Footrot is a significant welfare concern, and is estimated to cost the NZ sheep industry $11 million per year. This cost is in production loss and treatment – a hefty burden on NZ sheep farmers.

Treatment Options:

Treatment options typically include antibiotics.  Antibiotics vary in their effectiveness, and none have shown to be 100% effective in fixing this industry problem. A strategic goal of the New Zealand Veterinary Associate is to reduce reliance on antibiotics for treatment and increase preventative approaches. Selecting for resistance has proven to be effective in the USA and NZ in studies performed in the 1980’s.  However due to perceived difficulty, this approach has not been widely adopted.

Other treatment and prevention methods can be effective but they often have negative consequences. A commonly used method is foot bathing with solutions such as zinc sulphate, copper sulphate, or formalin. Zinc sulphate or copper sulphate are commonly used and cost effective. They are mixed as a 5% solution (50g per 1L water).  Sheep and goats should stand in the solution for up to 15 minutes. Following this, they should be stood on a dry area before letting them back to the paddock. The negative consequence of this is the disposal of the  solution (likewise formalin). Unfortunately, there is no “acceptable on farm practice” guidelines.

Selecting Stock:

Lifestylers wanting a small flock of sheep or goats, should select animals who haven’t previously been affected by footrot. This approach will increase the likelihood of obtaining resistant animals.

Routine inspection and trimming hooves will also assist in preventing footrot. This allows for regular (e.g. monthly, or coincide with other animal health treatments) visual inspection of the feet for monitoring signs of the disease. Early treatment with trimming and topical iodine sprays may be enough to prevent clinical disease from developing. This will also allow monitoring for ovine digital dermatitis (foot scald). Ovine digital dermatitis occurs on the skin in the interdigital region of the hoof.