I’ve attended a recent meeting on sheep lameness, held by Westmorland Vet Group. A picture quiz of the conditions that make sheep lame stumped me by including a sneaky picture of a normal foot. There’s been a lot written about foot lameness and there is now little doubt that the best treatment is to avoid trimming. Judith Lee presented the results of an experiment on a local farm that showed that untrimmed sheep got better faster. It also demonstrated that the overgrown horn of the hoof rapidly returns to normal. This makes sense as a sheep will take less weight on the lame foot, so the normal hoof wear is reduced. We now know that one bacteria is responsible for most lameness and as it only lives on pasture (even really wet ones) for about two weeks, reducing lameness is easily achievable.

Another meeting was held by the CLA and was on measures that farms could adopt to prevent the arrival of TB in our region. The whole of the North is a low risk area and we need to keep it that way. The presentations; from a APHA vet, a farmer affected by TB, and the CLA policy advisor; focussed on ensuring that testing was carried out safely and properly, as well as measures to minimise contact between cattle and badgers. It is quite depressing to see how difficult it can be to eradicate the disease once it is established in an area.

Common to both of these meetings was the simple message of not introducing disease. No-one would buy a lame sheep, but sound sheep can be carriers of the bacteria, so a further precaution is to quarantine them on arrival and treat as advised by your vet. TB can be even harder to spot, as the test can miss some infected animals. It’s vital therefore to check the testing history of the whole farm and the surrounding area before purchase. The main way for TB to reach our area is through bought in cattle, so you have to ask yourselves, is that bargain cow really worth it?