I have a breed ram that is having a hoof problem. We have not darted him to see what the issue is but I figured I would see if anyone knew of some remedies or medications that can help.

Thanks, Lance.

Is it hoof/fot rot?

What kind of problem? Limping. draining, swollen?

Are his hooves very long & curling up at the tips? If so, that could be founder.

Iodine... hope you have a trank gun

Unless they are overgrown and you should be able to see that through some binos... Id say if you have a lot of muddy water holes they are in frequently it will be footrot and iodine will work best for that. and finding a way to keep them out the mud

He is limping, actually he is not putting any weight on the foot at all. We shot one last weekend and he was limping. His foot looked a little rough. The one in question is pretty spooky. I sat in the blind this weekend and he didn't come in for me to observe him. I put up some cameras so we will see if I can get a photo of him feeding. All the others look healthy and do not limp. He actually looks healthy too, but am concerned about systemic infection and losing him to coyotes. We may just dart him and put him in one of the whitetail pens to get better access to him. It sounds like we need to clip/trim his hoofs down. You cannot see an over sized hoof but he is too spooky to get on to be able to tell. Any ideas on medicine?

What did the one that was limping last week you shot hoof look like? Was his hoof/lower leg area swollen? Hoof rot can show up in dry times or wet times. I would not knock him down till you have a plan in place. I would have a vet telephone number you can call to ask him what to treat with after he tells you what you are dealing with. I hope your WT pens are secure and stout enough handle an irate and stressed aoudad.

Hoof rot in sheep is a bad deal. That will spread up the leg in the bone and can be very difficult to take care of. With domestic sheep we put them in a copper sulfate or a zinc sulfate foot bath. I can't imagine how you would do that with an aoudad because it needs to stand in it for about 30 minutes or more. That is the only thing that I have found that will help with foot rot. When foot rot gets bad you will see blood above the hoof and in the tissue beteen the toes. You will have to look at the hoof and look between the toes. It has a pretty rotten smell as well. You can try iodine on the hoof but in my experience if its that bad, it will come back again and it can be very difficult to get rid of. Iodine may be easier to treat it for a quick fix but you will more than likely have it come back again. You may want to give it a shot of LA-200 or penicillin for the infection and that will help. It's not something they recover from easily. The hoof rot comes from a bacteria that they can have in their stool. Best way to prevent it is to move those animals out of that pen, move that litter out of that pen and clorox the ground. Bring in some fresh rock like crush limestone and put it in areas where they feed and drink. Add enough that the ground will drain and stool will wash down and away from those areas. We had to do that with our feed stations out on our place.

Years ago we had this problem with our sheep on our place where we have a sandy loam type of soil. This can be contagious to antelope species. Deer don't seem to get this problem too much in larger pastures. Our oryx and blackbuck did get it and when we got rid of the sheep(Texas Dall, Corsican, and Black Hawaiian) we got rid of the problem. That and along moving our feeding stations around to different areas helped a lot too. You may have to create some better habits of managing the ranch to prevent it from spreading.

If its a long hoof that can be caused by what its eating(may be too much or corn or it may be the type of protein its eating or too much hay) and not having the right or enough terrain that is rough enough to keep the hooves trim. The long hooves can in turn catch the bateria that causes the hoof rot. It will start underneath the hoof of the animal and in between the toes. This time of year when we have green pastures like we do now we have to keep a close eye out for a tender foot on an animal like our cattle, sheep, and antelope species and handle it right away. With the antelope and the sheep it may be easier to call in a hunter and get the animal taken out ASAP.

If you do dart it, trim the hoof even with the pad. Give it a shot of antibiotics, and put it in a quarantine pasture away from the others if possible. Sorry this happened to what sounds like your breeder sheep, but I bet it may not be easy to get rid of and there more than likely will not be one quick fix to it other than removing it off the place. If its far into it and into the bone your not going to be able to stop it even with the foot bath.

Wouldn't it be easier and more cost efficient to just sell the animal in a hunt than go through all that?

On edit.

Sorry...read that the wrong way the first time. Yes a hunt would probably be a lot easier and quicker fix. It just depends on the condition of the animal. You have to make it clear to the hunter what is going on. You first need to take a look at it and see how bad it really is. Knocking it down could also have a chance of killing it. So sometimes if you can tell that its pretty bad off, judging from experience and hands on in such a case, then you weigh the risks of treating it and it living, or spreading it to other animals, or the cost you may save by just hunting it. Usually hunting it wins out if you can get it done quickly. Then the animal is gone and you dont have to worry about it spreading to other animals. With an aoudad, that may be a really good idea. With other domesticated sheep such as corsicans, treatment is a lto easier to handle than a 250 lb or bigger aoudad.

Im guessing this is a breeding facility now? I was thinking he was already on a hunting ranch? Do they not do hunts as well?

Went back and corrected what I said as you were typing that up. Sorry about that. I just didnt read "hunt" the first time and for some reason though you suggested to sell it live at an auction. Completely different circumstance. My apologies.

B

Limping and not loosing weight. Where is the Aoudad. East Tx.? If not maybe he only has something caught between his hoof. Rock or something like that. As dry as it is in the Hill country there is not a very good chance of hoof rot. Even in a wet year here I have never had hoof rot.

Lance, your not that far from us. Aoudads cannot handle the infection from hoof rot like other animals can. We lost everyone of ours when we had them. Once they started limping they died within a week.