It's just too wet!!!!

[Hawkfamily]

Our poor goats and sheep's feet are just detiriorating away!! We live in the Pacific Northwest and it is so wet and rainy through these months. We increased our numbers this year from 5 to 16 and are really noticing the difference in the pastures/barnyard area from the added traffic and activity. There are areas that are just MUD - all around the barn. Almost everyone is limping out there, even our 4 month old kids.
We have one Saanen with a chronic hoof problem. It sounds more like scald than rot, though - in between the toes. It gets better during the summer months, but bad in winter. She responds mildly to treatment and antiobiotics, but never really gets better.
We need to do something and FAST! We are going to set up a foot bath station, where they file in and stand still in there for a period of time after having their feet clean. What should we get for the bath? zinc or copper sulfate?
Our main problem, though, as I see it, is the WATER and MUD everywhere!!!
What are some suggestions or tricks that we can use to get things dry? laying down plywood or something like that?? The barn itself, although small, is in pretty good shape - pretty built up/layered up ground covering, etc....
Any ideas?

Jodi

[oberhaslikid]

Some one on the board said to use old carpet to keep mud at bay.If you can get some pallets and put a solid piece of plywood on it that would give them a place to stand out of the mud.I know what you mean my buck pen was that way this fall untill I moved him.I also used straw, once they pack the straw into the mud it makes for a harder pack.Not hay its like a sponge.

[beeman97]

A solution to the mud problem would be to build some very large mounds around your place, use a well drained soil, alot of rock, & sand mixture to keep the water out of it & place them everywhere so the goats have places they can get to that stay dry.
We moved our goats into the barn at the end of the fall this year to help with the feet problems we were having. A good trim + dry barn = healthy feet.
Most of the problems should be solved by keeping the feet trimmed good before & during your wet season. But if they persist then building dry mounds will help as well.
Good Luck
Rick

[topside1]

Jodi, search "old carpeting" on the goat forum and you should find pictures of the carpeting I installed in my buck's pen. I also laid carpeting in the goats main outdoor traffic areas. I'm impressed with the results my foot rot/toe rot problem dissapeared immediately. Just don't lay huge pieces, 4 foot by 12 is ideal. Used carpet is generally already cut to that size when removed from customers houses. At the end of the wet season just grab hold and remove. With permission I got mine out of a dumpster owned by a carpet company. Sure is working for me...

[topside1]

One more thing, if the mud is ankle deep the carpeting idea will work wonders. If the mud is deeper than that you must consider other options. Good luck!!

[Up North]

Topside - Hmmmn, you got me thinking maybe cheap disarded carpeting could replace the fabric products used to design mud-free cow traffic lanes.
a layer of breaker rock, then the carpet, cover that with 4" of screened gravel, sand, or crushed limestone....could have posibilities, LOL.

[topside1]

It's plentiful and free..It either goes to the landfill now or later. Might as well use it for something.

[dezeeuwgoats]

The dairy owner I met in Washington had all kinds of things she did to combat the wet. Her main concern seemed to be metabolic problems in her pregnant does, since they kidded about now - in the middle of the wet season. They wouldn't LEAVE the barn - so she had to put water across the pasture and built up thick pathways of sawdust and chips to the waterer from the barn. She only had twelve milkers in this pen though.

That's the one thing that holds me back from a move to the Pacific Northwest- the rain. I can't imagine caring for animals in all that rain!

The carpet sounds like a great idea.

Niki

[Hawkfamily]

Thanks everyone
Topside/John, I actually found your old post late last night and had saved it. I called around this morning after checking in here and have a couple of places to go on Tuesday morning for old carpet. I am confident that it is going to help. It certainly doesn't solve the problem, but it can only help!

Our goat's and sheep's feet are well trimmed and cared for. We need to seriously work on the physical landscape in order to improve the situation, though! We clean and trim the hooves, and then they are all wide open to the mud and crap getting in there. It is just a losing battle. Our barn isn't big enough for them to "live" in. They sleep in there and have shelter when it rains, but an entire BC winter in that little barn is just not going to happen.

We just bought a new tractor this year, so my husband is actually looking forward to doing some work and building some mounds/landscaping things a bit.

Thanks again,
Jodi

[elgordo]

Greetings Hawkfamily from another Pacific Northwestener! Yes we sure can get the mud don't we? Are you on level ground? The carpet idea is interesting, but I would hope it would stay down for good once it was placed, I would opt for gravel myself, since carpet scraps around here are rather pricey. Our sheep & goats often have access to the gravel road between house & barn, which also keeps down the need for trimming. They also have a small goat shed to get into, which they do when the rain really starts coming down! Best wishes and let us know how you solve your problem.

[Hawkfamily]

Hey Elgordo from Oregon. )
I wasn't buying carpet scraps, but was going to raid the dumpster of the carpet installer (old carpet removed from homes), so they are quite happy for me to take it - one less load to the dump for them. The gravel, on the other hand, for us, is super expensive. We will get a dumptruck load later in the spring when we start to try to rectify the situation. I will pull up the pallets and carpeting when the rain stops and sun shines!! (can't freakin' wait!!)

We are going tomorrow in search of free pallets and free carpet, and are going to build walkways from the barn to the higher areas, going over/through the mud. (it's going to look kind of "junky" out there, i fear, but better for them than the mosh pit!).

I think that we do have foot rot. The one Saanen doe that I spoke of earlier is not great. According to dh today, her foot is pretty much rotted away. It is beyond a foot scald.
He cut it right down and applied iodine to it today and has her in the barn. We are starting another round of antibiotics, but she hasn't responded well to them over the past 9 months. I am reading all I can about this.
We are thinking that we should just get rid of the 15 goat/sheep we have now and work on cleaning up the area and eliminating the bacteria, and then start again. What do you think? 8 of our 10 goats are young male meat goats that are heading to slaughter in the next 2-3 months anyway.

[elgordo]

I don't have much experience with the footrot, in all the time I've run sheep I only had a case with a suffolk I bought as a lawn mower (one of my first) she would get it whe she was stressed. I sprayed a strong chlorine solution on it and it cleared. Now I have Katahdin & a couple La Mancha mixes and they haven't gotten any, I understand hair sheep are resistant anyway. Sorry about the touble you're having with rot. Are all your animals taken bad with it? Otherwise I might cull the worst of them, since it's a trait that could be passed down. I didn't know that it could be gotten rid of in the pastures; I thought once in it's there for good. I bet you'll do better when you can vary their terrain that they stand on.
(Feel free to pm me Hawkfamily)