Lamb hoof problem

SheepSouth · Mar 22, 2015

I have a katahdin ewe lamb that has a hoof that turns inward. The hoof is rolling onto the side. The one side of the hoof is longer while the other is rounded and causes it to turn. Is there anyone familiar with this issue. I do not want to trim as nothing has really grown yet to trim to correct the imbalance. I will attach a picture soon.

purplequeenvt · Mar 22, 2015

How old is the lamb? A picture would be very helpful.

SheepSouth · Mar 24, 2015

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay. She is 3 weeks old. I have attached a few pics.

purplequeenvt · Mar 25, 2015

Can you post some full body shots of her so I can get an idea of her overall structure? She could just have a really bad foot, but I suspect that she has/had some kind of deficiency or was really sick at some point.

It will take a long time to fix her feet. She's going to need regular (every other week at least) trims. I'd start by trimming the inside toe more than the outside toe. This will tip her foot to the inside and hopefully, as you continue your trimmings, allow that outside toe to straighten out. You will need to trim the outside toe too.

This is how we fixed my sister's goat's foot. She was in a similar situation.

SheepSouth · Mar 25, 2015

I will post some full body pics tomorrow. She was a triplet and the mother rejected her and brother on day 2. We found her in the field after a cold night. She probably had a cold and stress from that event. The trimming was what I had planned. I also wrapped it to help it keep straight. It seems to have helped even with just wrapping and trimming this week. I haven’t run into this before so another learning experience (Yeah). We are a small homestead operation so we only run 6 -10 sheep at a time on our property.

trampledbygeese · Mar 25, 2015

Poor little thing. Good thing she has you to love her.

A few things off the top of my head that may help diagnose why this happened:
Did she get enough colostrum (question for the others as much as for OP, is one day worth enough)?
What are you feeding her?
What minerals are you providing your flock with?
Is it front leg or back?
What are the mineral deficiencies common in your area?

Hoping she gets better soon.

Sheepshape · Mar 28, 2015

I think that she has a Beau's line (an area of arrested growth due to her going without nourishment when mum rejected). The hoof will probably come right by itself if you can exercise her on a hard surface,but judicious trimming should be OK as long as you don't draw blood or make her foot sore otherwise as then she won't walk on it.

SheepSouth · Mar 28, 2015

Thanks for the replies. I will continue to trim that hoof and monitor her progress.

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