# Hoof rot



## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

My farm (and my entire town) flooded about two weeks ago. There really isn't anywhere totally dry (we rebedded the entire barn last night, but it's still pretty wet in there, had 3' of water in it). We JUST had some dry straw delivered yesterday, so the poor goats have been confined at night to the only semi dry place I have, the sand-based horse arena - certainly not the best footing for goats. The ground is wet, the pastures are wet, the goats have to cross a creek to get to browse. The paddocks are wet, everything is wet. Now I have two limpers and the smelling beginnings of foot rot, confined to just the two goats and one foot each. I have naylors, I have koppertox, but I have never actually treated hoof rot in a goat (just the sheep) and I want this killed now and gone. What's the best course of treatment? It's confined up between the toes, no sign of it in the bottom of the foot in either goat. They are separated and in individual pens, finally on dry bedding, where they're still quarantined because I'm trying hard to keep their infected feet dry. Help. I don't have time for this, I have town to help rebuild. Should I use an antibiotic? How about the rest of the girls? Getting RX meds might be a problem too, can fax an RX to jeffers if I can find the vet, his office had 4' of water in it and was completely ruined, their mobile clinic (motorhome) was destroyed too. I don't need rampant foot rot on top of everything else.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Doc, I feel your pain. Well, at least last year I did....Coppertox worked miracles for me. I'd put the goat on the milk stand or somewhere secure. Using a toothbrush I'd scrub the area between the toes with a warm water mixed with a small about of bleach. Once scrubbed the effected area will be obvious visiable. When reasonably dried (moist) I would apply liberial amounts of Coppertox. Let goat loose after five minutes of waiting (drying time). Did this twice a day for two days and the rot disappeared completely. I did buy copper sulfate power just to used after my Coppertox bottle is empty. I will try the sulfate power next time due to the price tag of Coppertox. Bleach water mixture and Coppertox sure worked for me...Good luck


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Can you just walk them through some water with dissolved copper sulfate? It's pretty toxic to bacteria.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Durasole is a newer med that some people LOVE for horses. Haven't used it myself for anything, though.

If you're dealing with anaerobic bacteria, the best thing to do is get air to it and that will help kill it. Keep them dry too, of course. The cheapest thing we do for horses (and I can't imagine that you couldn't use it for goats too) is to mix bleach into water and spray it on a few times a day, flushing and cleaning the infected area. I am not sure if diluted vinegar would do the same but I bet it would. Avoid getting the mixture on the skin and you should be fine.

Good luck.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Whenever I get around to using sulfate I will mix it with water and create a runny paste and apply with a paint brush or whatever. My goats really don't like walking through water so that could be a problem. Also I envision a tray of any liquid flipped repeatedly throughout the day....Guess you could screw a tray down to a wooden frame. If anything can be broken my goats will find a way.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Right now I really don't have anywhere to set up a foot bath - they're really only effective if you can get the animal to stand in it for a few seconds, and we all know how likely it is to get a goat to stand in liquid. I have a race I use for the sheep, but that's where I'm keeping the poor sheep. I have a brand new bottle of coppertox, I'll just put the two girls on the milk stand and let them stand there for awhile until it soaks in/foot is dry. Honestly, everywhere is saturated, and it's raining (but not 12" in 24 hours). I will wash the milkstand down with bleach water - I haven't done that yet. Would it be preventative to just dose every goat's foot with coppertox for a day or two? It's what I have, there's little chance of getting anything else - at least for the next week or so. Thanks everyone. I'm frazzled.


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Hoof Phast , you can get it through midwest sheep supply


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

All good info but if the pasture and barn are still wet and infected the problem will not go away. When it drys out you can remove them from the infected pasture for 3 weeks and treat the hooves. But they must be on clean dry uninfected ground for those 3 weeks.


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## JR05 (Jan 1, 2005)

We went through the same thing last year. Tried kopertox, hoof n heel, bleach water, just about every thing the local stores sold. Found in Hoegger's book a recipe for foot scald/rot: "1 pint rubbing alcohol, 2 tble 343 Terramycin powder. Mix 2 tble of terramycin powder with 1 pt of alcohol. Pour into a spray bottle and apply liberally to affected areas between toes. This topical treatment may be enhanced by giving a 4cc injection of Biomycin.The alcohol and terramycin solution will chang color after a few days ,but it's still okay to use." This was the only thing that worked for us. The "boys" stay with the cows in one side of the barn and this causes problems every winter due to wet and cow poo. In Missouri we get more wet then snow normally so have these ingredents on hand already to tackle any signs before they get as bad as they did last year. Good Luck.

jr05


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

JR05 said:


> We went through the same thing last year. Tried kopertox, hoof n heel, bleach water, just about every thing the local stores sold. Found in Hoegger's book a recipe for foot scald/rot: "1 pint rubbing alcohol, 2 tble 343 Terramycin powder. Mix 2 tble of terramycin powder with 1 pt of alcohol. Pour into a spray bottle and apply liberally to affected areas between toes. This topical treatment may be enhanced by giving a 4cc injection of Biomycin.The alcohol and terramycin solution will chang color after a few days ,but it's still okay to use." This was the only thing that worked for us. The "boys" stay with the cows in one side of the barn and this causes problems every winter due to wet and cow poo. In Missouri we get more wet then snow normally so have these ingredents on hand already to tackle any signs before they get as bad as they did last year. Good Luck.
> 
> jr05


I have all that stuff. When you say injection, is that regular sq? I've heard of people injecting antibiotic right into the site of the infection. And I wish I had somewhere dry to put them, but I don't think there's a dry place in my entire county. The horse arena is pretty dry, since its covered, but it has a sand floor.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

DocM said:


> Right now I really don't have anywhere to set up a foot bath - they're really only effective if you can get the animal to stand in it for a few seconds, and we all know how likely it is to get a goat to stand in liquid.


