Antibiotics could slash cases of sheep lamenessw

Laura Green, who led a four-year research project from Warwick University, said this week that she estimated farmers could get back £10 in improved productivity – better weight gain and more lambs per ewe – for each pound or so spent on antibiotics.

“And they could start tomorrow,” she said. The antibiotics in question, oxy-tetracyclines, are easily available through vets, she said.

Professor Green was speaking to the Yorkshire Post after presenting her findings to other scientists and representatives of the animal health industry at a meeting called by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, which put up £1.4m to fund the work by Bristol and Warwick universities.

Around 2,000 UK farmers took part in the research – including some who were already exploring the use of antibiotics. A parallel research project in the hills of India came up with similar results.

The scientists made a breakthrough by establishing that footrot and interdigital dermatitis were caused by the same bacterium, Dichelobacter nodosus, so the dermatitis, commonly known as scald, is an indicator of the presence of the problem. Farmers often saw scald in lambs, said Prof. Green, without realising it probably meant the ewes were carrying it and passing it on through damp grass.

Farmers have traditionally tackled footrot by trimming away infected tissue – or, as in Australia, by ruthless culling of susceptible animals. But antibiotics, applied directly in a spray and/or injected, are less drastic and more effective according to the researchers.

Prof. Green said a full spray-and-injection treatment would cost around £1.20 but in many cases, the spray alone would do. As long as the treatment was used only as needed, she said, there should be no problem of creating antibiotic resistance. And there were no dangers to consumers.

She said: “Footrot is extremely painful for diseased sheep, and costly to the farming industry. Our research can have an immediate impact on the disease, with rapid cure in three to five days.”

Fighting footrot

LAMENESS could be reduced to a prevalence of below two per cent, instead of the current 10 per cent, the report will say. It is not fully written yet but will eventually be posted on the project website, www.footrotinsheep.org, where previous findings and advice can be found. Ian Davies, president of the Sheep Veterinary Society, said they had been made aware of the research and were drafting new recommendations on best practice for footrot and scald control.