Hoof rot

Thanks for the tip! I am new at this and still very much in need of connections for where to get good quality feed/bedding at a low price.

Hey, DocM. I was looking at the Venell Feed price list and thinking to myself. "Those prices aren't worth the drive to Corvallis, not from when I last checked." Well, I just checked with my source of grain. When I bought a ton last fall, it was $6 per 50 lb bag. Pretty nice, eh? I just learned that they are now asking $13! I am aghast, devistated. I am totally new at this farming stuff, and I had no idea I was going to see this kind of change in feed prices.

Now I am thinking I need to make the trip! Prices are skyrocketing, it is really scary.

Doc, I'm a believer in one more step in the treatment if you dont have dry conditons yet. After treating with bleach and or copper, paint on full strength tea tree oil. that stuff is good treatment on its own, and is both antibacterial and antifungal. Its the only moist application I'd use on a fungal infection. Dry is preferable, but when you can keep them dry, the oily TTO will help keep water urine and bacteria off it. Ive also heard of someone using a collodian type spray on bandage to coat it. If you have some kind of teat sealant that may work, but only if the hoof is absolutely DRY after you treat it and before the sealant is applied...

The trick is not just to kill offthe fungus, but tto keep the water and contaminants out too. You can kill the fruiting fungus bodies, but heres lots of spores there in the hoof just waiting to grow out as soon as the conditons are right again- which can be minutes to hours after you treat, because as soon as it gets wet and dilutes the copper or other treatment that was on the hoof, it comes off and away it goes again!

Almost any carbohydrate (internal or external carbs, which is why diabetics ar so prone to fungal infections, and many a woman has been diagnosed with diabetes after recurent yeast infectons-someone finally figures out they need to check her blood sugar) feeds fungus, and it must have adequate moisture to grow.

Remove the moisture and the food and it dies and the spores cant regrow again to start the cycle all over, and it gives the bodies immune system time to get geared up to control it. Blood supply in hoof is so poor compared to skin that the immune sytem has trouble dealing with it. Thats why the absolute worst thing you can do to any skin fungus like diaper rash or fungal skin fold infections is apply a corn starch based powder. It thrives on the simple carbs in the corn starch! Ive successfully cleared up some of the worst diaper rashes (the really bad ones that get infected) by cleaning them with betadine, drying them well, and then covering with tegaderm or bioclusive dressings. Once you get the moisture off it, and kill off as many of the active fungal bodies as you can with an antifungal agent, the body can handle the infection. A spray on collodian based dressign will do the same as the bioclusive. I'd treat at least twice a day with the antifungal of your choice like the coppertox and apply the barrier spray or TTO until you have it on the run, then once a day for a few days past that and until you have dry ground again.

I dont think an antibiotic is going to do anything but stress the rumen UNLESS you already have a secondary bacterial infection on top of the fungal one. If I was doing this and saw signs of a bacterial infection starting, I;d use the coppertox or equivalent, then dust with a antibiotic POWDER (no cream or ointemnt, its just going to help the fungus) and only treat systemically if that wasnt effective or the animal started with early symtoms.

Thats the way I would approach it if the problem were mine, based on goat/horse and LOTS of people experience (30+ yrs RN, most of it ER, seeing lots of fungal infections in every body part imaginable).

YMMV! Well, guess I'm rambling here, sorry-its just an interesting subject to me since the whole dermal and external fungal thing is an issue thats rarely handled right in most cases I've seen (tho admittedly, I usually only see the home treatment failures!) since most folks dont understand what the fungal life cycle and nutrition needs are and thus dont figure out how to approach their particular problem, and usually try stuff that just feeds the yeast or fungus and it gets worse.

You've got good instincts and I trust you'll look through all the ideas that have been posted and the research you do, and settle on what works well for you. Sorry youre going though all this. Are you kidding yet there? you sure dont need this hassle on top of kidding season! Hope all you and yours stay safe and you dont end up with the hassle of property damage too. Best of luck, and please let us know how it goes and what works.

We are kidding rather late this year. I had intended an early kidding, now I'm glad I didn't get my wish!!

I'm waiting until I can get some fresh straw before I get aggressive with treatment. We are currently snowed in!

But when I do attack this, I have spray-on bandaid stuff for humans. The bottle is small, though. :/