 If you ever do want to footbath a goat, put it on the milkstand, and put the bath solution into a small bucket or Tupperware container. Pick up foot, place bucket where foot was, lower and hold foot for a few seconds, raise foot, remove bucket. Repeat for other feet. Time consuming, but not very hard. Good luck on your rebuilding. The rain and floods have been so hard on people this year.


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

Premier catalog had a zinc sulfate solution that is concentrated...its the same ingredient as in HoofnHeel. I use it at a slightly higher concentration as we are always wet in the winter here, and I like the results. One way I foot bath is to soak the solution on a sponge cut to fit the bottom of the bucket-stick foot on spongy material...doesn't freak them out as much and the spill isn't so bad if they do kick over the container.


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## JR05 (Jan 1, 2005)

Yes injection regular sq. I also have the premier stuff didn't work and was very expensive.
jr05


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

In haven't had to deal with foot rot, but just want to say it seems you are one of the lucky ones. My friend knows folks in Washington and Oregon and said many farmers lost cows or goats in the flooding. I guess whole dairies got wiped out. I'm glad your goats survived.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

People on both sides of me lost livestock. The first thing I did when the river started rising was move my vehicles to high ground. Then I made sure my kids could get to them. Then we moved the livestock as we could, problem is, animals know when the water is rising and have their own idea of where they want to go - not always the direction you're hoping to herd them. My pasture is low, my house is on the highest point, but that meant moving the animals towards the river, something they absolutely didn't want to do. If not for the dogs, we would have lost our sheep - for once they worked together and moved the flock as I asked them to, not as they usually do, with a "whatever" attitude. The goats happily came when called. The sheep looked at us as if we were holding butchering tools. Stupid animals.


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

My goats and sheep are vaccinated with FOOTVAX against the bacteria that cause footrot. Sure does help.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Is FOOTVAX something I can order online, or is it RX only?


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## vicb66 (Oct 20, 2007)

Try pallets on the floor.If they can get up and dry their feet out for any amount of time you will be better off.Also the spray bottle of bleach is a God send.Put your goats on the milk stand and just pick the smelly stuff out of the goats hoofs.Trim them nice and short and spray away.This is the samething as thrush in horses. Just pick them out and spray them down with the bleach.


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## smpooh1 (Jun 28, 2006)

I know this may sound silly but a good way to soak feet in livestock is to cut an intertube (sized for the foot - goat, cow, horse) and tie off one end. Use bailing twine, duct tape, or what ever you have that will work. Cut the length of tube you will need, add solution, insert foot and part of leg and hold at the top with your hands around the leg. Much easier than keeping a bucket upright for most animals. 

Take care and hope all goes well.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Doc,
I have no advice, just wanted to say I am glad that your animals all made it. I was wondering if anyone up that way was having troubles.
Nice to know your dogs worked for you when you needed them to. Don't know if my dogs would. Wish I could come help ya'll rebuild, but that wouldn't be possible right now. 
My heart and prayers are with all of you up there. Hang in there.
Mama J


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Goats do not get the bacteria form of hoof rot that cattle vaccines would work on, like vaccinating your goats with cattle vaccines for pinkeye, different bacteria. Most hoof rot in goats is thrush, scald or fungus, or simply infected soft tissue or abscess. Using systemic injections of any 200 mg tetracylcline may help in severe cases until the immune system can handle it, or the enviornment changes, but for long term problems oral crumbles would work much better. QCSupply.com has really cool mats that goats and even you can walk on between pens to disenfect, treat for disease, or for biosecurity. They are not expensive, they hold the material in them, and release it when walked or stood on.

Coopertox works because it's copper sulfate, hardens the feet just like copper applied orally does.

Keep the feet pared down, apply anything drying as often as you can, and make sleeping benches so the does can lay on something with their feet out of the bedding so they dry.

Sorry to hear about all the bad weather everyone is having. Vicki


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## johnsmb (Apr 15, 2007)

We just moved to SW WA - and it never dries out here! I am worried that they will get hoof rot. Is there anything that can be used occasionally as a preventative? I am working on getting a pallet fixed up so they will have a sort of "deck" to stand on out of the wet grass and mud.


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## white eagle (Feb 8, 2007)

vicb66 said:


> Try pallets on the floor.If they can get up and dry their feet out for any amount of time you will be better off.Also the spray bottle of bleach is a God send.Put your goats on the milk stand and just pick the smelly stuff out of the goats hoofs.Trim them nice and short and spray away.This is the samething as thrush in horses. Just pick them out and spray them down with the bleach.


