EFFICIENT milk production is the economic driver in the dairy herd and the primary aim is to optimise milk production per cow per year.

Most dairy cows will drop in production by 0.3% per day after peak production. The birth of a calf is essential for the onset of lactation and evidence shows the better the calving interval is, the more milk the cow will produce.

There is a national commitment from the sheep industry to reduce the amount of lame sheep to 2% of the national flock.  As it was estimated that 10% of sheep were lame when this was announced  this seemed ambitious.  However, the flocks that have tackled lameness in the ways described have found the number of lame sheep in their flock reduced to 2% quite easily, compared to 95% of those treated with injectable antibiotics alone.

The first task is to identify the cause of lameness, both in individual sheep and to know what causes most of the lameness in your flock.

These are now regarded as different stages of the same disease, both caused by Dichelobacter nodosus.

It is the most common cause of lameness on a majority of farms.

Treatment

Do not trim - only 5-10% of trimmed feet cured, compared to 95% of those treated with injectable antibiotics (trimming as well as injection halved the number that recovered). Therefore, aim to catch and inspect all lame sheep within 3 days, treat Footrot/scald with injectable oxytetracycline and oxytetracycline spray.

Spirochaetes seem to be a necessary cause for CODD, like in digital dermatitis in cattle; but we also find the footrot bacteria  - dichelobacter nodosus and fusobacterium necrophorum in more than half of CODD lesions.  Studies suggest there is an important link between the two.

We don’t know if/how much disease passes between species but bought in sheep are the main risk for introducing it to a flock.

These are the non-infectious causes of lameness, normally Shelley hoof or white line abscesses.

The connection between wall and sole is elastic, but is the weak point in the foot. 

Shelley hoof, which is a separation of wall and sole, is common but is not usually associated with lameness, although can cause a problem if mud becomes impacted.

We have teamed up with Vetoquinol, Semex and ActivfET to offer you a chance of winning a trip to World Dairy Expo 2018 in Madison.

We have a limited number of vouchers available. Each voucher entitles you to 3 donors each having a full OPU/IVP cycle on the same day with St Boniface Farm Vets, at a discounted total rate of £325 plus VAT (NB there will be additional fees of £95 plus VAT per embryo produced and keep fees may apply).

Embryo transfer techniques can be used very effectively alongside genomics.  If you can identify your best heifers by genomic testing, collect embryos from them, and implant them into your worst genomic heifers, your herd genetics can improve even more rapidly than via genomics or advanced breeding alone.

There are two collection techniques that can be used: