• Agribusiness & Markets
  • Agribusiness
  • Agricultural Economics
• Animal Health
  • Chemicals
  • Diseases
  • Parasites
• Animal Welfare
  • Department's role in Animal Welfare
  • Reporting Animal Cruelty
  • Useful Links
  • Your Responsibilities
• Crops
  • Barley production in Western Australia
  • Bridging the Yield Gap in higher rainfall environments
  • Canola and Oilseeds
  • Engineering
  • GM Crops
  • Lupins and Pulses
  • Nutrition
  • Oats
  • Speciality Crops
  • Storage
  • Wheat
• Environment & Climate
  • Climate Change
  • Climate weather and crops
  • Land Use Sustainability
  • Rangeland Management
  • Regional Resources and Support
  • Resource Planning and Management
  • Salinity
  • Salinity Case studies
  • Soil Land & Water Regulations
  • Soil and Landscapes
  • Sustainability
  • Vegetation
  • Water
• Farm Systems
  • Drought Reform Pilot 2011-12
  • Organic Farming
  • Seasonal Update
  • Sensitive Sites
  • Small Landholder Information Service (SLIS)
• Food
• Gardens & Households
• Horticulture
  • Engineering
  • Floriculture + Nursery
  • Fruit and Nuts
  • Vegetables
  • Viticulture
• Invasive Species
  • Invertebrate Pests
  • Vertebrate Animal Pests
• Livestock
  • Agribusiness Livestock and Sheep Updates
  • Beef Cattle
  • Dairy Cattle
  • Engineering
  • Fertiliser Action Plan
  • Goats
  • Honey Bees
  • Livestock identification and brands
  • Other Livestock
  • Pork Group
  • Poultry
  • Sheep and Lambs
• Pastures
  • Annual pastures management
  • Annual pastures species
  • Australian Trifolium Genetic Resource Centre
  • Forage crops / Fodder conservation
  • Perennial pastures
  • Saltland pastures
• Plant Health
  • Chemicals
  • Parasites and Nematodes
  • Post-border biosecurity
• Quarantine WA
  • Export requirements
  • Freight and cargo
  • Import requirements
  • Intrastate requirements
• Weeds
  • Declared plants in Western Australia
  • Herbicides
  • Integrated Weed Management
  • Major Weeds
  • Research Projects
  • Weed Publications and Links
  • Weed Watcher

Footrot

Animal Health Disease Surveillance and Control

Footrot is a contagious disease of sheep and goats. The disease is caused by a mix of different bacteria which always includes Dichelobacter nodosus. Infection with D. nodosus can cause varying degrees of damage to the horn of the foot leading to lameness and significant loss of body weight and wool production.

Management

The prevalence of infected flocks in WA is between 0.5% and 1%. Controlling the spread of infection will save the sheep and wool industry many millions of dollars as virulent footrot in its advanced stages is a painful, crippling condition which reduces production and is a potential welfare issue.

Western Australia's farmer organisations agreed in 2007 that sheep farmers would provide the majority of the funding for a control program to prevent the spread of virulent footrot and assist farmers with infected flocks either to eradicate or control the disease on their farms.

The Footrot Control Program is a sheep industry program overseen by the Footrot Management Committee that develops policy and provides direction to the Department of Agriculture and Food in its operational management of the program.

For more information on footrot, you can link below from the following list of publications:

1. Eradication and Control of Virulent Footrot in Western Australia: a farmer's guide
   November 2008; Provides the information you will need about footrot and to complement your contact with your stock inspector. It is vital that you work through the details of your eradication program with your stock inspector/case manager.

2. Five-day foot bathing treatment of ovine footrot
   Farmnote 66/2005 ; Five day foot bathing should be introduced at the start of summer. Covers topical treatment of ovine foot rot, superficial and deep covert foot rots, why use 5 day baths, detection of lesions after treatment, factors and protocols for the treatment.

3. Benign footrot in sheep and goats
   Note 518 [Replaces Note 330]; Footrot is a contagious disease of sheep and goats. This publication outlines the two forms of footrot, prevalence in Western Australia, laboratory diagnosis, the footrot scoring system, disease impact, restrictions on sale of sheep and how to prevent introduction of benign and virulent footrot.

For further information contact:

Peter Morcombe
Senior Veterinary Officer
Department of Agriculture and Food, South Perth
Phone: (08) 9368 3379
Email: peter.morcombe@agric.wa.gov.au

 

Page updated: March 2012