How to Manage Foot Rot

What is Foot Rot?

Foot rot is a bacterial disease found in cattle, sheep, goats, and other cloven-foot livestock that causes lameness, swelling, and decay to the foot and leg. The disease enters the foot through cracks and other damage in the hoof and quickly moves further into the leg causing damage to tissue, tendons, and joints. If you don’t treat foot rot quickly, it can cause major damage to the leg and may be impossible to treat fully. It mainly infects cattle and other livestock during wet seasons, such as late winter and spring, but it can be present in your herd during any season.

How do Livestock Acquire Foot Rot?

When your livestock spends a lot of time in areas where the ground is wet or muddy, their hooves become soft and weak making them more prone to damage. Hooves can easily become cracked or punctured by rocks, ice, and other rough surfaces. Common places where your livestock are most susceptible to damage include muddy corrals, feed areas, watering locations, and other high-trafficked places where your livestock like to gather. Once the hoof is damaged, the bacteria responsible for foot rot can penetrate the tissue and infect the foot.

The only way foot rot can infect your livestock is if the bacteria that causes the disease is present where your livestock are. The bacteria that causes foot rot is called Fusobacterium Necrophorum. This type of bacteria is commonly found in the gut and feces of livestock, which is why it is so common for infection to begin in areas where overcrowding can occur.

How to Diagnose Foot Rot?

Knowing the early signs and symptoms of foot rot is critical to ensuring the disease doesn’t spread further and cause more serious issues. The first signs of foot rot are pain and lameness in the foot and are quickly followed by redness and swelling of the hoof, caused by the the toes spreading. If you notice these symptoms in your herd take a closer look at the hood immediately. If you find cracks, lesions, or cuts between the toes that have a foul-smelling odour, you can be confident that foot rot is present. Other symptoms to look out for are fever, necrosis (death or decay of tissue), and a loss of appetite that results in rapid weight loss. If the disease goes untreated for too long, it will spread and cause other issues such as chronic arthritis and permanent damage to the tendons and joints in the leg.

All livestock can experience the negative effects of this disease, but it has the biggest impact on bulls. The pain they experience in the infected leg can make them unwilling to breed. The pain combined with a rise in body temperature causes stress to the bull and may reduce or stop the production of sperm. If you don’t treat foot rot early in bulls, they may have to miss out on an entire breeding season.

It is important to note that not all lameness and pain in the leg and foot are related to foot rot. Foot rot can only infect your animals if there is damage to the foot. Injuries to joints, tendons, and muscles can look similar to foot rot making it important to take a closer look at the foot when making a diagnosis. If you are not sure if lameness is caused by foot rot or another injury, contact your vet to confirm the diagnosis so your animals can receive the proper treatment.

Treating and Controlling Foot Rot

Once you have confirmed foot rot in your herd, you must treat the disease quickly to prevent it from spreading. The first step to treating foot rot is to clean the infected foot. You want to make sure any damaged areas are cleaned and free of any dirt or debris lodged inside. After the foot is cleaned, you must disinfect it to kill the disease. The easiest way to disinfect your entire herd is with a foot bath. Regularly change the solution in the foot bath to prevent contamination. In some cases, cleaning and disinfecting the hoof is enough treatment to stop the spread of the disease, but the majority of the time you will need to treat your livestock with antibiotics prescribed by the vet. If you can treat your herd with antibiotics within the first day or two you should start seeing the infection and swelling go down after a few days. If the disease has been in the animal’s system for more than two days your vet will need to prescribe multiple rounds of antibiotics and other medications to treat it.

Preventing Foot Rot

Prevention is the best way to keep your livestock free of foot rot. To prevent the feet of your livestock from becoming damaged, make sure water can properly drain from areas where your animals commonly gather and keep these areas free of debris such as stones, ice, and other objects that can crack the foot. Regularly cleaning manure from these areas can also reduce the amount of bacteria present in the ground.

Regularly inspecting and trimming hooves will reduce the number of cracks and crevices where bacteria can enter. This will also help you recognize any early signs of the disease allowing you to treat it quickly.

There are also vaccines available to reduce the chances of infections. If you’re interested in vaccinating your livestock, talk to your vet to discover the appropriate vaccine and vaccination schedule for your animals.

You need to be cautious when adding new animals to your herd to ensure they won’t spread disease to your existing stock. When purchasing new livestock, you want to inspect them for lameness before introducing them to the rest of your herd. You may even want to isolate any new animals from the rest of your herd for 2-3 weeks after purchasing as an extra precaution. If you notice any signs of foot rot during the isolation period you will want to treat those animals immediately and wait to release them with the rest of your herd.

Conclusion

Foot rot is a serious and highly infectious disease. Familiarizing yourself with the early symptoms is key to treating the infection early. However, the best way to manage foot rot is prevention. Keeping areas where overcrowding can occur free of water, manure, and damaging objects is the best way to keep your herd free of disease. If you notice any signs of foot rot in your herd, contact your vet immediately so your animals can receive the right treatment to prevent major damage from happening.