repeated foot rot

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jcarkie

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i have neighbor that has a few cows and has had quite a time withfoot rot. i have hauled 4 to the vet this year and all had some foot rot. he has running creek for water and no ponds or other places i can see that they are standing in. it has happened in the spring summer and this week. can you give them something in thier feed to fight off the cause of this? can it be caused by eating something? he feeds hay and salt mix that is all. any ideas??????
i have had 1 maybe 2 cases in years.usually in the wet part of the year.
 
It doesn;t really take a pond or even a very muddy environemtn to bring on footrot. Any injury that break the integrity of the foot can cause it. Theoretically iodine will help prevent it. A good balanced lose mineral with CTC may also help. If it is the same animals over and over it's mostlikely an infection that has gotten to the point that there is, for alack of a better term, a reservoir of infection. Hit it with the maximum dose of antibiotic and even if it appears to be cleared up, hit it again a couple of days later and again a couple of days after that. Footrot sometimes needs to be treated very aggresively. The hard part is knowing when it needs the aggresive treatment and when just a single shot will cure it.
 
i see it more in dry times than wet.

the mineral should help.

it seems like its one of those things that once you get it, it will pop up from time to time no matter what tho. (get on your farm i mean, not once a cow gets it..)
 
Usually it strikes when the soil dries and the rough terrain splits the hoofs and once there is an opening it dosen't take long for foot rot to set in. I'm told that iodine in the salt block works great, did it in the feedlot a couple of times and it seemed to help with the calves.
 
jcarkie":3etkjtbo said:
i have neighbor that has a few cows and has had quite a time withfoot rot. i have hauled 4 to the vet this year and all had some foot rot. he has running creek for water and no ponds or other places i can see that they are standing in. it has happened in the spring summer and this week. can you give them something in thier feed to fight off the cause of this? can it be caused by eating something? he feeds hay and salt mix that is all. any ideas??????
i have had 1 maybe 2 cases in years.usually in the wet part of the year.
Click to expand...
Zinpro and it costs around $.01 per day.
 
jcarkie":cn3hem67 said:
zinpro 40 or zinpro 100 put it in the feed? what about feeding organic iodine?
Click to expand...

Iodine works but it is not a one time shot. Foot rot is a major problem here if you do not increase iodine supplement. Also spray down there feeding area with a 10% clorox solution.
The real question is are they knocking the foot rot out the first time around or just knocking it down and it is reoccuring on the same cows. A lot of time people will give a dose of antibotics and the symtoms go away the problem is not cured and will reoccur.
 
I chute the animal and scrub the foot super clean with betadyne, smear on a topical antibiotic and bandage the hoof with towel or sheet strips and wrap the bandage with duct tape to form a water tight protection then give Nuflor in a single dose and keep the animal in a clean pen.
When the duct tape wears off the hoof is healed and has not been reinfected.
And thats the way we do it up here.
DMc
 
Something's wrong. Me and Somn are agreeing on lots of things now. lolol. Zinpro is one of the best products available for improving hoof health with years of research behind it. It's more of a preventive than a treatment and results are months out once you begin using it. Albion also makes a product that is just as good. Down this way about the only place you can get either is at the feed mill and have it mixed into the feeds. Has been included in ration at 100 times recommended level with no adverse effects. Check your feed tag and look for Zinc Amino Acid Complex or Zinc Amino Acid Chelate. If it says zinc proteinate it's a poor copycat and not "Zinpro". While you're reading the tag look for copper, manganese and cobalt in complex form. That's even better.

Somn, will feed mills up in that area sell Zinpro products direct to you? If so that would be even better.
 
TexasBred":1512lmqh said:
Something's wrong. Me and Somn are agreeing on lots of things now. lolol. Zinpro is one of the best products available for improving hoof health with years of research behind it. It's more of a preventive than a treatment and results are months out once you begin using it. Albion also makes a product that is just as good. Down this way about the only place you can get either is at the feed mill and have it mixed into the feeds. Has been included in ration at 100 times recommended level with no adverse effects. Check your feed tag and look for Zinc Amino Acid Complex or Zinc Amino Acid Chelate. If it says zinc proteinate it's a poor copycat and not "Zinpro". While you're reading the tag look for copper, manganese and cobalt in complex form. That's even better.

Somn, will feed mills up in that area sell Zinpro products direct to you? If so that would be even better.
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Yes every feedmill around will sell it to me out the door. A goofy kind of guy down the road with a couple head he gets his online from valleyvet I think it is. Anyway he pays almost twice what I do but heck he is more internet savy than me he is bound to make better decisions.
 
jcarkie":3kvmoup8 said:
can you give them something in thier feed to fight off the cause of this? can it be caused by eating something? he feeds hay and salt mix that is all. any ideas??????
Click to expand...

Stress, disposition, and/or damage can all be causes. High headed stock can get it from handling induced stress and are slower to respond to treatment. Stress from changing feed can trigger it. Damaged hoofs can trigger it.

Lots of good advise posted on minerals and CTC. He may also need treat longer in his own hospital pen or upgrade to better dispositions. Trailering them around is just going to increase the stress level and reduce the chance of a quick recovery...
 
I agree with the other posters that its most likely either an iodine or zinc or a combination of both deficiency. What has worked wonders for me in the past is Multimin when it becomes a repeated problem. In the long run it needs to be addressed in the mineral program.

What is also an option just to get past this stage is if you handfeed cattle or if you can limited access to water so they have to go through a narrow area is to set up a footbath with a ZnSO4. This will address a Zinc deficiency with the added advantage of hardening the hooves and penetrating existing cracks.

I only ever had real footrot problems during dry cold spells in winter. It seems from my experience that wet conditions has very little to do with it as long as nutritional needs are met.
 

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