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A study of feet lesions and locomotion scores in four crossbred ewe types

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

M.H.M. Speijers ,
L.E.R. Dawson ,
D. Irwin  and
A.F. Carson
M.H.M. Speijers*
Affiliation:
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, County Down, United Kingdom
L.E.R. Dawson
Affiliation:
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, County Down, United Kingdom
D. Irwin
Affiliation:
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, County Down, United Kingdom
A.F. Carson
Affiliation:
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, County Down, United Kingdom
*
Email:Mari.Speijers@afbini.gov.uk
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Extract

Lameness is a major economic and welfare issue for the sheep industry in the UK and Ireland. It has been estimated that footrot costs the UK sheep industry £24 million per year (Nieuwhof and Bishop, 2005). Although a feet lesion scoring system in sheep has been devised to monitor lameness, it is a time-consuming process. Locomotion scoring is well established in dairy cattle to record the incidence of lameness, but needs validation within sheep. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the association between locomotion score and the level and pattern of feet lesion scores in sheep. There is some evidence that there are differences in susceptibility to lameness between breeds. Therefore, a secondary aim of the study was to investigate feet lesions and locomotion in four crossbred genotype ewes.

Type
Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2008 , 2008 , pp. 100
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2008

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References

Carson, A. F., Irwin, D. and Kilpatrick, D. J. (2001) A comparison of Scottish Blackface and Cheviot ewes and five sire breeds in terms of lamb output at weaning in hill sheep systems. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 137: 221–233.Google Scholar
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Nieuwhof, G. J. and Bishop, S. C. (2005) Costs of the major endemic diseases of sheep in Great Britain and the potential benefits of reduction in disease impact. Animal Science 81: 23–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar