Exploring the countryside, walking near fields of livestock happily munching on lush grass without an (apparent) care in the world is a very enjoyable hobby. Public footpaths and bridleways offer beautiful scenery and landscapes that are better appreciated on foot. Many of us at times are striving to achieve a slower pace of life… even those sheep out there are taking their time in joining the rest of the flock, picking at flowers and lazily following a butterfly. 

Or not? Wait, she is actually walking that slow because she is lame. She might be showing just a slight limp, but still be able to bear weight on the leg. Or she may be hopping on three legs, holding the sore one up. In some cases they don’t even bother walking, so they just lie down a lot; or else instead of grazing in a standing position, they can be found kneeling on their front legs, in an almost bowing position. Why are there so many lame sheep? Why are the farmers not doing anything to address this?

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As a matter of fact, the vast majority of sheep farmers do have protocols in place to control lameness. However, their effectiveness varies, and it is down to many factors as to why this happens. The results may be slow in coming through. And often with sheep when there is an outbreak of infectious lameness, many will look poorly before they all start to recover. 

The important thing is that the farmer is aware, and that they are treating them. 

Lameness doesn’t resolve in the blink of an eye. There is not a single magic cure that will rid a flock of all lameness issues. It is a process that requires veterinary input, and commitment from everyone involved. You may be able to tell if a farmer has been treating his lame sheep by checking if they have coloured spray dots on their body. Usually each treated sheep will be marked this way, to have a record of who got the medicines.

Lameness is a very important welfare issue in livestock farming, and one that causes many headaches for farmers; it is a painful condition, and it prevents animals from displaying their natural behaviours. In sheep and dairy cattle especially, lameness control is one of the major points of discussion between vets, farmers and other stakeholders, where everyone has one goal in mind; progressively reducing the incidence of lameness to acceptable levels. 

So, what are these acceptable levels? Why can’t they eradicate lameness completely from the flock?

The answer is fairly complex, as “lameness” is a very broad term that covers a number of diseases and conditions. In sheep for example, one of the most common causes of lameness is a disease called “footrot”; but it’s not the only one. A farmer may have a strong footrot control plan in place. But it would not necessarily address every other possible cause of lameness. Sometimes injuries happen – a lamb might break a leg and even after complete medical recovery, still retain a slight limp. It is not painful anymore and it is just mechanical. But it could still slow it down when you look at them running in the field. 

It would not be fair to expect a farmer to always be 100% on top of the health of every single leg of every single animal he has. Even for someone with a relatively small croft of 50 ewes, that means 200 legs and feet to be kept healthy 24/7, 365 days of the year. 

This is why we talk of acceptable levels of lameness. Currently the animal welfare and production standards bodies’ advice is that the number of lame animals should not be over 2% at any given time

When vets and other stakeholders urge farmers to increase their hold on lameness control; the work involves diagnosing the problem (if not already known); establishing protocols in place to prevent new cases and treat the existing ones; making sure there are no reoccurrence; and humanely removing chronically lame animals from the flock (to manage the individual’s welfare, but also to stop further spread of the lameness if it was an infectious cause). When all the steps are followed conscientiously without slipping into a relaxed attitude, the results will follow and the overall prevalence will decrease to below the 2% threshold. In many cases, it can reach 0% lame animals for long periods of time, and that should be celebrated. 

So next time you’ll be taking a lovely walk in the countryside and happen to come across some sheep that appear to be lame, you could try and spot the paint dots that signal the treatment regime. If you don’t see any, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not being treated; however, if you are still very concerned and the sheep look in good health otherwise, the best course of action would be to leave a note on the gate of the field for the farmer to find later. In some areas, especially National Parks, there may also be an official Livestock Officer who you could contact.

With some (thankfully very rare) circumstances, bodies such as RSPCA/SSPCA may be contacted to report severe welfare issues when the majority of the animals are lame and appear in poor condition. In most circumstances, farmers dislike to see lame sheep as much (if not more) than anyone else and they are trying their best to improve.

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TRIGGER WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES OF SHEEP FOOT INFECTIONS