Research Promises Five-Fold Reduction of Footrot in Sheep
Researchers at the University of Warwick have shown that proper management of footrot has the potential to cut lameness from one in ten to one in fifty sheep.
The research promises a transformation in tackling the endemic disease, which causes lameness in around 9 million ewes and lambs in Great Britain every year.
The research has prompted the Sheep Veterinary Society to draft new recommendations, to be published nationally, on the treatment and control of footrot and interdigital dermatitis in sheep.
The treatment has been tested in India and is as effective there as it is in the UK.
Professor Laura Green, who led the research team, said: “Footrot is contagious and extremely painful for diseased sheep, and costly to the farming industry.
“Our research is significant because it can have an immediate impact on the disease with rapid cure in three to five days, minimising the time that sheep are lame as well as increasing productivity for farmers.”
The work is part of a £1.4 million Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded project at the University of Warwick, in collaboration with the University of Bristol.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
