps.”

LBN’s Dr Pat Kluver said footrot was well known for being highly infectious and for this reason it was important for producers to have a biosecurity plan in place to prevent footrot entering their properties in the first place.

“Footrot is predominantly spread through purchase of sheep or sheep coming onto the property through fences, so it’s essential to have 100 per cent stock proof fencing as the first step,” Dr Kluver said.

“When buying in stock, you can break down biosecurity into three steps to really minimise your risk. Firstly the pre-purchase stage covers your due diligence, such as insisting upon a Sheep Health Statement, inspecting the sheep or having someone to inspect them for you to make sure they don’t have footrot as far as you can see.

“Step two is at the farm gate. Use a 10 per cent zinc sulphate footbath – this will clear up any bacteria they have picked up in the last couple of days from the saleyards or the truck, but it won’t get rid of any entrenched footrot.

“Finally, footrot isn’t visible all year round so the quarantining of new sheep is essential until you are sure they don’t have footrot. For south east Australia, that is at least a couple of months over a warm, moist spring period.”

Dr Kluver said that above all it was better to be safe than sorry in responding to any signs of footrot and to call in the experts – be they sheep vets or experienced contractors – as soon as producers notice any signs of lameness.