I agree with vicb66 about the pallets. Here we had to put some pallets out in our barn since we have been finally getting the much needed rain an our goats floor is muddy so had to put pallets down for them to stand on an lay on. Just make sure they can't get their feet in between the pallets boards unless your pallets are very close together if so then they will be in good shape. 

Good Luck with your goats. The weather here now has turned off very cold an snow.. Wind blowing as high as 75mph at times..


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Copper sulfate powder mixed with enough water to make a thick liquid. Put in a small container big enough to fit the hoof into. Lift each hoof up and place it in the liquid, holding it there for several seconds. Do this twice a day until their is absolutely no more signs of nastyness between the toes. It works wonders and is very affordable.
Two years ago this went through some of our herd when our valley flooded. You are very blessed to only have two with it, we were treating 30.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm happy to say that the worst of the two is putting weight on the worst foot, after a bathing of said foot and good application of coppertox. They already have pallets with stall mats, the only dry place, but they won't stay there 24/7. Thanks everyone, looks like they're going to be okay.


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## vicb66 (Oct 20, 2007)

They don't need to be on the pallets 24/7.Just long enough to dry out their feet.Cleaning out the rot and killing the infection is what you are after.In the winter here it's nothing but mud and ice so we are always picking hoofs and disinfecting.Part of the morning and evening chores.
Vicki


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Silly newbie question: why would a sand arena (if dry) not be good footing for goats?


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Sand isn't good footing for ANY animal. It's brittle and dry and an avenue for injuries waiting to happen. Granted, it's easier to fall in when working a new horse though...


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Hmm, I wonder if that varies from locale to locale. Horse folks all LOVE sand, provided it is firm enough to provide good footing without pulling muscles (as deep, loose sand would) and is over a well-drained base. In fact, it is often prescribed that horses be put on sand for certain foot ailments. As an anecdote, I frequently rode on sand and my horses' hooves seemed to benefit from the relatively abrasive surface, creating adequate but not over-abundant wear on the hoof capsule. But that is not a goat.


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

JR05 said:


> Yes injection regular sq. I also have the premier stuff didn't work and was very expensive.
> jr05


Weird, as I thought it was reasonably priced...however, I did use it at a higher concentration of 3:1 and had good results.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

I have some goat hoof rot questions. My goats have it! It is appearing as small black or white spots, especially in between the hoof wall and the fleshy bottom of the hoof. We live in Oregon and were hit by the flood this year. We were so swamped (no pun intended) that we couldn't get them dry bedding right away. I am trying to stay on top of their hooves.

So, questions. I have a copper powder for spraying on plants and killing fungus. Would this work on their hooves? Also, I have Lysol spray that I have been spraying on their hooves in hopes that this will help. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Also, does the bacteria get in the bedding and ground and keep spreading around? Is it hard to get rid of once it is on your land?

Thanks!


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

yes it gets in the bedding and in the soil. not too hard to get rid of. You need to remove all animals from the infected pasture for 2-3 weeks. At the same time remove all bedding daily. at the same time continue to treat the affected animals.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

That sounds like a very time consuming cure. Moving them off pasture would mean moving them away from where I milk. Is that the only way I'm going to get rid of this?


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

only if you milk outside on the soil.
I went through this a few years back. Fist I removed all bedding. I then closed off half of the pasture. Kept them only in half of the pasture for 3 weeks while treating and removing bedding daily. After that I laid down some boards to make a runway(off the soil),into the other now clean half. Did this for 3 more weeks. If doing this in winter 2 weeks is all you need. The organism lives in warm damp areas, like between the toes on manure. So when it is warm out it might take 3 weeks.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm new to goats but have seen a lot of hoof rot in horses. Are you sure this is just hoof rot and not something else? Your description threw me for a loop... Since you were flooded, is there any way your pasture could have been contaminated with something like sewage or chemicals?

If it's hoof rot, depending on what type of bedding you use, you may not have to remove it, but instead strip the stall and put in fresh, clean bedding and keep it SPOTLESS. Any pooling of urine or gathering of feces makes your goats susceptible to continued foot rot as they walk over it and it packs in/on their hooves, feeding the bacteria there. The answer is to keep them dry and clean. Getting air to the affected areas and spraying them with diluted bleach water (let it sit for few minutes then wipe them dry again) is a cheap treatment to kill the anaerobic and aerobic bacteria responsible for hoof rot.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

I am running low on straw, the only bedding I have. I need to buy more!! 

About how much straw/other bedding do y'all use through a winter?


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Where are you, filly? I have sources of bedding. Since you say "flood", you may be pretty close to me.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

I live in Dallas, OR.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Sorry for your troubles. I would think weak bleach spray and pallets or wooden spools.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Filly, Venell Feed in Corvallis has huge straw bales, very nice quality. Check out their feed prices too - best in the valley.

http://www.venellfeed.com/

click on products, and product list.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

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.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

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.


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## LMonty (Jul 31, 2006)

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.


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## fillycate (Nov 11, 2007)

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. :/


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