Walking around the pen today after I came home from Mass I had to treat a ewe for foot rot. She had been lame for several days and I had let it go as her foot was not swollen. Today she was no better so I decided to catch her and take a look. My wife came with me and did the honours with the camera. As you can see by the sequence of pictures she was not too lame to put up a fight, but once caught I sat her up and took a look at her back left foot. Sure enough it was overgrown and I gave it a trim, there was some bleeding and puss so it was time for koppertox spray( a topical copper based fungicide) and a shot of penicillin. I thought the lameness was caused by the rough ground, frozen mud , ice etc, but it seems she had picked up an infection in her overgrown toe nail to put it in laymans terms. At least that's the best way I can describe it to the non stockmen out there. Hopefully this is an isolated case as non of the other ewes are limping and so the infection may have come from a puncture in the foot due to the rough frozen ground.
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