Hi Chris,
Don't worry about what will become of this breeder's flock in the future. He will continue to "limp along" (gasp! Did I say that?) with his production flock, and make his deals with his various markets. The local breeder near me seems in "denial" too. He always shows up at our winter sheep educational conferences that we have here in southern Illinois. He attends all the talks, chats with the speakers, and goes his way. Also, when I have been to our lamb pool nights at the local sale barn, he often shows up there with a truck full of limpers. The stock grader and other sheep farmers quietly look on, and no one says anything. His sheep are weighed and graded, he receives his check and off he goes! His huge blind spot is very scarey, but every person has to set their own standards and feel comfortable with them. His standards are a lot lower than I could ever live with.
Anyway, I have heard that footrot will not in itself cause death, but it is possible that sheep may die due to lack of strength to eat, move about and thrive. It is painful to watch sheep suffering from severe footrot, as they may get it in all four hooves, and barely be able to move.
As far as the relative condition of the Katahdin foot compared to the Barbado foot, I found the condition far more advanced in the Katahdins, and much more difficult to treat. In general, the Katahdin hoof was much larger than the Barbado hoof. It was extremely hard and rock-like, compared to the soft supple fingernail-like hoof of the Barbado. The Katahdin hoof also became very malformed from the disease quickly, and it was almost impossible to know what you could trim without literally cutting off parts of the foot.
And throughout the entire time of constant trimming and medicating, I NEVER seemed to make the slightest bit of improvement in any of those Katahdin feet. They were all just too far gone to grow back looking anywhere close to normal. It was very frustrating.
I think you made a wise choice by staying away from this breeder. But I should also tell you (and I am completely baffled by this): One of my other breeder friends bought two 75% Dorper rams (crossed with 25% Katahdin) from this same man. My friend has never had a single problem with the feet of either of those two Dorper cross rams that she bought. She doesn't do anything to care for her rams' feet -- they just came out OK. That is a miracle, as far as I can tell.
As for finding a disease-free Dorper ram, the two main sheep breeder magazines have classified ads for breeders of Dorpers and Katahdins. But be careful, this above breeder does advertise in such magazines. I would probably suggest looking on the Dorper web site at their breeders' directory, and perhaps talking to one of their board members to get an informal recommendation of some careful breeders who have clean facilities and good husbandry techniques. But in the long run, you must always be careful in every situation when adding sheep to your flock.
Good luck, and I hope you will find some good healthy rams!
Mary Swindell
At 12:01 PM 9/5/2004 -0600, you wrote:
Message: 5 From: "William Buchanan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [blackbelly] Sore feet/hooves? Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 11:35:28 -0500 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thank you Mary,
Wow, my situation is very similar. This guy lives only about 7 miles from me and he also deals heavily in ethnic sales. He really seems unconcerned.
What I am wondering now is, what will become of his flock in the future? Will the footrot eventually cause death? I want to warn him but I think he is in denial. Maybe he thinks when dry weather returns, all will be well.
As far as I am concerned though, I made up my mind yesterday that I won't return to his farm. NO WAY is it worth the chance. Like I said before, I have had absolutely no problems with mine other than a few bouts with coyotes.
One last question(s): Are dorpers or Katahdins highly susceptible to this FOOTROT? Where can someone go to get a Dorper ram and be assured of getting a "foot rot free" one? I am very leery of adding ANYTHING to my flock now.
I am assuming all you can do is observe the flock you buy from and smell their feet?, and avoid sale barns?. Stills sounds dangerous to me. Would be nice if there were "certified footrot free" flocks.
Thanks again Mary,
Chris
Mary Swindell Illinois Regional Director, BBSAI Bellwether Farm 815 Bell Hill Road Cobden, IL 62920 (618) 893-4568 (home) (618) 453-1697 (work) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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