Limping goats

[Paso]

Im freaking out..... First one goat now I have four goats lame in the front. Could it be from the muddy weather. I brought some in during kidding and even a couple of them are limpping. What can it be and how can I treat it. All my babies are doing so well but there always has to be something it seems... Thanks for the help AGAIN....

[Eunice]

It could be muddy weather. It could also be that they need their feet clipped, although if that is the case, it's a rather strange coincidence that it would be all front feet. Are there lots of rocks in their pens? Something sticking in their feet all the time could also make them sore.

[rhjacobi]

It sounds like foot rot/scald. If you trim and scrape the hooves of the lame ones, you will probably get a foul odor. If you do, it is probably foot rot. Someone on another site found a good web site that can tell you more about it and better than I can.

Do a search for bedford.extension.psu.edu

When you get the list of possibilities, look for the one about foot rot.

I hope that this helps a little.

Bob
Lynchburg, TN.

Originally Posted by Paso

Im freaking out..... First one goat now I have four goats lame in the front. Could it be from the muddy weather. I brought some in during kidding and even a couple of them are limpping. What can it be and how can I treat it. All my babies are doing so well but there always has to be something it seems... Thanks for the help AGAIN....

[Jen H]

Yep, it does sound like foot rot.

First, get yourself a bowl of water with bleach in it to disinfect your hoof shears. You'll need to disinfect the shears after you finish each individual hoof, and between animals.

You'll need to give those hooves a good hard trim to get down to healthy hoof material. Make sure you collect all of the hoof trimings and burn them - foot rot is really contagious.

After you've trimmed the hooves down, paint them with koppertox and make sure the goats have someplace dry to hang out in while the koppertox works.

You'll have to repeat this weekly until the infection clears up.

When the yard is wet and muddy it softens up the goat's hooves and makes it easier for the foot rot to set in. You might try setting cinder blocks or pallets out for the goats to walk on to keep them out of the mud.

ps - olive oil works really well to get the koppertox off of your hands. It won't take the tar smell away, but at least your hands won't have green spots.

[Paso]

Thank You for the help